Addiction

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson can be read as an allegory about addiction. The language used to describe Dr Jekyll’s relationship with Mr Hyde suggests that he is obsessed with or addicted to the feeling of being Mr Hyde. Hyde represents the dark side of Dr Jekyll’s character, but Hyde is free from the restraints of society. 

In contrast, Dr Jekyll’s whole life is guided by his need to be respectable and successful: “the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition, […] such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high, and wear a more than commonly grave countenance.” (p. 52)

When he develops a drug that releases his inner Mr Hyde, Dr Jekyll quickly becomes addicted to the criminal pleasures of Mr Hyde. He starts to worry that Hyde is beginning to take over h...