What does Dr. Jekyll mean when he says that "man is not truly one, but truly two"? What is it about De. Jekyll himself that leads him to this conclusion? Reference : Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson

 

In chapter 10 of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, human duality is partially discussed as Jekyll says "man is not truly one, but truly two."

Jekyll means that he agrees with his contemporary peers that all individuals have both a good and a bad side, and that each is independent from one another. Jekyll means that there are two sides of his personality. When Jekyll ascertains that everyone has this same capacity to be good and bad, he also means that within each of us, there's a battle between an angel and a fiend.

Throughout Jekyll's letter, it is shown that human nature is made up of a series of oppositions—good and bad, moral and intellectual, etc. Jekyll tries to bring moral conscience and rational analysis to investigate and explore the question which drove his experiment. Victorian society separates the good from the evil in human nature to purify it. Like Jekyll, he sought to unify his soul as a natural, wholesome quest.

Dr. Jekyll realized this through his experience with being both himself and Mr. Hyde. He found out that there are really two sides to him, saying that he and all people is made up of two sides: good side and a bad side.

Dr. Jekyll's idea was to get a potion that could split the good and the evil that inhabits the individual so that they each act individually. The potion would take the fiend, who is Hyde out of the angel, who is Dr. Jekyll, and each would be their own person. However, Jekyll ended up creating bad versions of both.

Dr Jekyll is a good man and admired in his profession. While, Mr Hyde, is the opposite, as he is a murderer; a monster who tramples upon a small girl. However, the comparison is also between evolution and degeneration.