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Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

Decent Essays

The novel “The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is influenced by some various factors. One of the factors that portray Robert Louis Stevenson’s idea about the duality of man’s nature is Sigmund Freud’s psychological theory. Freud’s tells human behavior is the consequence of one’s id, ego and superego. He says id part is an important part of our personality. For example, the pleasure of doing whatever we want to like eating or even killing with no consideration of the situation is our id part of personality. Using this theory, Stevenson portrays a character Dr. Jekyll that is a superego or the outer face other see and Mr. Hyde, the id that every person try to suppress because it is unacceptable within the society. Therefore, Stevenson creates a dual identity of …show more content…

In the novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde says, “Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look around me and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of me” (Stevenson 864). The two personalities of Dr. Jekyll are but one; same person but with different characters that are conflicting with each other. The good, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the evil one can be represented as the id and superego based on the theory of Sigmund Freud. Dr. Jekyll behaves through his superego meaning he acts according to the standards of the society; meanwhile, Mr. Hyde represents the id, which does anything he wants without consideration for the reality of the society. In general, Dr. Jekyll can be himself when he is as Mr. Hyde. Meaning, as Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll can express his desire without suffering guilt and without any consideration. This he cannot do when he changes

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