Quotation:
“Henry Jekyll stood at times aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde; but the situation was apart from ordinary laws, and insidiously relaxed the grasp of conscience. It was Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty. Jekyll was no worse; he woke again to his good qualities seemingly unimpaired; he would even make haste, where it was possible, to undo the evil done by Hyde. And thus his conscience slumbered.” (81)
Comment:
Dr. Jekyll starts off this chapter by noting his goodness of character, which should make him the more morally sound half of the title pair, but this quote suggests that Jekyll isn’t either of those things. Since Jekyll is Hyde and is aware of Hyde’s actions, the ignorance Jekyll feigns when confronted with his other half’s activities is an allowance to Hyde’s evil. In other words, if Jekyll was really an upstanding member of his community who abhorred Hyde’s evil ways, he shouldn’t have been okay knowing the Hyde was causing pain and suffering. I think when Jekyll first became Hyde, all of the negative and evil tendencies in Jekyll were concentrated in this new form, but I don’t think Jekyll himself ever eliminated those urges. It wasn’t like Hyde was a new body that Jekyll created, but rather it was another side of Jekyll that was pent up in his same body and mind. All of the bad that existed in Hyde would also still exist in Jekyll, but Jekyll didn’t realize that that side of him was in control until it was too late.
Question:
Was Jekyll influenced by Hyde to find justifications for his darker side’s actions or was this of Jekyll’s own volition? What does this say about Jekyll’s character before Hyde came to be?
