In the stories The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Yellow Wallpaper, both authors have their main character been compressed by how society tells them to be and then lose themselves and become the monster that is “id.”

What the authors are possibly trying to say by this is that if we don’t listen to what our id (our wants, desires and natural human instincts) from time to time and keep it locked within ourselves for a long period of time, it will come out “roaring” out and make us possibly end up something like the main characters in the two stories.

In this comparative essay, we will focus on how the main character in each of the two books is compressed by their super ego (what society tells us to do) and then how their id starts taking over their minds due to this.

In The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the story takes place in a time where women were unequal to men – they couldn’t vote or participate in any form of government, they weren’t allowed to be educated and had to honor their husbands (there were actual rules as to how to be an ideal housewife). The main character of this book – a housewife herself – was compressed by how she was supposed to act as an ideal housewife. In the book it often mentions of her as being “tired.”

For example; “I did write for a while […] but it does exhaust me a good deal-having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition.” (Gilman 1) and “But John says if I feel so […] so I take pains to control myself-before him, at least, and that makes me very tired” (Gilman 1) This is probably because of the stress she’s had in the past by always trying to be perfect and keeping up with being a proper housewife, which weighs down a lot in her mind. She still has the stress going through her – obeying and agreeing with everything her husband, John, says. But nearing the end of the story, we see her super ego starts to burst and her id slowly starting to take over.

In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, the main character – Dr. Jekyll – was compressed (as we now can guess because he is a doctor) by what society told him to do for future successions – getting good grades in school, studying hard and going to college to become a doctor. And he was also compressed by the more obvious things, which goes to all of us, like not fighting with anyone, no cheating, being good in general. For the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper, it was just the compression of being an ideal housewife.

Now we come to the point where our characters become controlled by their id due to the compressions of their super ego. The women in The Yellow Wallpaper, starts to lose it when she finds out about her new room – which she finds utterly horrible. “It is stripped off-the paper-in great patches all around the head of my bed […] I never saw a worse paper in my life,” (Gilman 2) as the woman so describes it.

She also describes the wallpaper in particular – “One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin,” (Gilman 2) “It is dull enough to confuse the eye […] and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide-plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions,” (Gilman 2) “The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight” (Gilman) and “It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sticky sulphur tint in others.” (Gilman 2) By this room, especially the wallpaper, she turns crazy and obsessive about it.

At one point in the book, she sees a woman in the wallpaper, trapped behind the lines – “I didn’t realize for a long time what the thing was that showed behind, that dim sub-pattern, but now I am quite sure it is a woman.” (Gilman 9) And it is by this that she crazily strips off the wallpaper in order to “save” the woman behind the lines of the wallpaper, totally letting her id flow through her. After that, she locks herself in the room while her husband is telling her to come out. But she is ignoring him, controlled by the id that has now fully taken over her.

For Dr. Jekyll, you could literally say that he does become a monster as his id takes over his super ego. In the book, Dr. Jekyll creates a “split personality” in which he turns into different person (by using some sort of potion), whom he calls Mr. Hyde, whose appearance is said in the book to be displeasing.

“It wasn’t like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut,” (Stevenson 3) “He was perfectly cool […] but gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running,” (Stevenson 3) “There was something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable” (Stevenson 5) and “This, as I take it […] and Edward Hyde alone, in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil.” (Stevenson 45) were some of the descriptions given in the book about Mr. Hyde.

And it is in that split personality wherein he turns into Hyde, that all Jekyll’s id is transferred into. This is why he creates Hyde – he’s always wanted to be free from rules of society, but could never do so… not in the body of Jekyll anyway. So within the body Hyde he could do whatever he wants and will never be caught because he could just as well turn back into Jekyll again.

But things go wrong. His id is become powerful and no longer needs the potion to turn into Hyde – “Yes, I had gone to bed Henry Jekyll, I had awakened Edward Hyde. How was this to be explained?” (Stevenson 47) This is how Dr. Jekyll gets taking over by his id.

So one of the most important similarities between the two books is that both authors have their main character been compressed by their super ego. But the way they are compressed by their super ego is quite different. The woman from the Yellow Wallpaper gets compressed by her super ego by being an ideal housewife.

For Dr. Jekyll it was mainly the compression of his future successions. Then how they become the “monster that is id” is quite different as well. The woman in the Yellow Wallpaper becomes crazy because of the horrible room she had to sleep in and by this she had also unleashed her id.

For Dr. Jekyll, he becomes a “monster that is id” by turning into a different person – Mr. Hyde – that is contorted by id. But why should we care about this similarity and differences between these two books? You can see it as sort of a lesson; if you hold in your id for a long period of time, not getting some of your wants out, it will sooner or later burst out, making you possibly end up something like the main character in each of the two books. “My devil had been long caged, and he came out roaring.” (Stevenson 49)