Discuss Stevenson’s portrayal of the dual nature of man’s personality :: English Literature:

Discuss Stevenson’s portrayal of the dual nature of man’s personality in the novel: Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel â€Å"The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde† was deeply influenced by a number of diverse factors. Stevenson came from a family with a history of lawyers, doctors and other similar professions. His nanny was a very devoted Christian and from a young age used to teach him wrong from right. The novel was based on a nightmare he had and he constructed it from there. Another factor is Darwin’s theory of evolution; in â€Å"The origin of species† published in 1859 in it he states that men are descended from apes. Another factor which very much influenced Stevenson’s portrayal of the duality of man was Sigmund Freud’s psychological theory. laws. According to Freud, we are all born with our own id, an important part of our personality because it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. A good example of this is a baby; the id is dominant in his personality, when he wants food, it cries. During the Victorian era however people found it very hard to believe these theories as they went against natural In the novel Dr. Jekyll is like an ego the outer part of you which everyone sees and Mr. Hyde is like the id the part of us we all try to suppress as it is unacceptable in society. When the id wants something, nothing else is important. The novel â€Å"The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde† was published in 1886 during the Victorian times. It was originally intended as a frightening Christmas tale. The protagonist in this novel is a man who has a dual identity. The title "Jekyll and Hyde" sounds like seek and hide which might indicate what the story is about and why those characters have those names. Perhaps Stevenson advocates that throughout the book a game of hide and seek is being played this creates a feeling of mystery and suspense and the reader is continually captivated. Dr Jekyll created Mr. Hyde in his somewhat warped view that the soul is made up of two separate divisions: the good and the bad his mission was to find a drug that separates the two so that they two do not have to live in constant competition. We can tell that Stevenson used Freud’s ideas in when he says; â€Å"The man is Discuss Stevenson’s portrayal of the dual nature of man’s personality :: English Literature: Discuss Stevenson’s portrayal of the dual nature of man’s personality in the novel: Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel â€Å"The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde† was deeply influenced by a number of diverse factors. Stevenson came from a family with a history of lawyers, doctors and other similar professions. His nanny was a very devoted Christian and from a young age used to teach him wrong from right. The novel was based on a nightmare he had and he constructed it from there. Another factor is Darwin’s theory of evolution; in â€Å"The origin of species† published in 1859 in it he states that men are descended from apes. Another factor which very much influenced Stevenson’s portrayal of the duality of man was Sigmund Freud’s psychological theory. laws. According to Freud, we are all born with our own id, an important part of our personality because it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. A good example of this is a baby; the id is dominant in his personality, when he wants food, it cries. During the Victorian era however people found it very hard to believe these theories as they went against natural In the novel Dr. Jekyll is like an ego the outer part of you which everyone sees and Mr. Hyde is like the id the part of us we all try to suppress as it is unacceptable in society. When the id wants something, nothing else is important. The novel â€Å"The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde† was published in 1886 during the Victorian times. It was originally intended as a frightening Christmas tale. The protagonist in this novel is a man who has a dual identity. The title "Jekyll and Hyde" sounds like seek and hide which might indicate what the story is about and why those characters have those names. Perhaps Stevenson advocates that throughout the book a game of hide and seek is being played this creates a feeling of mystery and suspense and the reader is continually captivated. Dr Jekyll created Mr. Hyde in his somewhat warped view that the soul is made up of two separate divisions: the good and the bad his mission was to find a drug that separates the two so that they two do not have to live in constant competition. We can tell that Stevenson used Freud’s ideas in when he says; â€Å"The man is