Duality

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The theme of duality shown in dr Jekyll and mr Hyde
Olivia Dawkins
Mind Map by Olivia Dawkins, updated more than 1 year ago
Olivia Dawkins
Created by Olivia Dawkins about 6 years ago
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Resource summary

Duality
  1. What is duality?
    1. Duality refers to how things are linked or how something consists of 2 parts. Stevenson uses images of duality and doubles throughout the novella.
      1. These images foreshadow the revelation that Mr Hyde is actually a part of Dr Jekyll, as well as allowing Stevenson to explore his beliefs that elements of Victorian society were hypocritical and hid their own misdemeanors while condemning them in others.
      2. Where does Stevenson present duality in characters?
        1. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are presented as 2 people in the same bodyand fighting for dominance. Dr Jekyll is well-educated and Christian; Mr Hyde is barbarous and criminal. Hyde's otherness contrasts Jekyll's apparent normality.
          1. The contrast between Jekylls double identities is conveyed particularly well in chapter 10 by detailed comparison on their hands. The doctors hands are "large, firm, white and comely" whereas Hyde's hands are "lean, corded, knuckly, of a dusty pallor and thickly shaded with a swarthy growth of hair."
            1. Mr Utterson and Dr Jekyll are represented as dual aspects of Victorian society. They both have a similar social status and good reputation, but the lawyer represses temptation and lives life in moderation, while his friend secretly indulges all his sinful desires. The same link could be made between Dr Jekyll and Dr Lanyon.
            2. How is duality presented through settings?
              1. There is duality in the symbolic way Dr Jekylls house is described. The front entrance looks welcoming, affluent and well-kept while the back entrance is use by Hyde is unwelcoming, sinister and neglected
                1. This is developed further when Stevenson describes Mr Hyde lodging in Soho. The streets outside were dirty, full of poverty and linked to a lack of morality "his blackguardly surrounding". However the interior is luxurious, well-decorated and respectable "the plate was of silver, the napery elegant"
                2. Which themes of the novel also link to duality?
                  1. Duality is a theme in itself but Stevenson includes other themes that contain aspects of doubling. For example, he explores good and evil, the dilemmas that characters face and the way in which characters repress their true natures and present a false impression in society.
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