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Evil Personas in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

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Evil Personas in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Some believe that every individual has an evil persona trapped inside that is just waiting to get out! This may be true for some but it may also just be another excuse for one to commit evil deeds. In the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson, a prominent doctor (Dr. Jekyll) conducts a scientific experiment in which he compounds a certain mixture he consumes and transforms into an ugly, repulsive creature (Mr. Hyde), representing the pure evil that exists within him. This novel is truly an astonishing piece of literature that consists of many components that make it a marvelous piece of literature. Not only is the symbolism fascinating …show more content…

At first, all he wanted to do was isolate Jekyll and Hyde, but he had gotten addicted to the high that Hyde gives him when doing those “hidden desires”. Dr. Jekyll symbolized the good in every person and Mr. Hyde represents the evil persona that everyone has. The symbolism in this novel makes it interesting and meaningful.

The novel further proves that the inner devil is desperately trying to escape. The terminology for Jekyll and Hyde could also be found in a dictionary. Such definitions can be found: (1)“one who has a quasi-schizophrenic, alternating phases of pleasantness and unpleasantness” (2) “a person having a split personality, one side of which is good and the other evil” and (3) “this phase refers to a person who alternates between charming demeanor and extremely unpleasant behavior”. Sigmund Freud, a controversial psychiatrist with many questionable theories, described the symptoms of schizophrenia as the “Jekyll and Hyde syndrome”. Jekyll and Hyde were two opposite personalities that made up one person. Stevenson wrote his novel on the assumption that man is made up of only two parts- the good and the evil. In the novel, Mr. Hyde was depicted as being ugly, disgusting, and much smaller than Dr. Jekyll himself. This was because his evil side (Mr. Hyde) was a smaller portion than that of the good side (Dr. Jekyll), so Jekyll was

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