J+h - Good vs Evil

Question 1

“Evil finally destroyed the balance of my soul”
“It fell out with me, as it falls with so vast a majority of my fellows, that I chose the better part and was found wanting in the strength to keep to it.”

Answer 1

• We all try to choose good, but actually we don’t have the strength to keep doing good, we keep giving into evil.
• All born with sin that Adam and Eve gave us, the original sin
• Stevenson doesn’t believe this - is society right to say natural, human things are evil?

Question 2

Evolution - “The man seems hardly human! Something trogolodytic”

Answer 2

• Darwin’s theory suggested we evolved from apes, so our desires are animal-like
• Victorians believed these desires were evil
• Stevenson points out that Darwin says we evolve to get genetic advantages, we could go back to earlier states if they were beneficial.
• Not necessarily morally superior - just better able to survive.

Question 3

“Ape-like tricks…, scrawling in my own hand blasphemies on the pages of my books”

Answer 3

• Christianity is just a story, he attacks God
• Christian reader would miss this point at Hyde is the evil character > more proof he’s evil etc, satisfied that he’s been punished
• Being ape-like isn’t necessarily any more evil