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Enrique Flores
English 113B
Professor Batty
10 March 2015
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Do Not Lose Your Head
In 1886, the Victorian era, Robert Louis Stevenson dreamed and soon published the
novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, where Dr. Henry Jekyll transforms into an
extremely aggressive monster. Dr. Jekyll was highly regarded in his community and well known
for his donations to the town. On the other hand, ever since Dr. Jekylls adolescence he has
always participated in corrupted, deviant, and pleasurable acts secretly without the rest of his
community knowing; due to the concern the people had back in the Victorian era. In response to
his suppression, Dr. Jekyll creates a secret potion making him transform into a monster which is
surprisingly Mr. Edward Hyde. Mr. Hyde is deformed, monstrous, and aggressive. Mr. Hyde
causes multiple incidents where the victims are very seriously hurt. The towns people are very
afraid that the monster will soon come for them or their loved ones. The potion is supposed to be
a solution for Dr. Jekylls deviant behavior. Surprisingly Dr. Jekyll could not control his inner
devil and Dr. Jekyll was delirious, suffering from dualism and repression, so both Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde had to go.
The novella evokes a fear of losing yourself to you inner devil; I think we all have a little
inner devil beneath us that will eventually appear and might or might not go away, thus testing
our strength to overcome the darkness. I think both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were both monsters.
In my perspective, I think that the novella evokes a fear of losing yourself to your inner devil, but
also shows aspects of deliriousness, dualism, and suppression of ones pleasures during the

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Victorian era. The lesson to be learned here is that everyone has a little darkness in them, but it is
our job to continue to strive for success and survival.
On their daily jog, an extremely practical, trustworthy attorney named Mr. Gabriel John
Utterson pays attention as his long distant cousin Mr. Enfield speaks of a gruesome story of
assault. The account recalls of a monstrous character named Mr. Edward Hyde who crushes an
adolescent girl, vanishes into an entry on the road, and resurfaces to reimburse her folks with a
signed payment by a respectable man named Dr. Henry Jekyll. One night there is a case where
Hyde is out late as usually and he cannot control himself. Another case is, one night, a servant
girl witnesses Hyde beat a man to death with a heavy cane. Later they found an old man dead
named Sir Danvers Carew. In the novella Jekyll clearly refers to Mr. Hyde as a whole separate
person from Jekyll. From his action in the novella we can clearly confirm that Dr. Jekyll is a
monster, cannot control his inner devil, is delirious, suffering from dualism, and suppression.
In the article, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Can We Effectively Manage
Sudden Behavior Changes in The Dying Patient? by David Cameron. Camerons argument is
that Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are both delirious. The novella introduces the delirious aspect
where Dr. Jekyll is confused from the recent deviant acts and is trying to decide whether he is
truly good or bad. Cameron states, The underlying mechanism for delirium is thought to be an
imbalance of neurotransmitters (a deficiency of acetylcholine and an excess of dopamine).
Cameron defines the definition of delirium as; Delirium is an altered state of mind characterized
by confusion of recent onset and variable severity. It is a collective term for the various causes of
acute confusion rather than a specific diagnosis. I agree with Camerons argument, Dr. Jekyll
was confused and trying to determine whether he was truly good or evil, Dr. Jekyll could not find
the balance between himself and his darkness. Cameron also defines Dr. Jekylls type of

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delirium, stating that he is the hyperactive delirious type, The patient is restless, irritable,
agitated and may become aggressive or inappropriate in their behavior. I again have to agree
with Cameron because Mr. Hyde was involved in multiple accidents where he ran over a little
girl and killed an old man, thus filling in as the evidence that Mr. Hyde was the hyperactive
delirious type. Cameron than goes on and tells us that delirium may be reversed: Some studies
have shown that up to fifty percent of the episodes of delirium may be reversible, Dr. Jekyll
maybe could have had a chance of surviving or some may say that he had no chance due to the
time period he lived in. Dr. Jekyll could have found another alternative to release his inner
darkness or he could have just kept doing his actions secretly like before. In conclusion Cameron
reaffirms the fact that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are both delirious, which I have to agree with one
hundred percent.
Another aspect that arises in the novella is that Dr. Jekyll is suffering from dualism where
he thinks he is two different people: Dr. Jekyll, whom is viewed as good and Mr. Hyde, who is
viewed as evil. In the article, A Study in Dualism: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde, by Shubh Singh and Subho Chakrabarti, both Singh and Chakrabarti say that, Dualism
can be understood as a thought that facts about the world in general or of a particular class
cannot be explained except by supposing ultimately the existence of two different, often
opposite, and irreducible principles., meaning that the writers argument is that Dr. Jekyll is
truly suffering from dualism because he cannot get the gist of how to control his inner devil and
find the balance between good and evil. The authors also write that, Dr. Jekyll thinks that he can
receive the pleasure that both parts of his being crave without each being encumbered by the
demands of others. The quote is informing us that Dr. Jekyll thinks he can become two different
people, but when in reality you cannot. The writers then go on and state that the novella, Talks

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about the concept of good and evil that exist in all of us. I have to reconfirm that every one of us
has a good and bad side just like Singh and Chakrabarti said in their article, but that it is our job
to overcome the dualism, find a balance between good and evil, and continue to strive and live
our lives.
In the article The Not So Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Daniel Fraustino,
Fraustino states that, Jekyll and Hyde is a study of social hypocrisy and the evil within all
men., which I have to agree with because we all have an inner devil in us. Fraustino argues that,
Stevensons secondary characters, such as Utterson, do not so much reveal a battle of alter
egos as offer a critical commentary on a more universal crisis of divisiveness., Thus telling us
that even the secondary characters had a little devil side in them too just like Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde. In the article, Fraustino also writes that, notes that Utterson and Enfield, not Jekyll
and Hyde, are the first Doppelgangers encountered in the novel., which again tells us and
confirms that the secondary characters are a little evil. Finally Fraustino states that, In a sense,
we are all Utterson who have repressed, alienated, or otherwise estranged the Hyde within us, a
condition which forces us to live on the outskirts of our own personalities. Fraustino is saying
that we all have a monster in us that we have tried to hide and that forces us to limit our lives.
But we should not let our differences coincide with out true happiness; we should be able to
whatever makes us happy.