I’ve been reading up on classic gothic fiction in preparation for writing SICK and its sequel. While I’m reading, I always highlight any passages that resonate with me. The following is from Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
I, for my part, from the nature of my life, advanced infallibly in one direction and in one direction only. It was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both; and from an early date, even before the course of my scientific discoveries had begun to suggest the most naked possibility of such a miracle, I had learned to dwell with pleasure as a beloved daydream on the thought of the separation of these elements. If each I told myself could be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil. It was the curse of mankind that these incongruous fagots were thus bound together that in the agonised womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling.
This passage captured my imagination. I tried to envision what it would be like if all the dark parts of my personality were removed, placed in a separate body, and left to walk about on their own.
At first I laughed at the thought of my evil twin skulking around town. She’d be in and out of bars, cursing at people one moment, flirting with them the next, eating fried foods, chain smoking, and stealing chocolate. What trouble would she get into without my good side to restrain her? I wouldn’t dare write it down. I’ll just let you speculate on that…
Then I thought about my pristine, righteous self who would be free of temptation and weakness. What would she accomplish now that there were no negative thoughts, judgements, resentments, gripes, or depraved thoughts to drain her energy and taint her higher dreams? She’d probably become a vegan evangelist who adopts dozens of dogs, children, and smelly vagrants. She would talk in a Bob Ross voice and never get annoyed–not even with stupid people. What would she write about? Rainbows and unicorns?
Would I kick my Evil Self out of the house and tell her to please stay the hell away from me?
Would my Evil Self bitch-slap me, laugh maniacally, and run off with my purse?
Hopefully my Evil Self would take my passport and fly to the other side of the world. Right? Then I could do all my saintly activities in peace.
But then what? I don’t know. I think I might get kind of bored, and boring (and I suspect my husband would miss the bad girl too).
Just like the characters we read and write about, our personalities need both the good and bad to make life interesting. Without the struggle between the two, we can’t learn anything new.
I don’t think I’d separate my good and evil twins if I had the choice.
What do you think?
If you could remove all your nasty quirks, would you?
If you could choose, which bad traits would you get rid of first?
What would your evil side be like?
What would your good side do?
Interesting lecture. When it comes to your questions, I must say, I wouldn’t separate myself from my ” Evil Side “.
We all have an Evil Side. In some people is strong, in other people is weak. I believe the human ” Evilshness ” is like the shade of the colors .
My Evil Side is very weak . My entire life I have been working on becoming more Evil. Every year for Christmas I make a wish. It is always the same since I was a little girl ” I want to be more of a Bitch “.
Bitch, Evil people . . . They have an easier life ( And this is just my personal point of view ). That famous Karma never catch up with them by punishing the ” Evil ” side. The people that have a lower Evil Side , somehow are always the ones that get bad luck.
Well I’m not vegan but vegetarian . I’m not evangelistic either but anyway I would be more then happy to keep my Evil side and see even more than the good one.
You just made my day, lol.
Lol…glad to hear that 😆
Oh my gosh. I just read your blog about the hip replacement. Are you okay?
Well…as ok as I can be after a hip replacement. It is only been 14 days and I can say that it has been a nice hell. As I said…Bad things happen to good people…while the Evil ones dance around streets.
I’m just trying to make it through the recovery since I just found out I have an infection..it is the second complications since my surgery.
Thank you for asking 😊
In today’s word you would be destroyed with out the evil side.
It is good to be nice but not too nice or you will be taken advantage of by a multitude of people, perhaps your spouse, employer, companies, salesmen, etc. You would be so vulnerable. To me my evil side is a form of survival. My evil side some times gives me a laugh thinking how my good side would spasz if it knew what I was thinking. I like my good side, she can be very sweet and kind, but too much sweetness would make me nauseous.
Yep I am keeping both sides.
I definitely have that fear that there’s something dark that lurks beneath all of us–which I guess is part of the pull of gothic fiction. I have so many parts of myself that are often in conflict with each other–and yet I wouldn’t want to get rid of any of them because I fear I would lose an essential part of myself.
Great point! Yes, I agree with you about the pull of gothic fiction. I think that’s why I like to write such depraved characters. Each of them is a piece of me. They are like my Mr. Hydes who I let out to play. I get to experience what it would be like if my good side just let go.
I think we’re all attached to our inner Mr. Hydes.We instinctively know that he is a crucial part of our survival. Plus, we may never have had any fun in our lives without him.
Thanks so much for your comment!
I just saw your series on gothic fiction! I know what I’m doing this evening 🙂 https://inertialconfinement.wordpress.com/
Awww…thanks! I hope you enjoy it!
Very funny post! I enjoyed reading it. Interestingly I’ve been pondering wicked thoughts the last few days and decided they are very necessary for our wholeness. I used to feel guilty about my wicked thoughts. The key is not to feel bad about them, they are part of being human. It’s when we act on them, put action to those evil thoughts, we create a truly crappy reality for ourselves.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! You’re right. I have a tendency to rant in my head and I used to think I was a bad person because I couldn’t control my thoughts. I’ve been practicing yoga for some years now and have learned to let the snarky thoughts come and go. It’s usually just stress and tension burning off. They alert me to things in my life that need changing, a symptom of me not taking responsibility for my life. So, like you said, the key is not to act on them, but to discover the underlying cause (which usually has something to do with that nasty ego Guy mentioned).
That silly ego is a pest. It needs to go sit in the corner. It doesn’t get to make decisions.
Fascinating question. 1) No. I wouldn’t. For the most part, we have vices of our virtues, and vice versa. Would our virtues rise to their highest if we did not make effort to constrain them in our lives.
2) None. See above.
3) He would be judgmental, aggressive, and insidious.
4) He would inspire others to look beyond our faults, deny envy, and build upon the strengths of our character. He would root out injustice, take over the world, and leave you ruthlessly alone. 😉
I wouldn’t either. I don’t like the thought of being this immaculate person. And you bring up an interesting point. A superperfect, flawless being wouldn’t want to consort with normal flawed people. I imagine they would live a very lonely life, forever seeking better company.
Our flaws are part of who we are. Without them we would be boring people; and they provide us with a certain drive and strength. The trick is to rule our flaws and not let them rule us. Besides, our flaws (demons) give us great things to write about. Who wants to read about a flawless protagonist or who would want to read the blog of a flawless blogger. Who would want to live with a woman or a man who had no flaws? Thank goodness for our demons. Just don’t let them rule the self (if you can). There is a good person and a bad person in all of us and neither can survive without the other (the id and the ego). The superego tries to integrate the two.
Amen, Guy! Thanks for sharing your take on it. I’d like to learn more about this superego. I don’t think I’ve heard that term before.
The term “superego” is associated with Freud.
Ah! Yes. I have to brush up on my Freud.