Having read Dr. Jekyll's version of events (and assuming we believe him), how much blame can we assign him? Should we blame his oppressive society or his lack of moral character? Another way of asking this: is Dr. Jekyll a sympathetic character?

The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson and that was published for the first time in 1886. The story is born from the investigations performed by Gabriel John Utterson, a legal practitioner from London, on the strange happenings that occur to his friend Dr. Henry Jekyll and an evil character called Edward Hyde. As we dive into the story, and we read about the strange circumstances between these two characters: Dr. Jekyll, the bening doctor, who has never harmed anyone, and Mr. Edward Hyde, a cold-blooded murderer and evil person, we discover two things: the first, that aside from the two characters being born from the same person, the opposing ways of acting and their views on life show a rift between what is socially and morally acceptable and the deepest and most repressed inner desires and instincts of the human soul and mind. We know this because throughout the story we learn of the multiple ways in which Dr. Jekyll attempts to control his altered persona, Mr. Hyde, but in the end he has to recognize that in a manner, Mr. Hyde is a production of his own where he has been able to pour out those thoughts, emotions and actions that are not morally or socially correct, but that are still a part of him and which he cannot contain.

1. In a sense, Dr. Jekyll is not totally to blame for what happens when he becomes Mr. Hyde, because he loses all control and conciousness; he is no longer Dr. Jekyll. But, there is also a bit of blame, as Dr. Jekyll starts realizing what is going on and decides to act on his own, which leads, in the end, to his demise and the perpetuation of the evil Mr. Hyde.

2. It is true that the pressure of social expectations and the strictness of socially acceptable behaviors, especially during the time of Dr. Jekyll's life, could have been a detonating factor. But the truth is that, as expressed by the character himself, Mr. Hyde is simply a persona in which Dr. Jekyll's own deepest and darkest feelings, secrets and emotions are poured. In a word, Mr. Hyde is the only possible outlet that Dr. Jekyll has for his darker side.