illustration of a face with two separate halves, one good and one evil, located above the fumes of a potion

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

by Robert Louis Stevenson

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Themes: Duality in Human Personality

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Building on Freud's work, Carl Jung concentrated on the concepts of extraversion and introversion, recognizing the dual nature frequently observed in human personalities. This duality, especially in the context of an individual's private and public selves, was seen by many of his followers as a universal trait. Subsequent psychologists, such as Karen Horney and Ernest Jones, who were influenced by these early explorations of the unconscious, often included the now antiquated term "split personality" in their studies of abnormal behavior. Today, "dissociation" is more commonly used, describing "processes [that] function independently of the rest of the personality." While professional analysts might explore this phenomenon in more depth, Stevenson uniquely dramatized it in a way that no one else could match.

Expert Q&A

What does Dr. Jackman's wife mean when she says "You're too repressed to have a secret lover" in Jekyll, and how does it relate to the original Jekyll and Hyde novel?

In Jekyll, the modern adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Tom Jackman takes on the role of the new Dr. Jekyll and transforms into his violent alter ego, Mr. Hyde (this is a twist). To avoid hurting his wife and two children, Jackman leaves the family and lives in a secure basement (buried passions). He does not tell his wife what is going on, but as we can see, she does not think that her husband has another lover (he is too repressed).

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Themes: Psychological Insights and Dream Influence

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