Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Analysis
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a mysterious story and captivates to audiences on drama aspects alone. I think that Stevenson wrote the story to show the dual nature of man and of society in general.
Although often Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde seems to be a light-hearted tale of mystery and intrigue, Stevenson makes great steps to show that Mr. Hyde is very deadly. There is certainly nothing comical about the trampling of the little girl on the street corner or when the ultimate death of Jekyll and Hyde arises when he runs out of the solution which changes his form making him unable to return to the body of Jekyll. Mr. Hyde, being very suicidal at this time, gradually eats away at his own body in which the evil of Hyde destroys itself in a mangled mess of blood and guts.
At first evil seems fun. Dr. Jekyll admits this to Utterson in his letter, saying, "It seemed natural and human. In my eyes it bore a livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express and single, than the imperfect and divided countenance I had been hitherto accustomed to call mine." He asserts, "...all human beings...are commingled out of good and evil." A.K.A. he goes on saying that everyone are composites of both good and evil.
Amazingly, this story doesn’t have a happy ending. But then again how could it? The evil dominance over Dr. Jekyll eventually takes its toll. Jekyll is able to admit that after a few months of experimenting with Hyde, eventually the little man’s demands became increasingly extreme, seeking more power. Jekyll admits, "I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse." The ending, ummm… ends with Hyde causing Jekyll to commit suicide. The end shows me, like many other things, that when it comes to man vs. man destruction will almost always be an outcome.