Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Human Devolution?

f human beings evolve like darwin suggests, one implication of this theory is that they can in fact devolve. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, what is the authors belief on human devolution?

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Dr. Jekyll is a character foil to Mr. Hyde. He is what you might call a person with no values: a monster who seeks to satisfy his primal appetites that run against the ethos of Victorian society. Dr. Jekyll has supressed all his primal instincts. The separation of his evil self (Hyde) is perhaps what you might be referring to as "human devolution". Although  we seek to separate ourselves from our darker desires, they still remain a part of our nature.

@ Aslan Do you think both Jurgis from "the Jungle", and Dr. Jekyll from "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" both are examples of Charles Darwin's theory survival of the fittest?

I think the context of the two characters differ from Darwin’s point of view. The jungle applies a little bit more even though Jurgis must survive a Hell that is imposed on him by a capitalist society.