Jekyll and Hyde Response #4

Author's note: We finally finished the novella Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in class.  The last chapter was a statement from Henry Jekyll that finally showcased the truth to the reader of the letter.  In the letter, Jekyll implied that he sold his soul to Hyde and that there was no way out.  This is a literary analysis on how Hyde truly and completely enslaved Jekyll.

Everyday, something is thrown into our lives for us to struggle through and deal with and everyone deals with these things differently.  Some handle it maturely and happily while others handle it using destruction and ultimate fury.  In the novella Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, the main character, Henry Jekyll, deals with his obstacles using the latter.  Yet instead of handling it himself, he instead sells his soul to a deeper evil that lurks inside of him, showing that people are unpredictable and something, whether good or bad, enslaves us all.

As well as being enslaved, another statement also arises - although it is possible to be purely bad, it is not possible to be purely good.  Jekyll realized that "polar twins [inside of us are] continuously struggling" (105) because they enslave each other and make us realize that we all have an evil side.  While light can occasionally overcome the darkness within us, we have to make the choice to let it; and sometimes we are not strong enough to allow ourselves to contain that darkness because we have an unknown desire to unleash it.  "Whatever he had done, Edward Hyde would pass away like the stain of breath upon a mirror; and there in his stead, quietly at home... would be Henry Jekyll" (110).  Jekyll truly believes that anything that Hyde does does not carry over into Jekyll's world, which makes it okay in his mind to continue letting Hyde take over.  Yet at some point, Jekyll signs his soul over to Hyde, just as some people sign their souls to the devil - a deal that cannot be reversed.  After this deed, Hyde is able to take over without Jekyll knowing and do whatever he wants to do, whenever he wants to do it.  Hyde completely enslaves Jekyll by the end of the book; fills nearly every inch of him so that there is no good to spare.  What are we supposed to do when the evil overcomes the good so completely that we completely lose our original selves?  Only we can make the choice between bringing the good back into the light and shoving the darkness away or allowing the darkness to engulf us in our entirety.