Jekyll And Hyde Repression

The War Between Two Sides of One Man

Jekyll and Hyde is a story from the 1880s that presents a different perspective on the reader’s morals. Jekyll was known as a notable man who looked conventional to the average person until he decided to create a drug that separated his moral and immoral sides, in layman's terms the good and evil. The iniquitous energy Hyde gave made people view him as repugnant; they were unable to see that Jekyll and Hyde were one in the same. Jekyll and Hyde are in a competition of will, one repressing the other, both fighting insanity.
Throughout the story, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde both seem to be in a competition of will. This relates to a disorder called Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as Multiple Personality

Well, “...repression refers to omissions rooted in unconscious defensive motives and mediated by inhibitory controls over mental information processing.” (Horowitz and Mardi J 6). This definition works for the type of repression Jekyll was using before he created the drug that separated himself from Hyde. Jekyll repressed his more immoral, undisciplined side in favor of his well-mannered, good-natured self. He created the drug in an effort to not only make a world-changing discovery but to also remove himself from his based passion and desire. “Physiotherapists often encounter less dramatic forms of long-term repression in patients with personality disorders who habitually avoid conscious awareness of certain desires and fears. They may ignore certain aspects of their emotional relationships but repeat the maladaptive pattern and resist understanding it.” (Horowitz and Mardi J 6). The type of repression Jekyll was using on Hyde, however, was much more physical. Jekyll chose to change back and forth for the majority of the story, meaning he was completely in control and was also completely aware of what Hyde was doing. It wasn’t until he created a link between inhumane desire and Hyde, and until he started turning into Hyde without the need for the drug, that there was cause for concern, according to Jekyll. Jekyll repressed Hyde until the last moments so that he might compose his letter to Mr. Utterman before Hyde completely

“Many people have mental health concerns from time to time. But a mental health concern becomes a mental illness when ongoing signs and symptoms cause frequent stress” (Mayo Clinic). You see examples of this throughout the story of the Strange Case of Jekyll & Hyde. Jekyll was constantly experiencing symptoms like “Confused thinking or reduced ability to concentrate, excessive fears or worries, or extreme feelings of guilt, extreme mood changes of highs and lows, Withdrawal from friends and activities, inability to cope with daily problems or stress” (Mayo Clinic). Contrastingly, who is to say that he was this way before creating the drug that made the separation creating Hyde? “A large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a stylish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness” (Stevenson, 9), is how he was described before the separation. Though he may appear to be collected on the outside he could have been dealing with Hyde mentally for way longer “Mental illness symptoms can affect emotions, thoughts, and behaviors.” (Mayo Clinic). Which could have caused him to create the drug in hopes of setting himself free from what was going on inside his