Well of course in Stevenson's time many more readers would have reached the same understanding of the text, because the Christian faith acknowledges just that:

Well of course in Stevenson's time many more readers would have reached the same understanding of the text, because the Christian faith acknowledges just that: we all have a “sin nature“ (Mr Hyde) in us, tempted towards selfish and evil behaviour, at least sometimes longing to act out without consequences. Unfortunately so many Christian teachers have failed to pass on the rest of the message - that this does not make any one of us more inherently “evil“ than any other, and that there is a clear and effective path to liberation from these desires - that the faith itself is just as universally musunderstood as this marvellous book.