What Key Moments And Decisions Determine Jekyll's Fate

20.10.14 Sy Chia Ng Liu 800 words

Discuss Jekyll's progression throughout the novel and his fall from grace. What key moments and decisions determine Jekyll's fate? Identify these specific moments and analyze the aspects of Jekyll's character that force him to continue with his experiments.
In the novella “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” Dr. Jekyll decides to push the boundaries of
science and take the supernatural into their own hands making a determination of his own Destiny. R.L. Stevenson presents to us a fine example of supernatural fiction about the dual nature of mankind. One might argue that each human kind has a Mr. Hyde ‘hiding’ inside, fighting for one’s soul, and only time and experimentation is needed so that this takes place - there is a spiritual battle between good and evil, not only outside, but inside of one and if we are not careful, the evil will take over, just as Mr. Hyde does.
In the narrative “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde” there are several reasons in which one could explain Jekyll’s fall from grace and why he continued with his experiments. One of the explanations would be the discovery of the drug and how it works; this is show by the quote: “For two good reasons, I will not enter deeply into this scientific branch of my confession. First, because I have been made to learn that the doom and burthen of our life is bound for ever on man's shoulders, and when the attempt is made to cast it off, it but returns upon us with more unfamiliar and more awful pressure.” Similar to other addicts, Jekyll has an unsuccessful attempt at stopping his drug use. This makes Jekyll fall from grace and into temptation as he thinks that he has a massive amount of power within him through the drug. It also reflects on how at first the drug use seems harmless but after a period of time this would harm him severely- that even he paid it with his own life. (Likewise real drug-addicts)
One of the most important reasons of guiding Jekyll onto his fall from grace and leading him to sin is the fact that Jekyll had curiosity and “greed” towards the aspect of human duality and controlling the pure good and the pure evil in human nature.
This is shown in the quote: “I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both” This explains Dr. Jekyll's inability to accept his humanity and the natural flaws which come along with one’s state of existence leading to his creation of a potion meant to separate those flawed and evil parts of him from those that were purely good and kind. This links back to the point of the discovery of the drug, as this potion was inadequate and happened to transform Dr. Jekyll's frequently as well as unintentionally into Hyde, a man of pure evil with "Satan's signature" written across his face, which links back onto the explanation about Jekyll’s drug
use.
The fall from grace and Jekyll’s impulses that makes him continue with his experiments are also created by social pressure in which there is a part of his character which he has to contain in order to fit in into Victorian aesthetic of “civilized” and maintain his respectable image; Jekyll claims, "man is not truly one, but truly two.” It is this which leads to believe that man is divided into good and bad and that these two aspects of his being could be separated. If he could rid himself of 'evil' or negative aspects of his personality, he thought he will find being a respectable and upstanding member of the community less difficult. When he has a taste and the temptation of allowing his 'evil' side have full power upon him, he enjoys it and finds it hard to break himself of the habit of indulging the dark side of his personality. Making him fall into temptation - as most of the time the subject of one’s desire is often more desirable because it's forbidden and in this case also immoral.
One of the most obvious decisions Jekyll took to determine his destiny was to commit suicide; as by making this choice, Jekyll unburdens his soul and made this critical confession. He did not know what fate will befall Hyde. At that moment, his fate was out of his hands. This is shown in the quote: “Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end.” This means that Jekyll can no longer manage the situation, and neither can he control Hyde from committing depravities naturally. This leads to Jekyll to surrender to the immoral side of humanity, and leaving him with this eternal unsolved perplexity of if the fate of Hyde would be strong enough to take over onto another life likewise he was able to take over Jekyll’s - this links back onto the duality of Jekyll’s personality.
One may argue that Stevenson’s story is presenting the idea about the average human being having two sides -- one side that is good and one that is evil. The story is showing that these sides coexist within each human being. Finally, one may think that the story is telling us that the evil side is the stronger and is likely to defeat the good side over time, as it did with Jekyll telling that it is easier to fall into temptation and fall from grace as Jekyll did.