“Many a man would have blazoned such irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high views that I had set before me I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame.” (42)
This quote is directly explaining why Jekyll wanted to explore the “Hyde” or “evil” side of the person he had become. Society has a moral code that Jekyll knew he must follow, yet at the same time he had inner thoughts and feelings that conflicted with the societal norm. He felt shamed by his desires and knew he must suppress them. This created a monster within Jekyll- Hyde-that eventually needed to be let loose.
The language used in this quote highlights the extreme shame Jekyll was feeling. The words Stevenson uses to describe Jekyll’s irregularities- that Jekyll was guilty of irregularities, the morbid sense of shame- all have a negative connotation to them. Guilty is usually used to describe the verdict of a crime and is extremely harsh. Morbid is daunting and depressing. This demonstrates Jekyll was feeling extreme shame because of what society would have done to him had they found out about his irregularities.
This quote is a very telling part of the novel as we see how Hyde was born. Hyde had not always been within Jekyll. He was formed within Jekyll years after Jekyll’s birth. My realization is that society is to blame for the creation of the monster. As Warner wrote in the “Trouble with Normal,”
“All too commonly, people think not only their own way of living is right, but that it should be everyone else’s moral standard as well.” (4)
we see that society dictates what is normal and what is irregular.Why do we accept this? Why does almost everyone feel the need to at least try to fit into what society dictates to be the perfect mold? Jekyll was forced to hide his irregularities just as many of us do to fit into society. We all have our own Hyde’s within us, hiding from societal norms; we just do not let them out to explore.