To Restrain Or To Release: Interpreting The Character Of Dr. Jekyll In R. L. Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of Robert Louis Stevenson's novels. Henry Jekyll is a respectable and kind doctor in London. He keeps on researching a way to release the other side of him. He invents a kind of potion. After drinking it, all the elements of evil in his body concentrate, and make him transfer to another person: Hyde, as he is called.Dr. Jekyll is analyzed by many experts and scholars at home and abroad. Most of the studies of Dr. Jekyll are from the perspective of ethics and dual personality. There are a few people who mention that Hyde equals with the id. Based on Vladimir Nabokov's analysis of Dr. Jekyll, this thesis uses the structure of personality theory to interpret the psychological mechanism of Dr. Jekyll.Mr. Nabokov thinks that Dr. Jekyll is a composite being; Mr. Hyde does not form of pure evil; and there is a third, which is made up of the elements of good. According to the structure of personality theory, Dr. Jekyll equals with the ego that represents reason, obeys the external world rules and the reality-principle; Mr. Hyde follows no rules, obtains satisfaction with the pleasure-principle; the third is the superego who holds up certain norms of behavior.The id and the superego are often in conflicts and contradictions, which are always mediated by the ego. If the three are out of balance, the person would have psychological problem, or mental disease. Mr. Hyde is the impulsion desires of Dr. Jekyll, which is restrained by the ego. By drinking the potion, Dr. Jekyll releases his id. Hyde is so happy to do whatever he wants, but Jekyll is regretful and painful towards what Hyde has done, which is the punishment from the superego, or the third. The drug lost its effect, which worsens the conflicts inside Dr. Jekyll. He finishes his own life to end those sufferings. The purpose of this thesis is to alarm modern people to care about their psychological health, and choose a proper way to restrain and release their impulsive desires.