Strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde

[lemming]

"The only idea more overused than serial killers is multiple personality," says Charlie Kaufman to his fictional twin Donald in the movie Adaptation. And it's hard to imagine being a reader at the end of the 18th century, because back then you might agree that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a "strange case" and believe that a character who witnesses a transformation that's routine in modern storytelling could die from the shock. Nowadays even Mickey Mouse whose name has historically been synonymous with both wholesomeness and lameness (as in the phrase "a Mickey Mouse operation") has his Mr Hyde in the video game Epic Mickey in which his moral choices affect his physical appearance and the way the story unfolds.

The idea of dramatising the struggle between two sides of the same person is so played out it's a source of comedy. Louis C.K has a routine called "of course, but maybe" in which he explains the competition between his good and bad thoughts. In another routine he describes the horrible things he says when he's driving, then reflects, "Where outside of a car is that even nearly okay?" And "What am I capable of?"

The joke in Adaptation is that the fictional Donald is a way of dramatising the struggle between the side of the screenwriter Charlie Kaufman who wants to avoid cliché and another part of him who wants to please his audience even if that means writing a story that's been told ad infinitum. "You explore the notion that cop and criminal are really two aspects of the same person," Charlie tells Donald. "See every cop movie ever made for other examples of this." To express a response to that in Louis C.K. terms, of course it's cliché, but maybe it's the only story there is to tell. Maybe writers need to be more crafty about it now than Robert Louis Stevenson in Victorian England where people were so repressed that acknowledging the dark side of human nature was original.

Henry Jekyll's struggle with his dark side is more complicated than the "Jekyll good, Hyde bad" way it's often portrayed in movies. Jekyll admits that he has always been "radically both" good and bad. He sees himself as "in no sense a hypocrite" because he is as sincere in his impulses to relieve suffering as to do harm. As Mr Hyde Jekyll destroys a portrait of his father, an act symbolic of Jekyll's attempt to destroy his conscience. Jekyll speaks of "the comparative youth, the light step, leaping pulses and secret pleasures, that I had enjoyed in the disguise of Hyde". The word "disguise", the name "Hyde", and the fact that Jekyll calls his story his "confession" - all suggest this is less a story of dual personalities than of a double life. Hyde is symbolic of the excuses we hide behind that allow us to obey our cruel impulses. Jekyll compares himself drinking the Mr Hyde potion to a drunkard who "reasons upon his vice" while in the same sentence he rationalises that both he and the alcoholic do not really know how bad the drink makes them. He also says that the "pleasures" he "made haste to seek" in his "disguise" were not that bad at first, but describes Hyde growing stronger with each misdeed, which reminds me of the way angry people expect to feel better by getting anger out of their system, but find the more they express the anger the further they have to take the next fit of rage to feel satisfied.

There is no Mr Hyde, no mean drunks and no road rage - there are only angry people who use a car or a bottle or the anonymity of the Internet to feel safe lashing out. And the more they do, the more they want to do.

[s_kiser]

I haven't read Jekyll and Hyde since high school (where it was presented to me as a truer picture of human nature than Frankenstein, which suggested that evil came from external circumstances rather than internal impulses). I guess I hadn't really thought about it as a cliche story, although I think you may be right that it's one of the only stories there is to tell (at least, it seems like some sort of inner conflict is essential for most stories). I also think you're probably right that Hyde is symbolic of all the excuses people use to release their unsavory inner impulses. I guess everyone is kind of a mix of good and evil, which means, I suppose, that it's never quite safe to consider yourself a good person or to write off bad behavior as an aberration. Then again, it's probably just as wrong to consider yourself completely bad.

[Wind Wise]

I really enjoy this tale, much more than almost anything else RLS has put out that I've read. (Then again, that was the time period when I was really into classic horror stuff, so I read anything classic horror.) I like the idea of a "Split personality." I think we all have a little bit of that.

[kgarms]

This story speaks to so many sources of human downfall. The fact that Hyde's activities are notspecifically spelled out allows the reader to insert his own vices or sins into the story. Very creative way to discuss the general condition of mankind!

[michelleNYclassics]

I most definitely agree with the original poster's point that The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde eludes to much more of a "gray area" existing between the inner struggles of the two personalities than what commonplace references to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde tend to display. Much more depth than just one being good and the other evil. There are glimpses of remorseful humanity within Hyde and sinful desire within the Dr (urging him to give-in to the untamed, uninhibited ways of his second personality) -- "every sweet has its sour, every evil its good," as Ralph Waldo Emerson suggested.

Such a gray area certainly gives the reader a few moments to relate with both personalities and perhaps has us wondering which we might choose were we to find ourselves in the good doctor's predicament.

[ananya92]

I really enjoyed this book in my teens and the author's allusions to the inner conflicts human beings struggle through, is marvellously depicted through the central plot point of split personality well crafter in this book. I think placing it in the period when it was written makes one appreciate the originality of the concept.

[rcratty]

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has been repeated in other books and movies throughout years because it is a complicated, interesting part of humanity. This is read, that began all that followed, is still a wonderful mind play.

[LunarLucy]

I think it's wonderfully personal, too. Stevenson grew up in a strict church-going family, but he was also secretly a big fan of prostitutes and hanging out in the darkest and dankest holes Edinburgh had to offer. I think he literally would have liked the convenience of splitting himself in two.

[lee_yoong_shin]

I came to realize that Mr Hyde is a perpetually drunk Dr Jekyll.

It is tormenting to read about a man who is unable to live with an ugly side of him. Most men subconsciously interprets a story based on the life they had lived, and so I have always seen this as a tale of a man struggling with mental illness, dissociative personality disorder, to be precise.

[katiekat08]

I wasn't a huge fan of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I appreciate the statement of human nature, however I found it a very difficult book to get into and to read. I don't know if perhaps this was due to the fact that I was a high schooler and reading it for class, but I just found myself unable to get interested in it.

[teacher33]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book by Stevenson. I also read the introduction which helped me enjoy the book even more! Stevenson's depiction of good vs. evil and the human's internal struggle with it was simply captivating. I could definitely see why the play was quite horrific at it's debut.

[Fitzpatrick+love]

This book was a great and I found it so hard to stop reading! The endless spiral of Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde was captivating and I saw it as a comment on society. As members of a society get used to caring only about their own self interests it gets harder and harder to go back to a time when everyone cared for one another and didn't step on others to get ahead. It can be easier to be mean than compassionate.

[CzechTigg]

Although I once got likened to Jekyll and Hyde by a really blunt person, I still regard this story as truly awesome and offering many possibilities in different variants (e.g. the Nutty Professor movies)

[kderse]

My review
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a book about a London lawyer named John Gabriel Utterson who decides to investigate the going ons betweens his old friend Dr. Jekyll and the evil Edward Hyde.

A book I would recommend for teenagers and adults. My teenage foster daughter had to read this in high school for an assignment.

I decided to pick this book up for three reasons. One being that my foster daughter was reading it and I was curious as to what it was and two it kept being mentioned or quoted in a bible study I was reading and three I could apply it to my reading challenge: A book with antonyms in the title. Before getting the chance to read the book someone explained the context to me in bible study which pretty much gave away the book. So to me there wasn’t the scariness that most people experience when reading this book. No anticipation none of that unfortunately. Knowing what happens really brought the book down for me. Sorry to the author that my review is not going to have that many stars for that reason.

This was a hard book for me to get through. I am not sure if it was because I knew the outcome, the surprise, or if it was the writing style. It was something different from what I have read in the past. Not that it was written in an older language but just a completely different style then I am used to. To be honest there were many times in the story where nothing seemed to be happening and I found it just very dull. It may be because these days this story comes out in many tv shows and in many thrillers. My mind may have been expecting more of that suspense which there was none. I guess that can be a problem when reading a classic you have heard peoples opinions, seen movie and tv adaptions and the suspense has been stripped from you before you even start reading the book.

While reading other peoples reviews I found it very interesting on how they compared it to the hulk. I do not want to give away the story but man that really opened up my eyes. I love the hulk he’s funny (well the one in the avengers). Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde not so much.

I rate this book a 2 out of 4 stars.

[godreaujea]

I remember watching an Arthur episode where they reference this book! Haha I haven't read the actual book yet though, but it is on my bookshelf!