Jekyll and Hyde: Humanity and his Nemesis

Is man fundamentally good or bad? Can he resist the inevitable lure of evil? Both of these questions address one of man's most deep-seated fears, that he lacks control of his own destiny. While throughout Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde it is apparent Hyde represents the evil side of the man, the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde is Stevenson's microcosm of that between mankind and the enticement of that which he knows is immoral, but nonetheless cannot help but be drawn to.

The concept of community in today's society is given a positive connotation -- community means to us a tight kinship that is shared by members of a group, whether it be our family, our neighbors, or our town. However, in Stevenson's novella, the community between Jekyll and Hyde is anything but this idealized concept of unity. The bond between them is bondage for Jekyll, and as he reflects, "[Jekyll] had now seen the full deformity of that creature that shared with him some of the phenomena of consciousness, and was co-heir with him to death: and beyond these links of community, which in themselves made the most poignant part of his distress, he thought of Hyde, for all his energy of life, as of something not only hellish but inorganic." (122) As something 'inorganic', in the author's view Hyde is nothing but a force that compels Jekyll to relinquish his grasp on what he knows is right. The communion spoken of represents the bitter temptation with which mankind is inseparably tied, the temptation few can hope to weather. Though in Stevenson's mind this reality is unavoidable, there are some, as in the case of Hyde's servant, Poole, who find it within themselves to transcend the vices of knowledge, and remain aloof from corruption, as did Poole even within the home of Hyde. Because it is possible to maintain virtue in the face of adversity, it is thus our task to keep ourselves from falling prey, as Jekyll did, to the subtle persuasions and enticements of evil.