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Read Part One to this essay here: Why You Should Read��The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Part 1)

“All human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil.”

Every story worth telling is the story of good defeating evil, although each story is unique in its presumptions about the character of good and evil. Furthermore, all great literature to some degree explores some facet of the question, “what is evil?”

Evil is complicated, and it certainly is not characterized uniformly among the classics of the Western Canon. Generally, however, evil has been presented as something like pride, ambition, or a brutal pursuit of a disordered desire.

The Iliad sings of the wrath of Achilles, and the onslaught that thousands of warriors suffered in the Trojan War because the mighty son of Thetis was unable to curb or control his anger after being disgraced. Paradise Lost presents the perspective of Satan, evil incarnate, as one who pursued his own pride rather than submitting to God. Milton answers the question, “what is evil,” with the paradigmatic line, “better rule in Hell, than serve in Heav’n.”��

��“I had gone to bed Henry Jekyll, I had awakened Edward Hyde.”

Written in 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella pivots from characterizing evil as ambitious to presenting evil as strange. Dr. Jekyll is a respectable member of royal society who is wrestling with the duality of his inner man. At the end of the thriller, Dr. Jekyll leaves a confession, and in it he writes, “I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.” The doctor struggles with the internal division between his desire for goodness and his delight in sin. Perhaps Stevenson had in mind St. Paul when he wrote, “for I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

In contrast to Paul who seeks to bring his evil desires into submission through the formation of virtue, Dr. Jekyll imagines this struggle as the fight between two egos that can be mediated therapeutically. Jekyll writes,

Enough then, that I not only recognised my natural body from the mere aura and effulgence of certain of the powers that made up my spirit, but managed to compound a drug by which these powers should be dethroned from their supremacy, and a second form and countenance substituted none the less natural to me because they were the expression, and bore the stamp of lower elements in my soul.

Jekyll’s hypothesis is that through therapeutic intervention (in this case, some mix of chemical powders) he can differentiate his evil ego (Mr. Hyde) and his good ego (Dr. Jekyll) into separate persons. Therefore, Dr. Jekyll can indulge in his evil desires in the person of Mr. Hyde without suffering the consequences of wrongdoing.

Dr. Jekyll’s conjecture is fascinating and warrants thoughtful reflection and discussion. But I want to point out that we have largely granted the premise in our imagination: namely, the characterization of evil as a monstrous and strange alter-ego that coexists in each one of us.

Nowadays, when we imagine the face of evil, images of serial killers come to mind. More specifically, people who live otherwise normal productive lives but secretly engage in murderous delinquency.

What makes us shudder is not necessarily the evil acts themselves, but the fact that a person can live a normal life while engaging in pernicious behaviors.

Stevenson may not have invented this fear and characterization of evil, but his novella certainly held up a mirror to their fears and anxiety, particularly as Freud and the rise of psychology provided language for examining the depths and darkness of one’s mind.

Clearly the reflection struck a chord, as the novella was a smashing success. The book was published on January 5th, 1886, and sold tens of thousands of copies within the first 6 months. Soon, the story was adapted into a stage play which would premiere in May 1887. The stage play was incredibly popular and sold out shows throughout London. However, interestingly, the show had to close down production because of the hysteria of the Jack the Ripper murders. It was too difficult for Londoners to watch the horror on stage, and then walk home with the anxiety that they might be Jack the Ripper’s next victim.

The unique and eerie reception of the book, in my mind, lends credibility to the project. Robert Louis Stevenson had an acute awareness of the intellectual and cultural milieu of his time and then offered his story as a reflection of the fears and anxieties that it could bring. That story was received as, in a sense, too terrifying. Therefore, Stevenson’s insights were spot on!

So, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a great work of literature at least because it reveals the cultural and intellectual fear of the Victorian period. But I think the work provides a greater depth for reflection. The novella is delightful to read, and a powerful statement of the human condition.

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