Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Analysis:
Robert Louis Stevenson specifically chose to create characters that describe the duality of human nature.  The characters he created were Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  Stevenson specifically writes his novella to highlight the fact that they are foils of each other.  

In Chapter 1, Mr Hyde is described as "deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn't specify the point"  and just downright "displeasing".  This is important because in the Victorian era the disabled and deformed were thought to be ugly as they were the complete opposite of the ideal Victorian man.  Furthermore, the idea of deformity gives the reader the idea that he comes from an impoverished background.  Thus, the idea that he would be working with the doctor (a high status man) is seen as wrong in terms of the Victorian social norms.  People were supposed to stick to their classes, which further attributes a sense that something is wrong to the character of Mr. Hyde.  

Furthermore, in the passage in Chapter 1, Mr. Hyde is described as if he was "The World's Smallest Horse" at the fair.  There are huge statements being made, without exact details being told about the person/animal.  This plays to the mystery of his character and draws in the mind to create the worst monster it can think of.  In doing this the mind creates a scarier image than anything Stevenson can write down on the page.

In Chapter 6, Dr. Jekyll is described as having come "out of his seclusion, renewed relations with his friends, became more their familiar guest and entertainer" and being once a "rosy man".  In terms of the Victorian standard, Dr. Jekyll was the ideal man.  He is portrayed as a friendly, kind, fun, and handsome man.  It is implied that he follows all other social norms, except that of working with and befriending Mr. Hyde.  He seems to be an open book and this is drastically different from Mr. Hyde, who we as the reader know virtually nothing about.  

Through both analyzes it can be understood that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde foil each other in terms of their adherence to social norms and their personal transparency.  This topics, more relatively, can be describes as the dichotomy of appearance vs. reality of man.  Stevenson continues to push this dichotomy even further as he begins to blend the characters into one later in the novella. 

Poem:

Dr. Jekyll	Mr. Hyde
I know who I am.	Who am I?
I am a doctor and respectable man.	Am I a man or an animal?
I think that I enjoy having fun with my friends.	I think I am a man.
Entertaining is taxing.	Pretending is taxing.
Enough is enough.	Enough is enough.
I don’t want to hide my feelings any longer.	I don’t want to be Hyde.
I want to just be me.	I want to just be me.

The poem was intended to initially display the stark differences of the 2 characters, but over the course of the poem understand that they are the same.  In doing so it comments on how Victorian society calls for people to decide what they are (good or evil) and not be able to live in limbo of the two.