Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

I will begin by making a point of the fact that I have never read or seen any film depictions of 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' therefore my connections drawn between it's plot and the characters in my own life may be quite vague and misinformed. But, with that being said I am going to recklessly continue...

What I can gather about the plot is the Dr Jekyll is a respected doctor with plenty of friends and a kind disposition. However, after drinking a potion of his own creation a dark, violent and aggressive side to Dr Jeckyll emerges and this evil part of his split-personality becomes known as Mr Hyde. The broad theme to this story appears to be that everyone has a dark, suppressed aspect of their nature that can potentially rear it's ugly head when for some reason the circumstances permit it. Depictions of split-personality have been common in cinema and books, for instance, my favourite potrayal of split-personality disorder would have to be the protagonist in 'Fight Club' (I apologise to anyone that hasn't read or seen 'Fight Club' as that most definitely was a plot-spoiler). As you never know the name of the protagonist in 'Fight Club', I will refer to him as "John Smith" and his alter-ego is of course Tyler Durden. "John Smith" work a soul-sucking desk job specializing in faulty recalls at a car company and leads a relatively mundane and unobtrusive existence. Tyler Durden on the otherhand is a nihilistic anarchist whose charisma and wit elevates him to a position of an almost demigod amongst the members of his weekly fight club meetings.

Anyway, whilst these characters are both extreme examples of people with violent split-personality disorders, I think that everyone has a good and bad side to their character and in some people it's just more pronouned than others. I have someone in my life who is a prime example of this.

(Before you jump to conclusions as to who I am referring to, it is not Rhys. He is lovely all the time)

Going back to what I was saying, this person in my life can quikly shift between kind and cruel without their being a moments notice. This person can be friendly, funny and generally good-natured part of the time and then the polar opposite the next. Whilst this person is certainly not violent, I can sense a bad mood a mile off by a certain way their lip snarls, brow furrows and a particular look in their eye. I automatically feel tense and I know there is not one thing I can say or do that won't attract some kind of nasty or hurtful comment in response which (given my stubborn nature) usually sparks an argument/World War 3.

I hate walking on egg shells around this person and more than anything I hope that the recent and more frequent visits of the "Mr Hyde" aspect to his character do not forever tarnish the happier memories we have... because as it stands, this could potentially be the case if things continue as they do.