How Stevenson Explores the Nature of Good and Evil in the Strange Case

How Stevenson Explores the Nature of Good and Evil in the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde The story is about a doctor called Jekyll who has an alternate identity called Hyde. Until the last two chapters it is told from the view point of Mr Utterson; a friend of Jekyll’s who is trying to piece together the story. It uses features of gothic novels such as doppelganger which is an alternate identity. It also uses multiple narratives to make the reader think, it also helps the reader solve the case themselves, and piece the story together, from the evidence given. To a certain extent Stevenson also uses the monster feature in the form of Edward Hyde. In this novel, Stevenson was trying to show that good and evil are not separate within us but are a combined part of us so instead of trying to split them we should except the unity and only then will we be able to make our good side prevail in the struggle of good and evil. One of the features of a gothic novel used is the haunted house. Authors of gothic novels use a character’s house to reflect the characters psychological manner. In this story Jekyll’s house is described as being â€Å"grand and having an air of wealth and comfort†. This mimics Jekyll’s personality as he is portrayed for the reader,† a large, well-made, smooth-faced man†. The description â€Å"smooth-faced man† gives the impression that he is not only hiding his age but also the secrets that come with age. We get the impression that he has something to hide right at the beginning of the story; I believe that through this Stevenson gives us a hint that Jekyll has some thing that he wants to keep hidden. His house however has a backdoor which is described as â€Å"blistered and distained†. This, .. ...mic society by using the split personality of Jekyll and Hyde, which is emphasized by the two entrances to his house, to show the mixed views of people from that time period. He also voiced the fear of most of the society through his monster Hyde, who is created through science but cannot be controlled. I believe not only does he express the fear of science going wrong, he also expresses the view of not playing God, by showing that man might not be able to permanently control what he creates, which is shown by Jekyll loosing control of the transformation to Hyde. He also tries to explain that the good and evil parts of us are what make us who we are and instead of trying to separate them and risk losing control we should embrace them and try through our actions, to let the good side prevail instead of using science to destroy us while trying to do well.