Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

Within the book The strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, consists of a constant battle between good and evil. Dr.Jekyll was the good side, and Mr.Hyde was the purest of evil. This lead to the question of our book, “What is the nature of good and evil?  In my opinion, the answer is the evil goes hand in hand with insanity, and good is undertaking actions for the betterment of others, instead of your own selfish needs. Pure evil may exist, and always will because it can never truly be drowned out, while there can be no pure good, but also there will always be good in the world.

The book even talks about the insanity of evil, on page 71. It says, “I declare, at least, before god, no man morally sane could have been guilty of that crime under so pitiful a provocation.” I have pulled from this that only those of insanity can commit such vile crimes with little reason. The definition of insanity fits Mr.Hyde perfectly; the state of being seriously mentally ill; madness, and extreme foolishness or irrationality. Mr.Hyde was extremely ill, he was created through drugs and evil brought up through Dr.Jekyll. He was mad, as sudden burst of anger always led to death or extreme injury. Insanity in basic terms also means not knowing the difference between right and wrong. Mr.Hyde was extreme terms of that. All he ever did was kill and cause destruction through sudden decisions. That is the nature of evil; insanity. I’m sure you all have had burst of anger before, and when we cannot contain it, you can have a killer attitude. Often, anger leads us to tear down what we have built up, and when it passes, we tend to regret it. Anger, evil and hatred lead us to forget what is right and wrong, just like Mr.Hyde was oblivious to those terms.

            There are many other natures of good, mostly willing to do the right thing, but is weaker then evil, and will not win against evil. One quote in Chapeter 10,“A moment before I had been safe of all men's respect, wealthy, beloved –the cloth laying for me in the dining-room at home; and now I was the common quarry of mankind, hunted, houseless, a known murderer, thrall to the gallows.” Not only does good benefit you, as you earn those respect, love, and wealth but you are safe within it. That is the nature of good, to be respectful, express love, and helping others, giving them safety. In return, you get the same. One downside to this is that good is weaker then evil, and that is displayed more and more as the book continues. On the very last page, it is clearly shown when it says, “Here, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up this confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Dr.Jekyll to and end.” No matter what, good wont win the battle of good vs. evil.

To conclude my speech, pure good will never be true, while pure evil will. Insanity leads to evil, as even in another quote it says “All human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone, in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil.” Goodness comes from, respect, love, and helping others. Evil is inside all of us, as Mr.Hyde was inside Dr.Jekyll. All we can do is not let it triumph over our humanity.