Robert Louis Stevenson had first read a paper in a French scientific journal about sub-consciousness, and this is believed to be the first source of where he got his inspiration to write Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He then co-wrote a play about a town councilor who became a secret criminal at nighttime. This led to his famous novella. What is interesting is that Robert Louis Stevenson claims he had actually never heard of a case of a person with multiple personalities before writing his book. This information seems untruthful. There have been several case studies about people with multiple personalities, including a soldier who established two different personalities after his left cerebral hemisphere was impaired by a gunshot wound. The theory of the double brain is the concept that is portrayed throughout Jekyll and Hyde and is most likely the main scientific component for Stevenson’s inspiration. Multiple personalities were only a concept of discussion in the time that Robertson wrote his novella, not a clinical problem yet.
TWO BRAINS?
The dual brain theory was discussed throughout the nineteenth century postulated that there are actually two independent brains that function in different ways. The left hemisphere was associated with masculinity, reason and linguistic ability while the right brain was considered the feminine aspect of emotions, instincts, and the unconscious. Hyde resembles the right part of the brain: madness, emotion, femininity, and animalistic. Victorian scientists often argue that dual or multiple personality disorders, or other forms of insanity, resulted from an over-enlarged right brain overpowering the rational activities of the left-brain. The right hemisphere only dominated the brains of women, savages, children, criminals and the insane. Jekyll and Hyde creates the idea that the brain sometimes doesn’t only have one dominant side. In this case, Jekyll uses much of his left hemisphere and then changes to the right hemisphere dramatically, which creates asymmetry that indicates corruption and mental illness.
Since the dual-brain theory suggests that two brains work individually for balance, this questions whether people were not simply whole beings, but balancing pieces between two opposing natures in a being.
“…even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both;”
But if the mind during this era was understood at the time to be a balance between both rational and irrational, what was Stevenson’s view on Dr. Jekyll? It’s possibly a very severe imbalance with the “two brains”. There is a clear distinction of appearance and actions between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The link between the explanation of mental disorder in the Victorian Era and the dissimilarity between Jekyll and Hyde’s identities is apparent.
Stiles talks about two patients in specific that have dual or multiple personality disorder, Félida X. and Segeant F. Félida X. is compared to Jekyll in her “young, light and happy” personality. A similarity between Jekyll and the two patients is the way their personalities transform. Félida X. experiences sharp pains and becomes unconscious before she turns to another state. Sergeant F. experiences uneasiness and a dull pain in the head. As Jekyll takes the powder and transforms into Hyde, his symptoms are as said in the novella:
“a qualm…a horrid nausea and the most deadly shuddering. These passed away, and left me faint”.
Sergeant F.’s second personality resembles Hyde because he has animalistic, abnormal qualities. Stevenson decides not to use a woman as the protagonist because it makes the story more edgy. Hyde is a violent, sexual predator, rather than a weak, fallen woman.
There are fascinating connections between the fictional Jekyll and Hyde and Proctor’s scientific case studies. Stevenson also purposely makes a male protagonist to create an irony, because apparently in the middle of the nineteenth century, a majority of psychiatric patients in asylums were women. This was a century where the “madness” or “crazy” side of the brain was feminine, and the side of the brain that had reason and understanding was considered masculine. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde can be read as a critique of some of the nineteenth century’s most respected assumptions about the diagnosis and grouping of medical subjects.
STRANGE CASES
When reading the title The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the words “strange case” gives the audience an impression that what they are reading is a scientific case study. Jekyll and Hyde is considered a Gothic case study. An analyst suggests that Gothic “horror fiction has a generic obligation to evoke fear or suggest mystery,” whereas “science… attempts to contain fear and offer a rational explanation for all phenomena.” Stiles briefly compares Jekyll and Hyde to a few other gothic writes, including Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I have found that there are actually a few similarities between Frankenstein and Jekyll and Hyde. As an addition to their gothic themes, the stories are essentially quite similar in themselves when you think about it. Both main characters are scientists who have a thirst for knowledge and are willing to exceed human limitations. While both Frankenstein and Jekyll had strong curiosity, their initial reactions to their discoveries were different. Frankenstein’s reaction was the abandonment and disgust of the creature he produced, and Jekyll was so intrigued with his potion that he had to see how far he could take this experiment. Both stories ended in many deaths and the inevitable destruction of the protagonists.
“WHICH BRAIN ARE YOU?’
Reading this article shows me a better understanding of the scientific theories back then. I can see how sexism did play a big role. Women were known to be empathetic while men were known to be analytical. Today, there are still theories out there that the two sides of the brain work differently, although gender isn’t really involved. Now, people would just wonder what type of person they are according to which side of the brain they use dominantly. Have you ever heard that left-brained people are more logical and analytical while right-brained people are creative and artistic? Even I am guilty of taking an online quiz on Buzzfeed or some other social media website to discover if I am “right-brained” or “left-brained”. While the two sides of the brain do work differently in some ways, research now would say that someone’s personality doesn’t depend on the functions of the two sides of the brain. All humans use their entire brain equally.
Discussion Questions:
Do you think the novella suffers without any female characters? What would be different about a female protagonist?
What are your thoughts on the dual-brain theory in the Victorian Era, compared to theories about the brain today?
After learning about the dual-brain theory, do you see a different meaning in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Why or why not?
Sources
“Why the Left-Brain Right-Brain Myth Will Probably Never Die.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-myths/201206/why-the-left-brain-right-brain-myth-will-probably-never-die.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Wanjek, Christopher. “Left Brain vs. Right: It’s a Myth, Research Finds.” LiveScience, Purch, 3 Sept. 2013, www.livescience.com/39373-left-brain-right-brain-myth.html.
11 replies on “Anne Stiles, “Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde and the Double Brain”
The novel not including a main female character was something I had noticed myself when originally reading the story for the first time. As unfair as this may sound, not having a female play the role of a love interest was even odd for the time period. The first time we hear of a female in the story was when the female was the first victim of Hyde, leaving a rather inferior theme of women as a start. However, upon reading this blog post it is interesting to think that Stevenson had objected the assumptions of the Victorian Era by having a male antagonist as the main character. Then there is the idea that even when the mentally ill character was a male, the vices that he does possess are power and violence, things that a female character would not be as likely to possess in the Victorian era. I too believe that Jekyll and Hyde uprooted the deep morals of the Victorian Era by unearthing the various taboos that people were unwilling to admit they possess.
I didn’t notice there was a lack of a female character until it was mentioned in class. Perhaps due to the short length of the novel and the professions of the characters were not the roles that women had in 19th century society. I don’t think a love interest would have fit, since Jekyll needed seclusion to perform his experiment and the only character that could have been female may have been the role Poole played. I believe the purpose of the little girl was to illustrate Hyde’s depravity and not a statement on women.
I’ve heard about the dual brain theory, but never with linguistic ability tied in with science, logic and analytic ability. I’ve always known it to be with the creative side. I consider myself a left-brain person, but maybe just because I’ve never tried to develop anything on the right side. The scores on just about every cognitive test I’ve ever taken seem to confirm this.
It’s funny how identifying as right-brained or left-brained leads almost naturally to some kind of measurement, such as cognitive or standardized tests, which have always seemed like kind of a vestige of 19th-century science to me. What is this desire to sort people, measure people, label people? It reminds me of Caleb Williams — or Frankenstein — which both portray characters who are forced to become what they have already been labelled. Perhaps Jekyll and Hyde could be read as an illustration of how that kind of sorting, measuring, and labeling fails, because it fails to account for the whole person.
If we were to purely look at Dr. Jekyll, I would say that he is a good man.He does charity work and throws dinner parties. But Dr. Jekyll has another side to him and that side is evil. After Dr. Jekyll drinks the potion, he morphs into an evil man. It’s important to note that Dr. Jekyll has a conscience and so he can differentiate between right and wrong. It is interesting because Mr. Hyde was doing questionable behaviors and yet he was not sent to an asylum. I was wondering why that was because, during the Victorian age, people were sent there if they were behaving unacceptable.
As Sara stated, during the time period of the Victorian Era, the idea of humans having a double brain was debated throughout the 19th century. Scientists at the time saw the right hemisphere and left hemisphere of the brain having opposite characteristics. The dual brain theory saw the left-brain as the brain of logic and the right brain as the brain of emotion. Learning about this theory after reading Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde made me see a different meaning to the two characters. Dr. Jekyll was portrayed as having a left-brain because he was intelligent, masculine, and logical. Whereas Mr. Hyde was portrayed as having a right brain because he was full of emotion and acted irrationally. The dual brain theory stated that everyone has a double brain, and that a person can have the left and right sides of the brain pulling them more towards a specific side. Dr. Jekyll was slowly being pulled to the right side as the book went on. At the start of the novel, Dr. Jekyll was dominated by his left-brain, but as the novel progresses Dr. Jekyll turns into Mr. Hyde more and more. He can no longer control what is happening to him and Mr. Hyde becomes the dominant personality. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a story about good vs. evil and how there is some darkness in all human beings. It seems to me that Stevenson was influenced by the new theory about dual brains and multiple personalities at the time, and this seemed to play a role in his writing of the opposing characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
I feel that the novella does not suffer from there being very little female characters. We come across 2 women that resemble a weak-minded female, first the little girl who gets trampled by Hyde in the beginning, and second the maid who witnessed the murder of Carew, as he was beaten to death by Hyde. Since none of those women are main characters and really only come into play when Hyde is there doing something bad it makes me wonder if they are written in as observers to his crimes, supporting the theory that Hyde resembled the right part of Dr. Jekyll’s brain. In a way with the dual brain theory being debated in the victorian era as the right side being associated largely with females, children, the insane and criminals it makes sense that Hyde resembled it, because after all his evil was committed he was the one found dead rather than Dr. Jekyll who resembled the right side of masculinity.
While I was reading the novel I also noticed that there was a lack of female characters. There are only two female characters mentioned in the book. The first female we see is the girl that gets trampled by Mr. Hyde. She is described as being “ not much the worse, more frightened,” and a large group of people come to help her. This shows that she is passive and weak. She is passive because Mr.Hyde knocked her over, she is weak because people come to help her. The last female we see in this novel is the maid who saw Carew being murdered, she faints after she sees Mr. Hyde beating the man. The maid can be described as a passive spectator – she wakes up after Mr. Hyde is gone. During the Victorian era, females functioned as beacons of good moral influence. Mr. Hyde’s actions are due to the lack of female characters.
The focus of the novel was never on female, therefore I believe it did suffered. The females mentioned were believed to be irrational in their display. The way a woman protagonist is protrayed in this post is quite different from the original assumptions made by the dual brain theory in the nineteenth century. The generality of the usefulness of the brain is quite similar to both male and female. The dominance of one side of the brain is quite uncommon in today’s world.
I do think that it does suffer without major female characters. Many of the female characters are spectators and aren’t necessarily involved in the direction of the novel. Having a female protagonist would change this direction entirely.
I’m a not a fan of the dual-brain theory, research shows that the terms right and left-brained come from personality types in popular culture, as opposed to being backed by modern research. Additionally, mentioned above by my fellow classmates it’s very unlikely that someone can exist in one specific side and neglect the other, even scientists have to use “both sides of their brain” as per the dual-brain theory when presenting research to an audience in an effective manner besides conducting and analyzing the results.
The dual-brain theory can be viewed as an analogy to the two halves of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in which it shows the ambitions of a coin. Dr. Jekyll is an outgoing person with many friends and Mr. Hyde being mysterious and weird to perceive.
From time immemorial female were considered half a man and this sex supremacy was further propagated during the Victorian era through their concept of the brain theory.
The advancement of science and education has helped debunked myths and assertions such as the Victorian era brain theory; just as black represented the evil and white good in the former days, it was at the mercy of science which is based on empirical deductions to prove otherwise and they did over time.
Robert Louis Stephenson book “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” would have had a different concept if written in our dispensation because he based his book on the scientific beliefs of the Victorian that opined that the left side of the brain is masculine, it represents logic and reasoning while the right side which was considered feminine represented emotions ,unconsciousness and irrationality. The main character whose left brain side was dominant occasionally gets overpowered by his right side and committed spontaneous crimes and corruption.
In my opinion, I don’t think that the novella suffered without any female character. Most stories have a female character play the main male characters love interest but not in this story. When first reading this story I didn’t realize there was no female main character. Even though the story didn’t suffer without a female character I think maybe it would have added a more of an interesting twist to it if there was one.