Jekyll & Hyde and Moral decision making

     Having read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde previously, it was refreshing to go back and read it with the specific questions regarding moral decision making in mind.  Perhaps it is my realist views of the world in general, but I have always been in the minority camp that believes Dr. Jekyll is not transformed in Mr. Hyde necessarily, but that Mr. Hyde is Dr. Jekyll's true form, or to put it better, the form that he has always wanted to be and it was societal restraints that allowed him to live as Dr. Jekyll for the majority of his life.  My thought is that man by nature is more evil than good in the sense his decisions are based off of self interest and if allowed to run amok, most of the decisions made by man would be considered evil or at the very least inhumane in most societies. 

     The consequential ethics of the time period in which the story is set plays a major role in both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  In 19th Century England, Victorian society has several very strict guideline for what a "gentleman" was supposed to be and Dr. Jekyll had a difficult time living within those guidelines.  It was only when he was able to transform to what I believe was his more natural state, or at least his more natural personality, that he was able to live his life free of the burden placed on him by society.  It seemed that Dr. Jekyll feared being found out not because of the things he was doing but because of what people would think about him after revealing the things that he did.  If not for these consequences of being shunned by the class of gentleman that he had grown accustomed to being a part of, I don't think Dr. Jekyll would've been nearly as conflicted with what was taking place.  If he could live as Mr. Hyde and still keep his place in society, I think he would've done it without thinking.  One could make a case that this aligns with duty based ethics as well, but overall I don't think it's a sense of duty that keeps Dr. Jekyll "good" but rather the fear of losing his status.

     If not for the consequences of trampling the child in the beginning of the novel, or beating to death the elderly man with the cane, the rush that Mr. Hyde felt from these events would be the driving force in many of his other decisions.  The underlying theme in my mind with The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one that goes beyond the duality of man theme that is commonly referred to.  I think the undertones are more in reference to the nature of society and how the consequences of going against that society and its norms are what keep a lot of individuals like Dr. Jekyll from turning into a Mr. Hyde.