Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Addiction

Dead in his own cabinet, the monstrosity that is Dr. Jekyll in his secondary form has no one to blame but himself. However, Jekyll’s own final writings illustrates the role that dependency plays in his life; even the smallest slip up regarding his addiction can result in terrible consequences, such as the death of Sir Danvers Carew: “[I]n my case, to be tempted, however slightly, was to fall” (Stevenson 122). Just as drug addicts and alcoholics face challenges when attempting to quit their euphoric drugs cold turkey, so does Dr. Jekyll. However, unlike addicts in modern times, there are no support groups for Jekyll to find solace in, and he is forced to face his enemy alone. This isolation in dealing with addiction likely stem from the harsh

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was generally regarded as something limited to “the weakness of [the] female patient” (Berridge 454). Typically, it was assumed that only weak-willed women were victims of addiction. Later, it was realized that men could also grow the same dependence as women, as well as that a man facing addiction wasn’t a feminine ignominy. Originally, the drug of choice during this period was opium and other opiates, like laudanum, but as time progressed it was soon realized that these drugs resulted in habits and deaths. However, despite these obvious dependencies taking place in patients, only those with large amounts of wealth could get any sort of treatment for opiate addiction. Even then, those that sought treatment found that their addiction was referred to as an “intemperance habit” (Berridge 456). This reflects the poor opinions people had in the late nineteenth century regarding mental ailments like addiction, which stemmed from the lacking understanding of human physiology and medication that was rampant during the time. They viewed it as a failing of someone’s moral standards, instead of as a disease that had genetic dispositions. This climate was what caused Robert Louis Stevenson to write this tale about addiction in such a negative light, with Dr. Jekyll alone and dead in the shame of his other half due to his dependence on Hyde and the

Jekyll displays several physical and psychological signs of the dependence he has begun to develop for the drug that allows him to become Mr. Hyde and unleash his evils on the world. According to the Americans Addiction Centers website, a chain of national addiction help centers, signs of withdrawal include symptoms like irritability (talk about how he shuts himself off from others), tremors (the premonitory shudder), increasing tolerance (taking the drug more frequently), and denial (I can quit whenever I want quote), along with other indicators. Dr. Jekyll demonstrates the five previously mentioned signs of withdrawal multiple times, proving the addiction that had to have been had for there to be withdrawal. For example, his irritability is shown heavily in the interactions he has with his friends before and after the death of Sir Carew. Prior to Hyde’s murder of Carew, Jekyll and Utterson argue the role of Hyde in Jekyll’s life, to the point where Jekyll outbursts at Utterson that “this is a matter [he] thought [they] had agreed to drop” (Stevenson 66). After the murder of Carew, these instances of irritability because more apparent due to Jekyll’s guilty conscience. After his short bout of good deeds, Jekyll becomes shut off to most of his friends, and when confronted by Utterson in his home demands in a complaining, miserable tone that Utterson know “that [Jekyll] cannot see anyone” (Stevenson 90). His reclusiveness shows his irritability at