The Hyde Complex

We all know in some fashion the story or at least persons of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Two personalities yet one person. Now Jekyll and Hyde also looked nothing a like in their story, but that is fiction.

Modern day stories find we look the same yet act like two completely different people in certain situations. Don’t get me wrong this isn’t always necessarily a bad thing. But more often than not, the “it’s not a bad thing,” morphs into a disaster.

In the beginning, Jekyll wanted a way to satisfy his vices thus creating the vigor to change him into Mr. Hyde. It’s worth pointing out the vices he had, were criminal to start with; he was creating a way to avoid blame and detection. We, on the other hand, more often than not just want to fit in and to be accepted by someone. Harmless an essence, but toxic at the same token.

How you ask? Ha well good thing I am about to ramble for you.

In Jekyll’s case his slightly less criminal acts soon escalated to intense criminal acts such as but not limited to murder. As Mr. Hyde’s personality became more prominent, the vices became greater and more desired thus harder to control.

As a group accepts us, the more we unconscientiously succumb to their habits and values versus our own. All because we want gratification and acceptance, that’s really all it comes down to. We all want to be wanted, but at what cost? Is it worth becoming two different people? Which I don’t think is such an easy task. We’ve adapted to it very well and most go through life successfully mastering it. We act polite, determined, respectful, and with honest integrity while at work, school, and yes church (you know that place where we actually watch out language; yes, I went there). Then we leave those places and drink that vigor. The filter comes off, politeness is out the window, and being respectful becomes laughable. I’ve done it and also have watched this phenomenon occur. I’ve also felt the pain on both sides of this spectrum. We’ve gotten good at controlling which persona occupies which space, but there always is a breaking point. We are human after all.

I mean look at Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The harmony of living equal parts of life dissolved. Each persona began to fight for supreme rule. Neither wishing to give up control to the other, Dr. Jekyll began to fill the guilt of what Mr. Hyde was doing to people. He concluded philanthropic works would cure him and erase Hyde from existence. Of course this most certainly did not work. Hyde became more violent and more frequent in his appearances. Jekyll took to secluding himself away from the world in order to try and prevent any more damage and finally get Hyde under control. That attempt proved futile, and in the end the struggle took a life.

Yes, that is a very extreme ending, but it’s the same in modern day minus the physical dying part.

The difficulty of keeping two personalities separate soon becomes apparent. Our self-conscientious slowly makes the choice for us. We being to act one way overall and thus killing a part of ourselves off. Or, killing our friends with the actions or words we’ve spoken to them. As I said before, I have experienced this pain, and I have dished it out. Someone always loses in the end. The Hyde Complex seems harmless. It seems like a good idea; safe. It gives us a way to get accepted and to be wanted without sacrificing anything. But in reality, you just might sacrifice everything. You must ask yourself:

Who will win in the end, your Jekyll or your Hyde?