This month we read the book "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." This book dealt with the tendency for humans to have two sides to them; good and evil. I thought that question number 14 in our Socratic Seminar was very interesting. This question asked whether or not Jekyll and Hyde were the same person. I do believe that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same person however they have different motives behind their actions. For example, Dr. Jekyll's motive to get in touch with his Mr. Hyde side was that he wanted to feel what it was like to be "evil," and he never intentionally meant for anyone to get hurt. However, once he came in touch with Mr. Hyde he became consumed with evil thoughts and he no longer could control himself.
This can relate back to the play that we read called "Dr. Faustus." Within this play Dr. Faustus was becoming in touch with the Devil and he tried to bribe Dr. Faustus to give up his soul to him. When Dr. Faustus is in the midst of making this difficult decision he has two sides that are trying to persuade him; the good angel and the evil angel. This is very similar to the good and evil sides that live within Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde can also relate back to real life. Think back on a time when you thought that you knew someone and they turned out being completely different than your original view. This has happened to a lot of people including myself. There was one time when I became very close to a new friend and after being friends for about three whole months she acted in a way that I had never seen her act before. It was as though I did not know her at all. This shows how it is almost human nature to have a good and evil side within them that can end up showing at different times. It also shows that there are often times when no matter how hard we try, our evil side with reign supreme to our good side.
