Throughout history, doctors have come up with many theories that allow people to further understand the human mind. Sigmund Freud, for instance, remained focused on unconscious motives that dictate human behavior and developed the theories of the id, ego, and the superego. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, these theories are present in the characters. Mr. Hyde, Mr. Utterson, and Dr. Lanyon portray the id, ego, and superego respectively.
Mr. Hyde, a small, violent man rejected by Victorian society for his unusual behavior, personifies Freud's id. In "The Story of the Door," Mr. Enfield tell Utterson a story in which Hyde is seen trampling a little girl, much to the horrors of passers by:.
All at once, I saw two figures: one a little man who was stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe eight or ten was running as hard as she was able down a cross street. Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man trampled calmly over the child's body and left her screaming on the ground. It sounds nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see. It wasn't like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut (Stevenson 40).
This brutal action Hyde demonstrates is an example of the id, being that it is a desire that is present in the back of the mind, but one that a person represses due to restraints set by society. Another example of Hyde's violence being released is in "The Carew Murder Case," when a maid looking out a window sees Hyde approaching an old man who happens to be walking along the street at night.
And then all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman. The old gentleman took a step back, with the air of one very much surprised and a trifle hurt; and at that Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth.
