Hidden Hyde

I must admit that when I first read "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," I interpreted the text in the most obvious ways I could. I just thought that the personalities were simply representing mental illness such as bipolarism or disassociate identity disorder, creating the archetype that would go on to inspire several famous characters such as the Hulk, Harvey Two-Face, and the alleged case of Sybil. While this is the true case about the archetype, our class discussion on Monday made me look a little deeper into the themes. Jekyll is clearly repressed and needs to escape from his repressed Victorian lifestyle of propriety and etiquette. He turns to a potion that makes him feel younger, energetic, and yet cruel and without remorse or thought of consequence. To me, this seemed like a metaphor for alcoholism. An addiction that someone disappears into to lower inhibitions and forget about their life and eventually they become consumed by the power of it and suffer horrible withdrawal without it. I never would have ever looked at this text and assumed it was about sexual politics, but now I guess I can point out the constant struggle between the id (Hyde) and Jekyll (the ego) as they battle with their desires and need to be apart of society.