Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Recently I've read a story by R.L.Stevenson entitled "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde". While reading it I had a vague feeling that I might have read this story long time ago, may be even when I was a kid. But back to the point. I think it is quite symbolic that this story was written in the U.K. in XIX century. It was then that the notorious English primness reached its apogee. All these ladies and gentlemen, tuxedos and the stringent etiquette. Life of an every average or higher class person was at the time very much regulated by a protocol. Well, at least, this is how I see it.

This was the context in which Stevenson's story has appeared. The ode to the dual nature of a human being. Very logical, it seems to me.

Even though human nature can somewhat be concealed by the social norms, it cannot be completely suppressed. It's normal for a person to not always be "proper". All of us at some point may want, so to say, "break the system", i.e. act against rules of the social contract, following exclusively our own nature which roots in our animal ancestry.

Stevenson's story is a parable teaching us that every healthy personality has two side two it, bright and dark one. Bright side is typically brought to the front, whereas every attempt is made to conceal the dark one, although this varies. But no social norm or etiquette can eradicate one of the sides (typically, it's the dark one which one tries to eradicate). This always was this way, it is this way even now. This is the reason why concert halls, art galleries and high-profile social clubs will always co-exist with brothels, casinos and vices. Human is an animal, after all. Even though an intelligent and thinking one. Our dark side, although suppressed by the modern civilized world, is still there, lurking in the twilight of our consciousness, waiting for an appropriate moment to manifest itself.