Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Is everyone a Dr. Jekyll: desperately attempting to keep his Mr. Hyde under control, secretly intrigued by what evil exists, and jealous of his incredible freedom from moral and political restraints? The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson was written during the reign of Queen Victoria when respect, religion, and reputation where the three "R’s" of the time. This allegorical novella represents the struggles between evil and goodness within human beings and the inability for balance when in the context of a constraining and closed-minded society.
The strict standards of the Victorian Era are what force Dr. Jekyll to repress his feelings, because they are not commonly accepted by society. It is these social norms that cause him to compartmentalize his behaviors, which have been labeled as inappropriate or not, into the bodies of Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde. In his narrative, Dr. Jekyll says that, "Many a man would have blazoned such irregularities as [he] was guilty of; but for, the high views that [he] had set before [himself] [he] regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame" (42). Those irregularities are forced into the body of Mr. Hyde so that Dr. Jekyll can continue to

In the course of [his] life, which had been, after all, nine-tenths a life of effort, virtue, and control, [evil] had been much less exercised and much less exhausted. And hence, as [he] think[s], it came about that Edward Hyde was so much smaller, slighter, and younger than Henry Jekyll. (45)

Part of Jekyll’s ambivalence lies in his attitude toward evil, for he regards the throwing off of moral control as liberation. It is not so much that he wishes to embark on a journey of lust, but that he cannot tolerate the notion that certain behavior is absolutely prohibited. His original experimentation was to free his dark side and allow himself to partake in activities and be free of guilt from them. He regulates his use of the potion to gradually let his evil side out and balance his emotions as Dr. Jekyll. As he continues with his transformations there is a point when he spontaneously turns into Mr. Hyde but Dr. Jekyll convinces himself that his experiments are under his control. He says, "The moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde" (13). While this may be true, it is an issue of control versus the lack of control. It is questionable if Dr. Jekyll has control of Mr. Hyde or if Evil has taken the mechanisms, for control, away. It appears as though Dr. Jekyll’s dependence on Mr. Hyde can be described as an addict