Amber Kirschner
ENG 107-01
Paper #1 (4 pgs.)
9/22/14
The Real Jekyll vs The Real Hyde
In the novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson demonstrates the conflicting sides of the human psyche through a fantasy that could very much be compared to what actually happens in many people in real life. Jekyll and Hyde are merely a metaphor to the way outside people perceive a generally good person, the way a person has good and evil sides and their thoughts and actions that come from those sides, and how one side can take over the other side if given the chance.
Dr. Jekyll is portrayed as an individual of a higher socioeconomic status within the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Stevenson does this to show that even people of a higher set of standards in the time could do something wrong. Dr. Jekyll is a type of person that no one would think would do something hurtful or sinful, but yet his alter ego does.
This is like how many people think that the "good" straight-A students of a class go home and study every night but instead sometimes these students are the ones who party a lot or go out and get into trouble. No one would believe someone if they said these students did anything wrong because they only ever see the good side of those students. Everyone in London only ever saw the good, kind side of Dr. Jekyll but yet his other side was hateful and troublesome. Hyde, on the other hand, is disliked by everyone and is almost expected to be the one who does wrong just by his outward appearance. When the body of Sir Danvers Carew was found beaten to death and the witness said she...