After
killing her daughter to save her from the slavery that she suffered through for
so long, Sethe is haunted by the ghost of the child, the fact that she killed
her, and her past at Sweet Home. She is trapped in the past, unable to pull
herself fully into the present.
Dr.
Jekyll is haunted by his alter ego, Mr. Hyde. He experimented until he was able
to transform himself into Mr. Hyde, who encompasses all of the sides of his
personality he has to keep hidden from society, and who feels no remorse.
However, Dr. Jekyll failed to recognize that he would feel remorse for his
actions as Mr. Hyde once he went back to being Dr. Jekyll.
Both
Sethe and Dr. Jekyll have multiple personalities that contain different sides
of themselves. Sethe has a personality she shows Denver, the loving mother who
only tells stories of the past beginning with Denver’s birth; the one that
makes an entrance when she and Paul D are reunited, a much more carefree,
reminiscent personality; the one that comes out when her family is being
threatened, specifically when she kills her daughter and tries to hit Mr.
Bodwin with the ice pick; and, finally, the one that comes out once Beloved
begins to blame Sethe for trying to protect her from slavery, after which Sethe
only does more to attempt to entertain Beloved’s every whim. Dr. Jekyll has his
main personality, that of the respected doctor and member of society; and that
of Mr. Hyde, the immoral aspects of his personality, who “emerges fully formed
from the dark side of the human personality” (Greg Buzwell, The British
Library).
Sethe’s
personality when her family is being threatened is most similar to Dr. Jekyll
as Mr. Hyde because, although both are aware of the situation at the time,
neither fully considers the consequences of their actions while they are in their
respective alter egos. In his article for Tor.com, Steven Padnick claims “he [Dr.
Jekyll] remembers perfectly everything he does as Hyde, because he was in
control the whole time,” which reinforces my point that both Dr. Jekyll and
Sethe are aware of their surroundings in their alternate personalities;
however, Mr. Hyde does not consider, or care about, the backlash from society
because he is the purely animalistic and emotionally-driven embodiment of Dr.
Jekyll, while Sethe’s judgement of later consequences is clouded by her
instinct to protect her children, even though her decision in the situation may
be seen as a little counterintuitive to that aim, that interest was at heart.
However, both are haunted by what they did as their alter egos once they return
to reality.
Another
similarity between Sethe’s protective alternative personality and Mr. Hyde is
that they are both primarily driven by more animalistic drives. Sethe is
operating only under the influence of her motherly instincts, and Mr. Hyde
operates on the level of animals without rules of society, killing when the
drive presents itself.
In
the end, Sethe believes she has lost her “best thing” because Beloved fled when
Sethe ran at Mr. Bodwin, thinking she was being abandoned. Dr. Jekyll loses his
“best thing”, as well: himself. Dr. Jekyll’s story ends with his final letter,
chronicling his loss of control over the transformations, and the fact that he
will forever be the animalistic Mr. Hyde after the next transformation, thus
losing his ability to participate in society and have any feelings of morality.
Sethe, on the other hand, has Paul D to pull her back to society and to help
her realize that she is truly her “best thing”, allowing her to fully overcome
what has been haunting her for nearly twenty years.
Sources:
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