Some of the interesting symbols that appear in Robert Louis Stevenson's novella are the drug, Jekyll's and Hyde's hands, and the written letters and reports.
While the drug Dr. Jekyll created was meant specifically to separate the good from the evil part of man, it symbolizes addiction to anything that brings out the worst in someone. Jekyll finds himself coming more and more under the influence of Hyde and the drug; eventually, the drug is not required to turn Jekyll into Hyde. Jekyll's struggles to keep Hyde at bay mirror an addict's struggle to remain sober or in control.
Stevenson contrasts Jekyll's hands with Hyde's hands. When Jekyll returns to his own home, falling asleep as Jekyll but waking up as Hyde, he confirms his status by viewing his hand. Hyde's hand is hairy and unattractive, while Jekyll's is "professional in shape and size . . . large, firm,...
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white, and comely." The hand represents the behavior of each identity—as in the saying,whatever you put your hand to. Jekyll's behavior matches the description of his hand, while Hyde's behavior is "thickly shaded."
Stevenson makes use of a number of written documents to tell his story. Whereas Dr. Jekyll's spoken words turn out to be untrustworthy, the written documents signal the truth. Utterson approaches Jekyll about his will, which was changed to give everything to Hyde if anything should happen to Jekyll. Utterson realizes that the new will represents something nefarious between Jekyll and Hyde, although Jekyll won't discuss it. After Carew's murder (which is written about in the papers), Jekyll gives Utterson a letter supposedly composed by Hyde. Utterson again is suspicious, and the document that Jekyll thought would absolve himself in fact becomes a clue to Jekyll's untrustworthiness.
At the end of the novella, everything is revealed to Utterson in a series of documents: Lanyon's letter, the letter Jekyll sent Lanyon, and Jekyll's "Full Statement." These written documents tell the whole shocking truth. The written documents symbolize verifiable truth compared to the duplicity of speech and behavior. Stevenson plays a clever mind game with this symbol, making his written work seem more believable because of the elevated status he gives to written documents in the novella.
One of the most interesting examples of symbolism to my mind in this excellent short story is the way in which the physical description of Dr. Jekyll's house and laboratory mirrors the internal division between himself and Mr. Hyde and exemplifies the dual identity that he has. Note how the house of Dr. Jekyll is described as being very elegant and comfortable. Note the description of the hall we are given as Mr. Utterson is ushered into Dr. Jekyll's house for the first time:
...a large, low-roofed, comfortable hall, paved with flags, warmed (after the fashion of a country house) by a bright, open fire, and furnished with costly cabinets of oak.
Utterson himself regards this room as the "pleasantest... in London." This of course is a symbol of the debonair and socially respectable Dr. Jekyll. Yet the laboratory that lies at the rear of Dr. Jekyll's abode is described in very different terms, as a "certain sinister block of building." Its signs of decay and neglect clearly link to the character of Mr. Hyde and his perversity and evil. Note, too, that both sections of the house overlook different parts of London, so that you would never know that the two sections were actually linked from outside, just as in the same way that you would never imagine that there could be a relationship between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is you looked at them.