Wednesday 5 March 2008

Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde


During My childhood days my father used to cite example of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde too often while giving gyan to us. I never intended to listen to my father and he also knew that his children were unable to comprehend the subject at that age. But still he by choice threw his philosophies to us. After gaining much experience from life, I toes my father’s line and fathomed why he used to deal with such subjects, which were beyond obvious for any child.

Dr. Jekyll is a character from Louis Stevenson novella that deals with duality of human nature. It’s about a good Dr. Henry Jekyll and misanthropic Mr. Edward Hyde. The phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" implies a person who shows profoundly different behavior, from changing contexts, as if almost another person. Though a fiction but relevant to human behavioral science. According to it every human being has a tendency to show two faces. In a simplest term we call it hypocrisy. It’s a fundamantal attribution error. It’s human nature that person tend to find excuses to explain their own actions by their circumstances, still to impute of others to born characteristics. Hence, at the end judging poorly others while justifying ones own actions. I have spoken at length on this subject with few of my friends and unfortunately my general idea about this particular psychological disorder have run into a stone wall of public disapproval.

Hypocrisy is a natural instinct of depraved human being. If it is true then ain’t we all depraved characters. Betraying a jaundiced eye, each and every moment we are bolstering more tougher shells by showing different faces but substantially overlook our degenerating kernel or in simple terms soften our inner self. Everywhere, at home, office, in friend circle, we pose different characters at the same time. It’s very difficult to read faces now a days because character changes with every changing circumstances. The most awful part of it that we are so used to use people by masquerading ourselves under the wire. Why don’t we speak our mind? Whom we fear? Why we deliberately changing masks in front of people who are not more important than ourselves?

I have started with my father and ending this short metaphysical article with my father. He is a successful man ( considering his circumstances) and used to tell me that "you can always dupe people around you but will never to yourself."