Stevenson and Conrad: The Duality of Human Nature

As the Heart of Darkness snakes its way into the savage shadows of the African continent, Joseph Conrad exposes a psycho-geography of the collective unconscious in the entangling metaphoric realities of the serpentine Congo. Conrad’s novella descends into the unknowable darkness at the heart of Africa, taking its narrator, Marlow, on an underworld journey of individuation, a modern odyssey toward the center of the Self and the center of the Earth. Ego dissolves into soul as, in the interior, Marlow encounters his double in the powerful image of ivory-obsessed Kurtz, the dark shadow of European imperialism. The dark meditation is graced by personifications of anima in Kurtz’ black goddess, the savagely magnificent consort of the underworld,

This essay will focus on how Robert Louis Stevenson presents the nature of evil through his novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. Using ideas such as duality, the technique used to highlight the two different sides of a character or scene, allegories, an extended metaphor which has an underlying moral significance, and hypocrisy; in this book the Victorians being against all things evil but regularly taking part in frown able deeds that would not be approved of in a ‘respectable’ society. This links in with the idea of secrecy among people and also that evil is present in everyone. The novel also has strong ties and is heavily influenced by religion. Stevenson, being brought up following strong

    Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is full of oppositions.  The most obvious is the juxtaposition of darkness and light, which are both present from the very beginning, in imagery and in metaphor.  The novella is a puzzling mixture of anti-imperialism and racism, civilization and savagery, idealism and nihilism.  How can they be reconciled?  The final scene, in which Marlow confronts Kurtz's Intended, might be expected to provide resolution.  However, it seems, instead, merely to focus the dilemmas in the book, rather than solving them.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, explores the duality of human nature. He writes this novel to show us that humans have split personalities, and that there are two sides to human’s personality: good and evil. In the late-Victorian literature, duality appears to be a common theme; serving as a way for modern readers to analyze late-Victorian literature and culture. Stevenson weaves throughout the novel a theme of duality + which appears in the characters of both Jekyll and Hyde as well as in Stevenson’s characterization of London itself.

In the story “Heart Of Darkness” The author Conrad uses many different contrast to form the theme of the story.Three things lead to the important meaning of the novel, They are the Europeans and the savages and the evil present in every man. All of the contrasts in this story add up to one idea, No one is safe from the darkness and no one is safe from there inner evil. When people are placed in an area where greed and hate fulfill their heart, darkness will live

“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson and “Macbeth” by Shakespeare are novels that involve the theme of duality through good and evil aspects. Duality refers to having two parts, often with opposite meanings, like the duality of good and evil. In both the novels, the theme of duality is portrayed through setting, sleep, human nature and appearance. This literary technique is used to show the extremes of good and evil, and by using these elements, authors are able to cover an entire spectrum of good and evil through the several themes.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson centers on humanity as a dual in nature. We are confronted with the theory of a dual human nature explicitly only after having witnessed all of the events of the novel, including Hyde’s crimes and his ultimate eclipsing of Jekyll. The novel serves as a reminder of how all humans have some sort of darkness that is deeply rooted within them, all they have to do is release it from its hiding place. The story focuses on a man, Dr. Jekyll, and his descent into madness while turning into Mr. Hyde late at night and committing atrocious crimes. The duality of man can be measured by his ability to hold back the evil parts of himself and not by his ability to carry it out.

Stevenson's novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, is a great example of a Victorian novel, by showing the prominence of reputation, and using London's urban setting. In this article, the novel is discussed using a religious framework, and Freud's theory of the mind. It also uses the ideals of good versus evil in dualism. Dualism is defined as the thought that facts about this world in, general or of a particular class, cannot be explained except by without using 2 principles (Singh, Shubh M., and Subho Chakrabarti.). Robert Balfour Louis Stevenson was a born in Scotland.

Conrad uses light as a symbol of civilization. Just as darkness is defined as the absence of light, the black jungle represents the absence of white man’s civilization - a civilization marked by corruption and evil. Conrad’s description of Brussels in part one is an example of how he uses detail to convey deeper meaning. “In a very few hours I arrived at a city that always made me think of a white sepulcher.” (953) It is significant that Conrad describes the building Marlow departs from as a white coffin, because the offices in that building are driven by greed and their job is sending men out to their almost certain deaths. The white men in the white town send sailors in search of their white prize, ivory. This cycle of evil begins and ends in this town. Describing the town as white is deceptive, because the town itself possesses an ominous feeling of death. This symbolizes the deception of all the sailors who come to this town in hopes of finding fortune and are sent to their deaths. Conrad makes it clear that this is a deception not found in the darkness of the jungle. When Marlow approaches dying slaves in the darkness of a shaded cove, he states: “They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now, - nothing but black

     Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a story about a man named Marlow and his Journey into the African Congo. By reading the novel and understanding all the imagery Conrad has inserted, we can get a better understanding of the

But if one accepts the title as meaning, in essence, "the heart which has the quality of being dark," one has to consider the associations of "darkness." Though darkness ordinarily connotes evil, Conrad brings still more ambiguities about light and dark into the mix as the novel progresses. Ivory, a constant presence in the novel, gains associations with the horrors of European colonialism and human materialism. The whiteness of ivory, therefore, cannot denote the positive, pure associations normally used by writers. Most critics believe "the story is set in light and dark polarities" (Ong 61), but clearly, there is vagueness and ambiguity throughout the novel. If one attempts to answer any such questions, still more arise. Watts validly concludes that the title offers "a certain disturbing mysteriousness through the immediate possibility of alternative glosses" (55).

The novel “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde“ by Robert Louis Stevenson discusses dualism and internal conflict. All the individuals have two kinds of distinguishable sides exist which are good and evil; in the book, Dr. Jekyll represents the good and Mr. Hyde represents the evil. Not only Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, other character’s perspective toward the dualism is revealed. Especially in time period when the book is published, is called Victorian London, the period of Queen Victoria’s reign from 20 June 1837 until her death. It differs between wealth class Victorians and poor class Victorians. Poor Victorians had a rough and hard life, often ending up in the workhouse or early death, Additionally, people who are rich had many pressure

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness contrasts light and darkness, to represent the civilized and uncivilized sides of the world. Conrad uses light to represent the civilized side of humanity while contrasting the dark with the uncivilized and savage. Throughout the thematic stages of the novel, that is the Thames river London, the company's office in Belgium, the journey to the "heart of darkness" and the conclusion, light and dark is used to represent these sides of humanity, but on a deeper level many assumptions of darkness and light are challenged, with the appearance of light and dark, and in turn good and evil contrasting with the reality.

In the book, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad we are introduced to the concept of light and dark as they relate to the people of Africa and the people of Europe. In the beginning of the book the intro gives an insight into the journey that the main character, Marlow, is about to embark on. Conrad symbolically introduces the sun setting on the river as Marlow enters the mouth of the Thames. Conrad reveals this allegory by indicating that Marlow is about to enter a dark place morally, and physically as a reference to the Negro people of Africa. Light and dark are used by Conrad to represent morality and immorality.

It has been said that although Conrad may not have been 'the greatest novelist, he was certainly the greatest artist every to write a novel';. I feel that this is an apt description of Conrad's writing style in Heart of Darkness (1902), as he paints many verbal pictures by using expressive words and many figurative descriptions of places and people. An extensive use of words relating to colour, is evident throughout the novella. The idea of darkness (and light) is emphasized from the title of the novella, and continues to play an important role throughout in the story .