It more appears that Hyde takes his own life simply to stay in control of it, and not for any particular moral reasons. 3. This quotation truly underscores the duality that is the principle concept behind the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. What is of particular interest regarding this quotation is the fact that this duality exists on myriad levels. The most eminent of these, of course, is the personality split and physical transformation that takes place when Hyde drinks the potion and becomes Dr. Jekyll. The two are diametrically opposed -- Jekyll, the benevolent physician, turns into a repugnant, callous ruffian who is prone to commit murder and other unseemly acts. The crux of the novel is the fact that both personalities, proclivities, and people ultimately exist within the same man, which leads Jekyll to reflect in the preceding quotation that "…man is not truly one, but truly two."

The duality that Jekyll refers to in the preceding passage is mirrored within the conceptions of man that are antipodes of one another -- the intellectual, and the moral. What is significant about this fact is that Jekyll freely admits it, and denotes that there are two sides to his morality behind in the form of a decidedly immoral Mr. Hyde -- are directly contrasted with Jekyll's benevolence and morality. The crux of this quotation, and its relevance to this work of literature, is the fact that what the author has evinced within the appearance of two separate people actually reside within the same person. Thus, this passage succinctly sums up the major theme of this novel, and is Jekyll's terrible secret.