Duality's Displacement

Author's Note: After doing 3 creative type pieces I decided that for my last response on Jekyll and Hyde, I would go back to more of a literary analysis/fact based response, just to switch things up. After finishing up reading I knew that the dependency on the drug had to be symbolic of a certain defense mechanism so I looked back in my notes to try and figure out what it could possibly represent. Because Jekyll/Hyde tried to avoid dealing with problems as themselves they "displaced" their emotions from reality to the drug that brought them their escapism, giving me my inspiration for my final writing response.

Displacement is the redirecting of thoughts, feelings, and impulses, directed at one person or object, but taken out upon another innocent victim. In the short story Jekyll and Hyde, each character, trapped in their own extremes, represent the evils that lie beneath a pure human heart and the harmful side effects of taking out these feelings and evil mindsets with a potentially fatal decision.

Henry Jekyll – a well to do doctor – found his escape from reality at the bottom of a red vile, giving him the ability to act out against society and react to the evilness that lay within him. Jekyll proposes the question as to whether or not we are born wholly good, or if savage instincts exist within us, only to be brought out in extremities. Edward Hyde was a man that cannot easily be described, “There [was] something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable.” If Hyde was looked so far down upon, feared, and thought to be the face of evil, why would a man such as Henry Jekyll, who seemed to be living a life of luxury, want to transform himself into the animalistic representation of humanity? Scientific studies, as conducted by scientists such as Sir Francis Galton have been created to try and explain the duality that takes place due to our nurture, and our instincts; however, it has not yet been proven as to why humans result to the projection of their feelings onto others; “displacing” the feelings of their initial anger or dissatisfaction with themselves.

Teens going through depression, or those who put themselves under large amounts of stress, turn to self harm, acting out onto others, or potentially suicide. Countless lives have been lost due to the underlying side effects of their displacement, adding Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde to the list as well. By relying on a drug to be rid of the hardships that they were forced to face, the moment it could not provide the pleasure they hoped to achieve, life could not be gone about in the same manner, bringing both of their lives to an end.

By placing personal struggles onto another victim, the doors are open for error and possible death. Dealing with hardships in a displeasing manner has the ability to turn fatal, causing more and more lives to be lost because of it. Jekyll and Hyde were unable to cope with their unsettled emotions – their extreme ways of life – forcing them to continually descend into the gallows of unhappiness and displeasure.