Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde Essay: The Dark Side Of Man

The Dark Side of Man “Evil lurks in the heart of man, and anonymity tends to bring it out,” Garrison Keillor commented, when exploring the duality of man. You can look up at the night sky to visualize this idea. The moon, much like most people, appears bright and gloomy to the observer, but on the flip side, the side no one sees, it’s dark and cold. Anonymity allows individuals to explore their evil nature with few consequences. Anonymity is a major plot in the novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll, a well respected man high up on the social ladder, had his public image which he had shaped to society’s liking and was keen on keeping it that way. But he was able to explore his more devious side with Mr. Hyde, who was a secluded, odd and mysterious man. So whenever Jekyll took the identity of Hyde and his high class cohorts couldn’t recognize him, he executed mischievous deeds that he would otherwise never perform. With the age of social media upon us, this idea is able to play out even clearer and unveil before our very eyes. We have enormous freedom on the internet which we can use for good or evil. Some people choose to exploit this freedom
Members of the Ku Klux Klan put on a costume and performed horrific hate crimes against African-Americans. Through the costume they obtained anonymity and became viewed as a group instead a collection of individuals. Which shifted the blame on the group and lessened the burden on the perpetrators themselves. The same principle is evident in Nazi-Germany where members of the Nazi party looked down with disgust upon Jewish people, beating, shooting and killing them. Even though, a few years prior the Jewish were their friends, family and neighbors. Forming these groups withdrew the consequences of the individuals and gave them a new found confidence in that nothing bad would happen to them, which caused for even more crime, hate and