2014上海外国语大学本科毕业论文

Angels and Demons

-- A Tentative Analysis of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

A Paper Presented to

Shanghai International Studies University

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

By

SOMEBODY

Under the Supervision of

Prof. SUN Li

May, 2014

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本人庄重声明：我所呈交的学士学位论文是在指导老师指导下独立完成的。本论文正文中除已标明引用出处的内容外，不包含任何其他个人或集体发表的研究成果内容。本人明白并完全承担在论文中引用他人科研成果而不注明出处的严重后果。

特此声明。

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Contents

Acknowledgements (i)

内容提要 (ii)

Abstract (iii)

Introduction (1)

Chapter One Literature Review (2)

1.1 Historical Background (2)

1.2 Literature Background (2)

Chapter Two The Character Analysis (4)

2.1 Angle Dr. Jekyll and Demon Mr. Hyde (4)

2.2 Dual Personality (6)

Chapter Three Psychoanalytical Criticism (8)

3.1 Personality Theory (8)

3.2 Id, Ego, and Superego in Dr. Jekyll (9)

Conclusion (14)

Bibliography (17)

Acknowledgements

My thesis “Angels and Demons--A Tentative Analysis of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” has drawn upon the advice, encouragement and support of a good number of teachers from Prof. Ms. Sun li.

First and foremost, my sincere thanks should go to Ms. Sun li, who has been providing me with technical guidance and assistance step by step throughout the whole process of thesis writing. The existence of this thesis owes much to Ms. Sun li?s selflessness, wisdom, time and patience.

I would also attribute the completion of this thesis to Ms. Sun li, whose instructions on thesis writing has helped lay a good foundation for the construction of this thesis. I also feel indebted to the authors listed in the References, from whose works I have drawn a great deal of inspiration and ideas.

Finally, I would like to recognize the contributions of many people who have helped me but not been adequately acknowledged here.

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内容提要

《化身博士》是英国十九世纪新浪漫主义派的代表小说家罗伯特?刘易斯?史蒂文森（Robert Louis Stevenson）的小说。小说的主人公杰基尔是个受人敬仰和尊重的医生,却秘密地进行释放身体里的另一个自己的研究。他最终研究出了一种药水，喝完之后，他变成了暴戾凶残的海德。他内心渴望而不敢实现的想法，在变成海德后，全部由海德实现。借助药水，既可以维持杰基尔的形象，又可以将内心压抑着的想法释放出来。纳博科夫认为，杰基尔是个复合型的人，海德不是由纯粹的恶的因素构成的，另外还有一个由纯粹的善的因素组成的第三个人存在。根据人格系统理论，杰基尔是代表理性、受外界影响、按照“现实原则”活动的自我；海德是不受任何拘束、按照“快乐原则”活动的本我；那第三个人则与代表社会道德标准、按照“至善原则”活动的超我相对等。在正常的情况下，这三个部分是统一的，相互协调。当这三者失去平衡发生冲突时，即导致精神病症和人格异常。

本文立足于纳博科夫对杰基尔的分析，运用精神分析批评中的人格系统理论详细地分析了杰基尔内心的矛盾与冲突，解读其心理机制。海德被杰基尔压制着，但杰基尔通过喝药将其释放出来，海德快乐而又兴奋地做他想做的事情。每当杰基础尔对海德屈服之后，超我会惩罚自我，杰基尔就感到内疚、自卑、有罪，还会产生病痛。本我和超我经常处于不可调和的矛盾中，自我总是试图调和这对相互冲突的力量。药水的失效，加剧了本我、自我和超我在杰基尔体内的斗争。杰基尔选择自杀来结束让他无法忍受的本我、自我和超我之间的矛盾冲突。

关键词：史蒂文森；杰基尔；海德；纳博科夫；人格系统理论

Abstract

Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde or the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of Robert Louis Stevenson?s novels. Henry Jekyll is a respectable and kind doctor in London. He keeps on researching a way to release the other side of him. He invents a kind of potion. After drinking it, all the elements of evil in his body concentrate, and make him transfer to another person: Hyde, as he is called.

Dr. Jekyll is analyzed by many experts and scholars at home and abroad. Most of the studies of Dr. Jekyll are from the perspective of ethics and dual personality. There are a few people who mention that Hyde equals with the id. Based on Vladimir Nabokov?s analysis of Dr. Jekyll, this thesis uses the structure of personality theory to interpret the psychological mechanism of Dr. Jekyll. Mr. Nabokov thinks that Dr. Jekyll is a composite being; Mr. Hyde does not form of pure evil; and there is a third, which is made up of the elements of good. According to the structure of personality theory, Dr. Jekyll equals with the ego that represents reason, obeys the external world rules and the reality-principle; Mr. Hyde follows no rules, obtains satisfaction with the pleasure-principle; the third is the superego who holds up certain norms of behavior.

The id and the superego are often in conflicts and contradictions, which are always mediated by the ego. If the three are out of balance, the person would have psychological problem, or mental disease. Mr. Hyde is the impulsion desires of Dr. Jekyll, which is restrained by the ego. By drinking the potion, Dr. Jekyll releases his id. Hyde is so happy to do whatever he wants, but Jekyll is regretful and painful towards what Hyde has done, which is the punishment from the superego, or the third. The drug lost its effect, which worsens the conflicts inside Dr. Jekyll. He finishes his own life to end those sufferings. The purpose of this thesis is to alarm modern people to care about their psychological health, and choose a proper way to restrain and release their impulsive desires.

Key words: Stevenson; Dr. Jekyll; Mr. Hyde; Nabokov; structure of personality theory

Introduction

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), a Scottish writer, is known as the representative of Neo-Romanticism. He writes a lot in his short life, including poetry, essays, travel writings, drama, letters, short stories and novels. His main achievement is in the field of novel. The themes of his novels focus on the romantic legends and the mysterious adventures. Treasure Island is his most popular one. It is also the one that Chinese people most familiar with. People may have no knowledge about R. L. Stevenson, but they do know or hear about it. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were published in 1886. It is another masterpiece of R. L. Stevenson.

Since this novel has been published, the term of Jekyll and Hyde becomes the synonym of dual personality. It is remarked that both Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are fairy tales, the former for children, and the latter for adults. These two books together with his other works have brought Stevenson great success and reputation. For introducing the author, the novel, and the merit of the novel, the background of R. L. Stevenson?s living time, his own living experiences are mentioned in this thesis.

Moreover, his main works, creating principles, writing style, and preparation for finishing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are introduced, as well as the studies and researches of Dr. Jekyll, which have been done by readers, critics and scholars. The emphasis of this thesis is the character analysis of Dr. Jekyll from the perspective of psychoanalytical criticism. The viewpoint of this thesis is expatiated based on the analysis by Vladimir Nabokov.

Chapter One Literature Review

1.1Historical Background

Some scholars think that the Victorian Age started from the year of 1832, for the Reform Act was passed in that year. The Reform Act of 1832 is viewed as a new beginning. Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria, 1819--1901) came to the throne in 1837. So, some scholars claim that the Victorian Age began from 1837 to 1901, according to her reign, which is also called Victorian era. The term, Victorian Age, mentioned in this thesis is from 1832 to 1901, which is adopted from A New Anthology of English Literature, edited and annotated by Luo Jingguo. The reign of Queen Victoria was the longest in British history. It was the climax of the British Industrial Revolution and a great expansion of the British Empire. The Englishmen are still so proud when this Age is spoken of today. The Victorian Age was the heyday of British Empire?s economy, politics, and culture. It was a period, which experiences dramatically changes.

The changes and existed problems in political and economic fields sharpened the ideological struggle. In this period, there firstly emerged an open ideological struggle between socialism and the apology for capitalism and imperialism. Those different philosophical thoughts reflected in literary works, leading to different literary schools. The third group, those escapists and pessimists, who disappointed with the dreadful reality, had no interest in bettering or changing it. They either confined themselves in the ivory tower of art or sought spiritual refuge in far-far-away or long-long-ago romances. Robert Louis Stevenson belonged to the latter.

1.2Literature Background

Literary works in Victorian Age were multifarious. From all angles, it reflected the variety of the social situation and changes in people's lives and the society. Its main forms in that Age were poetry, novel, prose, and essays. It included romanticism, realism, critical realism, naturalism, new romanticism, aestheticism and many other schools. Novel, chiefly the realistic novel, gradually replaced poetry, becoming the dominant form

in Victorian literature. Many prose-writers appeared in the mid and late period in this age. Drama did not prosper in this period. There was almost no playwright worthy to be mentioned, except Oscar Wilde, who produced great drama at the end of the century. His comic plays satirized upper-class manners and morals.

There were certain social conditions that contributed to the prosperity of novel in Victorian Age. First of all, the increased amount of readers. During the industrial revolution, urban population added quickly. Take London as example, its population was 2 million at the year when Queen Victoria ascended the throne. Then to the year of her death, the population grew to 6.5 million. The increase of the population means the increase of the readers. Second, the price of books got down. The skills of printing and papermaking were more advanced. The cost of production was lower than before. Moreover, a lot of libraries were constructed. People could read books without buying them. Furthermore, the writer has become a kind of profession. Men of letters were able to make a living by writing. Many people chose writing as their occupation. Last but not least, reading the novels was a favorable way of entertainment, which was especially loved by the wealthy middle-class.

Chapter Two The Character Analysis

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is quite different from his other masterpieces. R. L. Stevenson often tries new ways of writing. “Once he said that the true artist will vary his method and change the point of attack. That which was in one case an excellence, will become a defect in another; what was the making of one book, will in the next be impertinent or dull.”Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a great success, even greater than Treasure Island. There are many elements that contribute its success: R. L. Stevenson?s talent of story-telling, the excellent skills of narration, and the interest plot of the story, the outstanding description of the contradictions and the conflicts, and so on. The most merit in the novel is that there is no influence from God or devil towards the leading character. Before and in Mr. Stevenson?s time, there are many novels about a person lured by devil and rescued by God. This kind of theme can also be found in Mr. Stevenson?s work.

2.1 Angle Dr. Jekyll and Demon Mr. Hyde

Angle or demon is in the field of Ethics, certain system of moral principles, is a branch of philosophy, which deals with values relating to human actions. It is a kind of standard to judge peopl e?s motives or actions. It includes numerous elements. Angle and demon is just the basic ones of them. The traditional opinion is that Dr. Jekyll represents the good, whereas Mr. Hyde is on the behalf of evil. Henry Jekyll was born in a wealthy family, had a good education, and was respected by the people who knew him. He was a prominent, popular scientist in London. He was a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty. He was a M.D. (Doctor of Medicine), D.C.L. (Doctor of Civil Law), F.R.S. (Fellow of the Royal Society), and so on. Therefore, people took him as good man for granted. Instead of doing evil things, he contributed much to charities. Compared with him, Mr. Hyde was totally a demon. Hyde, the last name of Edward Hyde, means “hide”. The metaphor is that Henry Jekyll hid in Edward Hyde. Utterson, the

lawyer and friend of Dr. Jekyll once punn ed on his name: “If he be Mr. Hyde, I shall be Mr. Seek.”

Hyde actually comes to represent the embodiment of pure evil merely for the sake of evil. Readers? first encounter with him is that he is seen running over a young girl, simply trampling over her body and leaving her screaming on the ground. He does not do this out of spite--or intentionally; it is simply an amoral act, although he makes reparations. He raises a fear, and a deep loathing to other people in his first appearance, except this, Hyde?s fe atures, something displeasing, something ugly, and something deformed, makes people horrible at the first sight to see him. Looking at his face could raise people?s desire to strike out at him and kill him. The following is the descriptions of Hyde?s appearance.

“…but gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running.”, “…every time he looked at my prisoner (Mr. Hyde), I saw that Sawbones turn sick and white with desire to kill him.” , “He is not easy to describe.

There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something down-right detestable. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn?t specify to point.”From the above, Edward Hyde is known as a horrible ugly and deformed being. His appearance merely scared readers and other characters in the novel, no matter to mention his frightening behaviors. He is much younger than Jekyll. Besides, he is much smaller than Dr. Jekyll, whose clothes are far too large for him. Since Hyde represents the purely evil in Dr. Jekyll, his appearance symbolically suggests his detested evil deeds. Except the terrible and disgusting look, Hyde?s actions make people feel scared. His servants are extremely frightened of him. When they think he is around the house, the servants cringe in horror, and some go into hysterics; on the contrary, Dr. Jekyll has a tall, handsome figure, and a good set of features, which symbolically represents the brightness of good. He is loved and respected by his friends, servants and the people who know him. It seems that Mr. Hyde is unable to cease violence.

What is more, his demon becomes more and more pronounced. Mr. Hyde startles the whole London a year after his first appearance. He commits a murder. The victim, Sir Danvers Carew, an aged beautiful gentleman with high position, is bludgeoned to death

by a heavy cane for absolutely no reason rather than inquiring his way with a very pretty manner of politeness. Readers are shocked too, and believe deeply without any doubt that Edward Hyde is an evil man. He is made up of pure evil elements. He is a representative of evil. He is demon, whereas Dr. Jekyll stands for good.

2.2Dual Personality

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is so popular that the term Jekyll and Hyde becomes the nickname of dual personality, and collected in dictionaries. For example, in Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary, it is explained: “Single person with two personalities, one good (Jekyll) and one bad (Hyde)”

Readers are prone to analyze Dr. Jekyll from the perspective of ethics approach. Obviously, Dr. Jekyll is good, Mr. Hyde is evil. But those readers forget one established fact that Mr. Hyde comes out from Dr. Jekyll. They two actually are one. Moreover, this interpretation does not conform to the purpose of Stevenson to create this novel. He planned to shape a character with two opposite sides in one body. The character was tortured by the violent conflict between the two contradictory sides.

Dr. Jekyll is a famous and respectable person with high social statue in London. He has an admirable life. However, to everyone?s surprise, the violent, terrible, inhuman, and ape-like Hyde is him too. When he is Henry Jekyll, he attends and organizes parties, drinks and chats with friends, and does charity works. When he is Edward Hyde, he is apt to get angry, and makes violent actions. He tramples on a small girl. He bludgeons an old man to death, which shock every human being. Towards Jekyll, kind readers have much more sympathy rather than hatred, because the readers see clearly that the intense struggles between the good and the evil inside his body. He conflicts fiercely on whether to transform or not. Finally, his instinctual impulsion wins over his conscious of obeying the moral rules. Though he is happy to be Hyde, he suffers much and painfully for what Hyde did. He cannot help drinking the down-to-Hyde drug. He tries his best to control his desire of becoming Hyde. However, Hyde gradually begins to take the ascendancy over the good Dr. Jekyll. Besides, the potion of

back-to-Jekyll loses efficacy. Edward Hyde never ever changes back to Henry Jekyll. Desperately and hopelessly, he kills himself to finish this painful alternation.

Avoiding breaking the Victorian morals rules and law regulations, Dr. Jekyll restrains and oppresses the other kind of desire inside his body. He keeps on finding a way to release it, for the process of suffering the struggle is beyond his ability to bear. The release of other side pleases him, and brings him great happiness, though it is very short. Readers follow the steps of Mr. Utterson, the Holms-like layer to detect and discover Jekyll?s secret. Together with the layer, readers find out a fact as still as a stone at the end of story: Hyde is the other side of Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll is a person with two personalities.

R. L. Stevenson interests in the topic of two personalities, because he thinks himself has the similar experience. He has to obey his father on the condition to sacrifice his true hopes and desires. He enters Edinburgh University, chooses engineering as his major, then compromises to learn law. However, he does not always follow his father. He goes against the will of his father, and breaks away from his family profession. He keeps long hair, wears odd clothes, disobeys the church, and marries a divorced woman. All those make his father angry, and he stops to support him. Although Mr. Stevenson wants to be the son that his father wishes, he also wants to be the one who follows his own wishes. So, confused by his situation, combining with his experience, and adding certain artistic imagination, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a novel of dual personality, is coined.

However, some people question the dual personality of Dr. Jekyll in the novel. “But Hyde also exists outside of Jekyll?s dream. He has energy, a will to be alive, that doesn?t fit so readily into t he novel?s dualistic scheme.Just as the remark that Henry Jekyll is good; Edward Hyde is evil; the point of dual personality is also argued by critics. Vladimir Nabokov has another point of view on Dr. Jekyll, which will be introduced.

Chapter Three Psychoanalytical Criticism

Previous studies of Dr. Jekyll are introduced in the above. Some scholars and critics have mentioned about the relationship between Dr. Jekyll and the psychoanalytical criticism, to be exact, the structure of personality theory. Some people think that Mr. Hyde represents the id, while Dr. Jekyll is the ego. However, there is no detailed analysis or studies about it. In this section, it will be studied and analyze in detail.

The structure of personality theory is a branch of psychoanalytical criticism, which consists of the id, the ego, and the superego. The id, a kind of instinctual impulsion, attempts to come out. The ego on the behalf of the reason tries its best to control the disordered id, and modifies its act, making its act within the region of moral and law. Combining the theory with Vladimir Nabokov?s analysis on Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde can be equated to the id; Dr. Jekyll to the ego; and the third, the remaining ring of good, to the superego. As soon as the id out of control, the superego, who on the behalf of morality, will punish the ego. Oppressed by the id and the superego, the ego struggles fiercely. Regretted, pained, and despaired, Dr. Jekyll kills himself. Henry Jekyll chooses a wrong way to fulfill the desire inside his heart. If his way were proper, he would not need to suicide.

3.1 Personality Theory

The systematic theory psychoanalytical criticism was put forward by Sigmund Freud, and developed by other psychologists such as Carl Jung, Jacques Lacan, Norman Holland, and so on. Freud pioneered the use of this theory in his clinical treatment. However, he has never expected that his theories have more influence in literature filed than that in psychology filed. The psychoanalytical criticism is composed of several theories. Taking the well-known ones as examples, there are the Oedipus Complex, the Interpretation of Dreams, and the Structures of the Mind.

The structure of the mind is divided into the structure of consciousness and the structure of personality. The structure of consciousness, namely, is conscious, unconscious and preconscious. The structure of personality is id, ego, and superego.

3.2 Id, Ego, and Superego in Dr. Jekyll

“For strict Freudians, Hyde will be immediately understood as the primitive, instinctual nature of human being turned loose without censure or balance. Hyde represents the uncivilized craving for reckless pleasure.” The “primitive, instinctual nature of human being” and the “uncivilized craving for reckless pleasure? can be called the id.

Before suicide, Dr. Jekyll wrote a letter to his friend and a lawyer, Mr. Utterson to make a confession about the event. He described the reasons why he tried to become Mr. Hyde in detail. He was born in a wealthy family, destined to have a great deal of wealth in all his life. Moreover, he also has a lot of talents, which make sure he can earn much money. He was a lucky dog, and destined to a very brilliant future. His wealth and high social status and he were admired by the kind-hearted common people. As a youth, he thinks that perhaps he was too light-hearted. He enjoys many youthful indiscretions, which he was very car eful to keep secret. “I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame.”

And there came a time when he realized that his professional career could be ruined if one of these indiscretions were to be exposed, and so he repressed them. However, it was very hard for him to suppress his other side. Later, he found that the dark side of him was unconquerable. Not bearing the sorrow and suffering of the bearing, he tried to set it free. He has been fascinated with the theory that man has an “Angle” side and a“demon” side, and he has decided to investigate the theory. “It chanced that the direction of my scientific studies, which led wholly towards the mystic and the transcendental, reacted and shed a strong light on this consciousness of the perennia l war among my members.”

Therefore, he began his investigations, and he was successful. He compounded a kind of potion that could release a person?s evil, which would form to be another entirely different physical person. Then one could commit acts of evil and feel no guilt;

furthermore, one could drink the same potion and be transformed back into the original self. In his full statement of the case, Henry Jekyll related his purpose of the scientific investigation. He was happy to separate the good and evil elements in his body. And let these two elements be independent. Let them run their own business in their own filed without interference by each other. Both the desires of doing good and doing demon things got released to the heart content.

“The energy fo r the operation of id comes from …instincts?, which urge id to strive for the satisfaction of desire. Death and love are two basic forms of instincts.” The instinct love was call libido by Freud. He explained libido was an expression taken from the theory of the emotions: love, exactly sexual love. All the instinctual impulsions of human beings come from libido. However, this theory cannot be applied in Stevenson?s novel, because it is put forward later than the print of the novel. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the instinctual impulsions of Dr. Jekyll are violence. Mr. Hyde has no capability to control himself to be quiet and calm. He is easily to get angry, and takes violent act. He cannot help feeling happy when he has violent deeds.

However, some critics are aware that there are a few female characters in the novel. The reason is guessed that R. L. Stevenson obeys the Victorian morals, which restrain people?s many desires.Indeed, in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the main characters are all single. Dr. Jekyll has no wife, no child; the lean, long, and dusty lawyer Mr. Utterson and his relative, Mr. Enfield are both bachelors. The females in the novel are all supporting roles. Readers are attracted by the plot and story, the structure and the atmosphere. Seldom of them are aware of the gender arrangement.

Mr. Hyde came into readers? eye by an accident: he trampled over a child?s body at a street corner. He was caught by Mr. Richard Enfield and other passerby. Hyde made no resistance. Mr. Enfield and the ch ild?s family threatened him to make it a scandal. “Name your figure”was Hyde?s reply. They screwed him up to a hundred pounds. Hyde left for a while, he came back with a check, on which there was another man?s signature. To eliminate others doubts, Hyde said, “Set your mind at rest, I will stay with you till the banks open and cash the cheque myself.”Stevenson R.L,1981

As we mentioned above, Dr. Jekyll?s instinctual impulsion o r the id is violent. His action of trampling the child can be interpreted as driving by his instinctual impulsions. When he was caught, he did not get into fury immediately. To some extent, he showed his patience to compensate for the child and her family. In this situation, the power of the ego can be seen.The ego, which represents reason controls and modifies the behavior of id. The ego forces the id to obey social moral and legal norms. The ego wins over the id in this battle.

After one dinner party, Mr. Utterson expressed his worries about the will, and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll conf idently assured to him, “it is not as bad as that; and just to put your good heart at rest, I will tell you one thing: the moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde.” Dr. Jekyll declared that he can get rid of Mr. Hyde at any time as long as he wanted. So, the id is totally under the ego?s control and constraint. The id is not able to do anything he wants. The ego successfully suppresses the id.

However, the ego?s control does not last long. One night, Sir Carew, an old but kind gentleman met Hyde and inqui red the way politely. Hyde?s response frightened everyone.

“but he answered never a word, and seemed to listen with an ill-contained impatience. And then all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman. The old gentleman took a step back, with the air of one very much surprised and a trifle hurt; and at that Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth. And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the roadway.”Stevenson R.L,1981

This scene is horrible. In the narration, Hyde is too violent to be a human being. His violence bursts out suddenly and fiercely. There is little patience left in Hyde this time. He even did not speak a word before bludgeoning. The ego is entirely overwhelmed by the id. With no pressure, no control, no modification, the instinctual impulses of the id are set free. In this battle, the ego is defeated, while the id goes to win.

As the murder had done, Hyde?s reason or ego took the power back. He controlled the violent id, and made him to listen to the ego. The ego knows that the innocent id had

violated the law. The action of escape must be caught out immediately. Then the id followed the ego?s order. So, Mr. Hyde ran to his house in Soho, destroyed his papers, and then set out through the streets to run away.

“…in the same divided ecstasy of mind, gloating on my crime, light-headedly devising others in the future, and yet still hastening and still hearkening in my wake for the steps of the avenger. Hyde had a song upon his lips as he compounded the draught, and as he drank it, pledged the dead man. The pangs of transformation had not done tearing him, before Henry Jekyll, with streaming tears of gratitude and remorse had fallen upon his knees and lifted his clasped hands to God.”Stevenson R.L,1981

These words are from Dr. Jekyll?s confession letter. The process of feeling changing is described in it. Though the left reason ask him to escape, he cannot restrain his excitement. He got into ecstasies and gloated, and even sang out a song. Though he made cruelty, Mr. Hyde forgot himself in the joyance of fulfilling his instinctive demands and desires. After drinking the compounded draught, he returned in the form of Dr. Jekyll, he was in the deep remorse for the crime. He fell upon his knees in front of God with tears in his eyes. There was no happy feeling any more, instead of regret and remorse, which are the punishments coming from the superego.

During these two months, Henry Jekyll tried his best to be Dr. Jekyll. He was often in the open air. He renewed his relations with his friends, and once more became the guest and entertainer in his friend?s dinner party. He was busy, and did a lot for charities. He always was well known for it. Mr. Utterson visited him almost every day. But Dr. Jekyll confined himself in laboratory again. Be refused, and be confused, Mr. Utterson wrote a letter to Jekyll. In the replied letter, Dr. Jekyll said, “You must suffer me to go my own dark way. I have brought on myself a punishment and a danger that I cannot name. If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also.”Dr. Jekyll never stops the struggle to be Hyde or not. It conflicts fierily. As Jekyll?s penitence wore off, the lower side of him: Hyde, which is so long indulged, so recently chained down, began to growl for license. Dr. Jekyll decides to dream of resuscitating Hyde. This bare idea startles him to frenzy. Moral weakness or desire stronger, the id defeats the ego once more. Departed with Hyde for two months, He is warmly welcomed.

Dr. Jekyll tries his best to reconcile the contradictions among the id, the ego, and the superego. He tastes various feelings during the process of the reconcilement. However, things do not always go well. Gradually, the evil inside him destroys the balance of his soul, which made him in despair. The id is out of ego?s control; the ego receives the severe penalty from superego.

Conclusion

Since the development of society and human self, the authors, readers and critics begin to realize that angle and demon are not only opposite to each other as separated individuals. On the contrary, they exist together in one character. Angle does not merely show on protagonist. The character of antagonist also includes the element of good. The angle and demon struggle hard in forcing the character to do good or to do the opposite, which makes the character more complicated. Besides R. L. Stevenson?s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there are many other works with the similar theme, such as William Wilson, a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is considered as the best one about dual personality among the same kind of novels.

Henry Jekyll is made up of Jekyll, Hyde, and a third. Mr. Nabokov draws a big circle to represent Jekyll, a smaller one represents Hyde. Hyde departs from Jekyll, so he is a part inside Jekyll. The small circle is inside the big one. There are some elements of evil inside Jekyll. Jekyll drinks the potion, the evil elements concentrates, and then separates from Jekyll as a precipitate, namely, Edward Hyde. Because Hyde is smaller than Jekyll, there is a ring left when Hyde comes out from Jekyll. The ring is the third, which is mentioned by Nabokov.

There is a fact in the novel, which is worthy to be paid attention to. The fact is that the lives of the characters in the novel are all simple, boring, and lack of fun. The main characters, like Dr. Jekyll, and the lawyer Utterson, are bachelors. Sometimes, Dr. Jekyll holds a dinner party in turn, inviting his friends to have a drink. Except this, those characteres almost have no other entertainments. Mr. Utterson is austere with himself. He drinks gin when he is alone. He enjoys the theater, but did not enter the doors for twenty years. For him, the greatest pleasure in a week is the Sunday walk with his relative, Mr. Enfield. But “they said nothing, looked singularly dull, and would hail with obvious rel ief the appearance of a friend.”

The conflicts and contradictions among the id, the ego, and the superego exist inside every living person. Some of them are in people?s conscious, some are in subconscious.