Physical Cognitive Dissonance

Physical Cognitive Dissonance
The story begins with two respectable men taking a stroll. One of them, a man named Enfield, relates to his relative, a prosecutor named Utterson, an encounter he had had some months ago with an evil looking man named Hyde. The man had trampled a little girl he ran into on the street. Enfield, along with several people on the street, took an immediate and overpowering dislike of Hyde’s sinister appearance. After the incident, Hyde enters a building and subsequently exits it with a cheque signed by a Dr. Jekyll in recompense for the damage he had caused. As the novel progresses, Hyde is linked even more to Dr. Jekyll, a client of Utterson. More and more it becomes apparent that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have a strangely strong connection. Eventually it is revealed that the two do in fact share a very strong connection; Dr. Jekyll had formulated a potion in the hopes that he could separate his bad side from his good side, resulting to the manifestation of a separate person of pure evil. With the use of the potion, Dr. Jekyll transforms into Mr. Hyde, allowing him to tap into his darker side and live a life free of morality. Eventually, Dr. Jekyll found himself transforming into Mr. Hyde even without ingesting the potion. This incident became more and more frequent until eventually Dr. Jekyll became Mr. Hyde entirely, resulting to Mr. Hyde’s suicide and the disclosure of his secret to Utterson.
The novella contains some instances of foreshadowing. There are many instances that point to and justify the ending revealing the strange connection between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Utterson’s dream of a terrifying faceless man running a small child down and commanding Dr. Jekyll to rise from bed suggesting the violence and power Mr. Hyde possesses over Dr. Jekyll. Later on, Dr. Jekyll is found with a letter from Mr. Hyde stating that he has left and is undeserving of Dr. Jekyll’s generosity. Utterson then finds that it was Mr. Hyde who had dictated the terms of Dr. Jekyll’s will that states, in the event of the doctor’s disappearance, Mr. Hyde inherits Dr. Jekyll’s fortune. At this moment, it is suggested that there should be an event of Dr. Jekyll’s disappearance. Later in the novel however, it is found that Dr. Jekyll resolved to stop taking the potion and take on the identity of Mr. Hyde. Although Dr. Jekyll was the initial persona, Mr. Hyde is the one who prevails in the end, as Dr. Jekyll ceases to exist. In the same chapter, Utterson consults an expert on handwriting and finds that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s handwriting are eerily similar. Initially, Utterson is alarmed that Dr. Jekyll would forge a murder letter. Of course by the end of the novel it is found that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde share the same body.
The novella in its entirety possesses an indication of rationalism and reservation that both fade into a subtle dark side filled with fantasy and superstition. It puts up an appearance of reservation and dispassion but falls into a more rich use of language, imagery, and dark undercurrents. This illustrates at face value the flow of the story; a man who is seen as upright and respectable becomes a passionate and sinister figure.
The use of foreshadowing takes two flat characters and molds them into men of depth and substance. One man is initially good, while the other is all-evil. As the novella progresses however, certain instances suggest that it is not as simple as good and evil; that a man is not simply made up of such black and white traits. The characters then seize being flat and become round; they have become three dimensional instead of two. The instances of foreshadowing develop the characters and justify the ending of the revelation of a man possessing multiple personalities.