I absolutely agree with the statement that The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are explorations of the duality of human nature. Basil says that Dorian always had the capacity to be mean, even before Lord Henry had the opportunity to corrupt him, and this shows us that his story isn't one about a good man gone bad. It is the story of a typical, human, and flawed man who allows his selfishness and vanity to assume control over him.
Likewise, Dr. Jekyll began with both good and bad qualities, and when he tried to separate out the bad ones into the separate person of Hyde and thereby isolate and retain his good qualities under his names, his experiment doesn't go as planned. For him, as with Dorian, his evil side is eventually more powerful than his goodness; Mr. Hyde begins to overpower Jekyll, taking control of their shared body whenever he wants and only retreating to avoid trouble. Dorian and Dr. Jekyll struggle against their corruption to different degrees -- Dr. Jekyll much more so than Dorian -- but both of their stories explore what it means to be a human being, constantly torn between our opposing impulses.
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