Duality of human nature
Introduction
In coming up with novel story lines,various employees employ different methods to capture the attention of their target readers and and how to package their stories to be understood by their target audience. This study examines the novel “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde” by Robert Luis Stevenson and how he used the theme of duality to bring out his book as a horror story.
Duality of human nature
Human beings have got the ability to exist in more than two states of the mind. According to a psychologist Sigmund Freud, bhe discovered that there are different states inside a person which could either be and ID,Superego or just his ego. The realistic side of the person is the Ego while the Superego has the desireslike those of an animal side of the person which is normall. There is the conscious side of the human and the and the moral side of the person. This composes the duality of a human being. In his book “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde.” Robert Luis Steven majors on the theme,duality of the human nature, to explore the nature of human beings to exist in duality. In this novel, the author shows the dark side and the brighter side of the same character as though they were different persons. Dr Jekyll is portrayed in his dual nature as he is shown with his dark side even though at one point he appears to be a good person. Hyde, who is the same person is brought out as one who thrives in performing evil deeds and enjoys the same. It shows the nature of human being struggling with the good and the bad side of their lives. Stevenson uses Hyde and Jekyll to bring out duality in his charactors of the minors. For instance,the normal nature of Poole is usual a polite ,calm, respectful and very humble person(Stevenson 47). However,at one point,Poole is seen mad and shouting at the top of his voice towards his fellow employees when he is stressed out. In essence, the author wants the readers to learn how extreme pressure and stress can bring out the out nature of a person apart from what is known as his true nature. Luis uses the idea of Jekyll and Hyde to assist his target audience to think about the dual nature of the human being. Hyde,as it is pronounced to could mean to hide while Jekyll simply mean the half of who Jekyll truly is in reality.
Contribution of the theme to the novella as a horror story
The theme of duality used by the author,Robert Lui Stevenson in this book plays a critical role in bringing this as a horror story. There is the horror side of the characters which is initially hidden from the audience and there is the other good side of the charcter. Thus,it is horrendous when a character reveals his bad side which shocks the readers which brings it out as a real horror story. Duality makes the audience fail to know what to expect from the charcters such as Poole and Jekyll thus enhancing the horror nature of the story.