Fee Fi Fo Jekyll and Hyde.

In reading Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, there is quite obviously a resounding question: what lies in the core of man, good or evil? The novella's prominent theme of dichotomy seems to answer this question in more ways than one and said answer is a long winded and deeply penetrating one: both. Since Hyde's animalistic nature comes from the very core of Jekyll himself, it could be said that one cannot survive without the other. Hyde would render himself vulnerable by not allowing Jekyll to cover his tracks, while Jekyll is seemingly trapped in his addiction to the potion and Hyde's unhinged and carnal tendencies. What popped out to me that we didn't really point out in the class is the designation of the character's names. Stevenson evokes the connection between Jekyll and Hyde by naming them each for what they don't stand for and yet what resides in the center of them both. Jekyll, alarmingly close to the word jackal is a glimpse into the animalistic core of the doctor, the one that he cannot escape and yet everything that he tries not to be when he is in control of himself. Hyde on the other hand is phonetically the same as the word hide, which is something that Hyde's character can never do, as well as what Jekyll tries to do with him. These names seem to be no accident and serve to strengthen the ties between the two parts of the same man, rendering them as a physical manifestation of the Yin Yang concept. Jekyll's character has always had that little piece of Hyde in the depths of his persona, while Hyde cannot survive without Jekyll's careful maneuvering in regards to economics and law.