Here, the “two” could refer to both the civilised side of humanity – which is represented by the upper class and very respectable Henry Jekyll – and the “beast within,” Hyde. He uses the adjective “truly” – which simply means honestly, or factually – to emphasise himself. Here, Jekyll observes that there are, in fact, two people within each of us. It’s not just that he does wrong, he is evil in its purest form. Here, however, Hyde is described as “ pure evil.” The adjective emphasises that Hyde is nothing except “ evil,” suggesting something that has only previously existed as the Devil himself – an almost religious idea. In some ways, this creates a similar sympathy for Hyde as we might feel for Frankenstein’s Monster, since neither asked to be created. Here, the adjective “ alone” emphasises how unique and isolated Hyde was. The adjective “primitive” also relates to original or basic, and here Stevenson is suggesting that at our most basic levels humans have many layers.Įdward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil The stative verb “ duality” could be seen to represent the good and bad sides of each of us, in a religious context or the double lives that were being lived by Victorian gentlemen, as they balance their sordid pleasures with their desire to appear respectable or as a part of Freud’s structural theory where the Ego (Jekyll) contains both the Super-Ego (Victorian society) and the Id (Hyde). In this quote, Jekyll is realising that there are actually two people in each of us.
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