The gothic novella ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ by Robert Louis Stevenson is about a doctor named Dr. Henry Jekyll who invents a serum that turns him into the evil, violent, and ugly criminal Edward Hyde. The story starts off with the lawyer, Mr. Gabriel John Utterson, discussing about Mr. Hyde with his cousin Mr. Richard Enfield. After Hyde kills an elderly gentleman named Sir Danvers Carew, the police notify Mr. Utterson, who suspects Hyde. When they tried to search for Hyde, he was nowhere to be seen. Then Dr. Lanyon suddenly dies. Before his death, he gives Dr. Utterson a letter, telling him not to open until the death of Dr. Jekyll, a long time friend. Soon after, Dr. Jekyll’s butler, Mr. Poole comes over, and reports that Dr. Jekyll shut himself in his laboratory and doesn’t sound like himself anymore. So, with Utterson, Poole goes to the laboratory and breaks the door, only to find the body of Hyde with Jekyll’s clothes on. When Dr. Utterson opens the letter, he finally understands everything, about how Dr. Jekyll had turned into Mr. Hyde with his serum and eventually killed himself.
Supernatural occurrences can be hard to anticipate and believe, where it may seem strange to many. Supernatural refers to the occurrence where the happenings exceed the law of nature, which defines the principles of human and animal nature. In the book, the supernaturalism comes from Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll himself is very normal, he’s just a doctor trying to explore the dark side of science with his hidden evilness he wants to release. What makes him odd is what he actually makes. The supernatural part occurs when Dr. Jekyll makes a potion to turn him into someone else. Making a transformation potion, obviously, is not something one will do. Plus, from the potion, he turned into Mr. Hyde, someone exceedingly evil and a combination of hatred, evilness, violence, murderer, and ugliness - it was all from the science lab. Although supernaturalism rarely occurs, it is still a very fascinating sight to see something like it when it actually occurs. Realistically and according to human nature, most won’t believe what one is being told, especially with odd occurrences, and they will only approve when they actually see it. That’s exactly the case with supernatural things. People always do weird things, and when they do, supernaturalism keeps it the way it is.
Subjects can have more than one side or perspective, and that’s exactly the case with the dark side of science. As one knows, the normal side of science is conducting experiments, observing the results, and analyzing the data, etc. In the book, Dr. Jekyll explores the dark side of science through his potion. When he feels like he is being divided into a good and evil person, he uses the dark side of science to turn into Mr. Hyde. While the potion was a creation by a respectable, smart, handsome, and generous scientist, the result still lacks the basics of moral and ethical aspects in one. Furthermore, the result of Mr. Hyde is someone who lacks and forgets humanity, lacking compassion, sympathy, and warmth, and instead a cruel and brutal person. The dark side of science is usually the evil side of it, whereas it is the trait where one usually doesn't think about that often. The dark side of one might also be the reason for doing unnatural or strange things. One often tries to hide their more negative side, and it often gets submerged by one’s thoughts. But, one can still get access to it unconsciously anytime. That's how the dark side of science appears - when one is unconscious of what they are doing because of a negative trait. The dark side of science is the negative or darker side of the usual science one experiences in life, where one contacts it unintentionally.
A divided self can happen at any time, usually when one wants to do something bad but tries to stop themselves from their good side. One can be divided into two different thoughts that cause one to have disagreements with themselves. In the book, Dr. Jekyll got divided into two different personalities. Although he was well-respected and smart, he still wanted to do something evil. When one part of his body told him to do something evil, the other part controlled him and told him not to. So, eventually, half of him turned evil to make the potion while the other half stayed normal. Dr. Jekyll, in this case, didn’t have enough self-control to prevent himself from making the potion. Meanwhile, Mr. Utterson has enough self control to make it a habit. If one doesn’t have enough self-control, they will eventually become divided into two parts and the dark side will start doing negative things. But, if someone has enough self-control, they will be able to control themselves before they do anything bad. Self control is also something important for someone. Although self-control can be hard for certain individuals, it is still possible if one tries their best to do so. A divided self can be hard to control, but one can still get enough access to prevent themselves from choosing the evil side.
Supernatural occurrences, the dark side of science, and a divided self are all important aspects of the novella ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. Supernaturalism can be confusing at first, where the different cases are beyond the laws of nature. The supernaturalism in the book comes from Dr. Jekyll’s creation. Although Dr. Jekyll himself is a perfectly normal scientist, what he does is obviously very disturbing and strange. Usually when one comes to think about it, no one makes a potion to transfer them into someone else; only Dr. Jekyll does that. The dark side of science usually comes from the dark side of someone, when they are unconscious of what they are doing. When Dr. Jekyll was exploring the dark side of science, his creation was a creature lacking basic moral and ethics, although it was created by a well-respected, smart, and generous scientist. A divided self can have many impacts on one, most of it negative. When Dr. Jekyll tried to do something evil, he got divided into two parts, where one of them tells him to do it, and the other tells him not to do so.
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