In the secretive world of “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde," Stevenson prepares the reader for the theme of duality throughout the novel leading up to the climax.
In the chosen extract, the surroundings are the key to the beginning of duality throughout the novel. The Victorian Era thrived on physiognomy and its importance can be seen in the structure of Stevenson’s work; the primary things that he mentions are the surroundings that are more pleasing to the eye and he shows no effort to hide the importance of its looks. The by-street had “freshly painted” shutters and “well polished” brasses, the adjectives acting as a metaphor of Victorian society where looks determined character, almost personifying the buildings but ,just as most…show more content… Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are set up as diametric opposites on the ‘spectrum of good and evil’ . This is seen before their names are even mentioned in chapter 1 where Mr Hyde is seen as “a really damnable man” compared to Dr Jekyll “who do what they call good”. Both men are the same person and therefore the beginning foreshadows the conflict this distinct contrast will cause in the future. The names themselves could perhaps be a secondary input to the characters, the hidden ‘kill’ in Jekyll could signify his desires that he withholds from the world whilst Mr Hyde has to ‘hide’ from the judgement of society, but it could have a much different meaning of ‘hide’ referring to an animal’s skin showing that he needed protection or that he was not a human being. vindicating him from his animalistic behaviour. The physical conflict of the two is heightened upon the description of Jekyll drinking the potion, as he drinks it his good is literally trying to fight off the evil much like a virus. The potion caused a “grinding of the bones” and “deadly” nausea all seeming to show that Dr Jekyll’s body was trying to hurt itself perhaps because the pure evil he had discovered was against the very laws of humanity and
