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Owen Stayton

Mrs.Hale

ENGL-1302-DC008

30 January 2024

Art Analysis

In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson utilizes the

duality of good vs evil, what man is supposed to do vs man’s desires, that man is forced to

confront daily. Stevenson uses this duality to comment on how man is supposed to reconcile the

good vs his wants and desires.

When trying to generate a picture, I was trying to get one that shows man's inherent good

vs evil nature. I wanted to find an image that shows a split in man to signify this duality. I wanted

to use an art style that was straightforward and easy to rationalize the intentions of the art. I

messed around with a lot of different art styles but found that neoclassicism worked the best with

what I desired. Chat-GPT defines neoclassicist art as “Neoclassicism was an artistic and

intellectual movement that emerged…Inspired by the ideals of ancient Greek and Roman art and

culture, neoclassical artists sought to revive the principles of classical art, emphasizing clarity,

order, and rationality.” Neoclassicism worked best with my straightforward approach because,

under neoclassicism, artwork that is exacting and incontrovertible to multiple analyses is

virtuous. I consider this art because the piece has an obvious intention behind it and is partly

aesthetically pleasing to look at.

At the beginning of the book, Stevenson introduces the characters Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde.

Both of these characters represent the complete opposite of each other. Dr.Jeckyl is seen as a

charitable and outstanding citizen while Mr.Hyde is seen as a recluse undesired citizen. These
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characters are viewed this way because of their actions, like Dr.Jeckyl’s charity or Mr.Hyde’s

wrongful acts, but also because of how they look. Dr.Jeckyl is presented as a neat, kind, and

orderly man but Mr.Hyde is presented as being hideous. Stevenson uses opposite descriptions of

Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde at the beginning of the book in order to invoke imagery that completely

separates the two as complete opposites of one another. This is the start of Stevenson trying to

comment on the duality man is faced with. Stevenson tries to show that we’re in constant battle

with the expected good, or the outstanding citizen, vs the bad, our private wants and desires. As

the story progresses it is found out that Dr.Jekyll is Mr.Hyde. Dr.Jeckyll created a formula that

allows him to transform into someone who brings out the worst possible version of themselves.

Dr.Jeckyll creates the formula to release and free certain repressed and bad desires that he would

not be able to satisfy normally without ruining his image and reputation. This duality of good vs

evil that man is forced to deal with is the duality or the separation of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde.

This inherent drive of wanting to be good while also reconciling and to hopefully satisfying our

immoral or corrupt desires.

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Fig. 1. “create a neoclassical painting of the duality between dr.jeckyll and mr.hyde”

prompt, Image Creator from Designer, Microsoft Bing. 15 Feb. 2024.

https://www.bing.com/images/create?

FORM=GENILP.

The artwork is split into two right in the center of the man’s median plane. On the left

side of the split is a light tone palette and a seemingly normal looking man. This is contrasted

with a darker, more striking tone palette that represents a demonic and hellish looking man with

demons coming out of him. This split is to show the inherent good vs evil duality man has to

face. To compliment this idea, the right side has devlish figures which allude to the immorality or

wrongness that bestows every man. The only thing in the picture that is unaffected by the split is

the paint board. The paint board might signify the way you lead, or paint your life, no matter
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what internal dilemma your facing, it is up to you to decide how to reconcile the good vs evil

duality.

Stevenson shows that everyone has latent and corrupt desires, no matter how good we

are. The image represents this duality and resolution that Stevenson proposes in his book that it

is up to us to how we reconcile whats expected vs what we want. The inherent dualitys is

represented in split image but show that only we can decide how we are going to paint, or lead,

given the conflicting duality we are faced with.

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Work Cited

Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Related Readings.

Glencoe-McGraw Hill, 2000.

“create a neoclassical painting of the duality between dr.jeckyll and mr.hyde.” prompt, Image

Creator from Designer, Microsoft Bing. 15 Feb. 2024. https://www.bing.com/images/create?

FORM=GENILP.

“Give a brief explanation of neoclasscism” prompt. Chat.GPT 3.5, Feb 15 2024,

https://chat.openai.com/