About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Richard Mansfield was best known for his dual role depicted in this double exposure. The stage adaptation opened in London in 1887, a year after the publication of the novella. Picture 1895.
Enlarge
Richard Mansfield was best known for his dual role depicted in this double exposure. The stage adaptation opened in London in 1887, a year after the publication of the novella. Picture 1895.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde1 is a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson first published in 1886. It is about a London lawyer who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll2, and the misanthropic man Edward Hyde. The work is known for its vivid portrayal of the psychopathology of a split personality; in mainstream culture the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" has come to signify wild or polar behaviour.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was an immediate success and one of Stevenson's best selling works. Stage adaptations began in Boston and London within a year of its publication and it has gone on to inspire scores of major film and stage performances.

Contents

Background

In early Autumn of 1885 Stevenson's thoughts turned to the idea of the duality of man's nature, and how to incorporate the interplay of good and evil into a story. One night he had a dream, and on wakening had the idea for two or three scenes that would appear in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. "In the small hours of one morning," says Mrs. Stevenson, "I was awakened by cries of horror from Louis. Thinking he had a nightmare, I awakened him. He said angrily 'Why did you wake me? I was dreaming a fine bogey tale.' I had awakened him at the first transformation scene."

Lloyd Osbourne, Stevenson's step-son, remembers "I don't believe that there was ever such a literary feat before as the writing of Dr. Jekyll. I remember the first reading as if it was yesterday. Louis came downstairs in a fever; read nearly half the book aloud; and then, while we were still gasping, he was away again, and busy writing. I doubt if the first draft took so long as three days."

As was the custom, Mrs. Stevenson would read the draft and offer her criticisms in the margins. Louis was confined to bed at the time from a haemorrhage, and she left her comments with the manuscript and Louis in the bedroom. She said in effect the story was really an allegory, but Louis was writing it just as a story. After a while Louis called her back into the bedroom and pointed to a pile of ashes: he had burnt the manuscript in fear that he would try to salvage it, and in the process forcing himself to start over from scratch writing an allegorical story as she had suggested. Scholars debate if he really burnt his manuscript or not. Other scholars suggest her criticism was not about allegory, but about inappropriate sexual content. Whatever the case, there is no direct factual evidence for the burning of the manuscript, but it remains an integral part of the history of the novel.

Stevenson re-wrote the story again in three days. According to Osbourne "The mere physical feat was tremendous; and instead of harming him, it roused and cheered him inexpressibly." He refined and continued to work on it for 4 to 6 weeks afterward.

The manuscript was initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA. Initially stores would not stock it until a review appeared in The Times (Jan.25 1886), giving it a favourable reception. Within the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold. By 1901 it was estimated have sold over 250,000 copies. Its success was probably due more to the "moral instincts of the public" than perception of its artistic merits, being widely read by those who never otherwise read fiction, quoted in pulpit sermons and in religious papers.

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Plot

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde book cover
Enlarge
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde book cover

This investigation begins as a matter of curiosity and concern despite Dr Henry Jekyll's assurances that Hyde is nothing to worry about. That changes when Hyde is seen committing a savage murder of a respected Member of Parliament. As Utterson assists in the investigation of the crime, Jekyll becomes more and more reclusive and sombre. Utterson comes to believe that the doctor is abetting Mr Edward Hyde.

Eventually, Jekyll isolates himself in his laboratory gripped with an emotional burden that no one can comprehend. Another friend of Utterson's, Lanyon, suddenly dies of a horrific emotional shock with which Jekyll seems to be connected. Eventually, Jekyll's butler comes to Utterson to ask for his help to deal with a stranger who has somehow entered the locked lab and killed Jekyll. Together they discover that the stranger in the lab is Hyde, and they break in only to find Hyde dead by his own hand and Jekyll nowhere to be found.

Eventually, Utterson reads two letters left for him from his deceased friends. The first one is from Lanyon and reveals that he witnessed first hand that Hyde is none other than Jekyll physically transformed into the other identity by means of a potion of Jekyll's design.

The other letter is a confession from Jekyll which reveals what occurred when he realised that every man has two aspects within him – good and evil – which constantly wage war upon him. Acting on the theory that it was possible to polarise and separate these two aspects, he created a potion that could change a man into an embodiment of his evil side, thereby also making pure his good side. After using the potion on himself, Jekyll became physically smaller as his evil nature became predominant; this persona was called Edward Hyde. After a few trial runs as Hyde, Jekyll soon began to undergo this change regularly in order to indulge in all the forbidden antisocial pleasures that he would never commit as Jekyll. However, the Hyde aspect himself began to grow stronger and beyond Jekyll's ability to control it with a counter-agent. Eventually, Jekyll wakes up in bed one day to discover that he has turned into Hyde overnight. He resolves to give up Hyde for good, but the allure proves too strong to resist, and after two months he takes the potion once more.

This time, Hyde does not just indulge himself; he commits murder, and can no longer be seen in public for fear of being recognised and sent to the gallows. This reassures Jekyll, and he attempts to redeem himself for the actions of Hyde. However, once more he undergoes the transformation, without the aid of potion, in a park in broad daylight. He manages to avoid capture by finding a hotel room. He writes to Lanyon, asking him to fetch from his study the drawer in which the counter-agent is found.

Lanyon complies, and Hyde shows up at his house unrecognised. He takes the potion, as although he has begun to despise Jekyll, he fears recognition and the resulting death even more; and the doctor explains everything to Lanyon. It is this knowledge that eventually kills him.

Jekyll finds that he can now only remain in his original form with the potion in his system. Eventually Jekyll ran out of the unique components to the potion, and in particular a "salt" of which he had initially acquired quite a large quantity. New supplies of this salt did not produce an effective potion, which he initially attributed to an impurity in the new supplies, but finally concluded that it was the initial order that was impure, and that an "unknown impurity" in it was vital to its effectiveness. As he had no way of acquiring any more of this impure salt, he was doomed to remain as Hyde permanently.

In the end, Jekyll decided to write the confession letter, and he finally "dies" as he transforms completely into Hyde. Hyde commits suicide when Utterson and Jekyll's butler try to force their way into the laboratory.

Analysis

This novel has become a central concept in Western culture of the inner conflict of humanity's sense of good and evil. It has also been noted as "one of the best guidebooks of the Victorian era because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust" as it had a tendency for social hypocrisy.

Various direct influences have been suggested for Stevenson's interest in the mental condition that separates the sinful from moral self. Among them are the Biblical text of Romans (7:20 "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."); the split life in the 1780s of Edinburgh city councillor Deacon William Brodie, master craftsman by day, burglar by night; and James Hogg's novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824), in which a young man falls under the spell of the devil.

Literary genres which critics have applied as a framework for interpreting the novel include religious allegory, fable, detective story, sensation fiction, science fiction, doppelgänger literature, Scottish devil tales, Gothic novel.

Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly forays, saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature, and thus in the context of the times, abhorrent to Victorian religious morality. However scientists in the closing decades of the 19th century, within a post-Darwinian perspective, were also beginning to examine various biological influences on human morality, including drug and alcohol addiction, homosexuality, multiple personality disorder, and regressive animality.

Jekyll's inner division has been viewed by some critics as analogous to schisms existing in British society. Divisions include the social divisions of class, the internal divisions within the Scottish identity, the political divisions between Ireland and England, and the divisions between religious and secular forces.

The novel can be seen as an expression of the dualist tendency in Scottish culture, a forerunner to what C. Gregory Smith termed the 'Caledonian Antisyzygy' (the combination of opposites) which influenced the 20th Scottish cultural renaissance led by Hugh MacDiarmid. The London depicted in the novel resembles more closely the Old Town of Edinburgh which Stevenson frequented in his youth, itself a doppelganger to the city's respectable, classically ordered New Town. Scottish critics have also read it as a metaphor of the opposing forces of Scottish Presbyterianism and Scotland's atheistic Enlightenment.

In the arts

There have been dozens of major stage and film adaptations, and countless references in popular culture. The very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" has become shorthand to mean wild controversial and polar behaviour. Most adaptations of the work omit the reader-identification figure of Utterson, instead telling the story from Jekyll and Hyde's viewpoint, thus eliminating the mystery aspect of the tale about who Hyde is; indeed there have been no major adaptations to date that stay close to Stevenson's original work, almost all introducing some form of romantic element.

For a complete list of derivative works see ["Derivative works of Robert Louis Stevenson] (by Richard Dury). There have been over 123 film versions, not including stage, radio etc. This is not an inclusive list, it is major and notable adaptations listed in chronological order:

In popular culture

  • Motif examples
  • *This is a motif which is often applied, for example in the following BBC news report [Shadowing the Conservative leader] in which the analogy with Jekyll and Hyde is clearly meant "Over the course of our filming we sometimes felt that Michael Howard seemed unsure of the image he wants to project of himself and his party. At times it was the new, touchy-feely Tories, at others – as with immigration and asylum – it was hard-line stuff. A kind of Dr Jekyll and Mr Howard."
  • *The Hulk, the powerful and brutishly emotional alter ego of an emotionally repressed scientist who comes forth whenever he experiences extreme emotional stress like anger or terror, is an example of the Jekyll and Hyde motif. While the Hulk often proves vital to saving the day, seeking usually to protect, his terrifying nature drives Bruce Banner into isolation, much like Jekyll, fearing discovery.
  • *The book was the inspiration behind Two-Face, a supervillain Bob Kane created in 1941 to battle Batman. An upstanding citizen and DA, Harvey Dent was horribly scarred and traumatized. This caused his formerly repressed Hyde to emerge. The two personalities come into direct conflict often and make decisions they are split on using the outside moderator of a flipped coin. Submerged in the underworld, it appears that the darker side of Dent finally replaced the better side.
  • *In the Disney cartoon short, Motor Mania, Goofy takes on a Jekyll and Hyde-type split personality when he gets behind the wheel and becomes a demon driver and a menace at the wheel.
  • *The Crash Bandicoot character Dr N Brio, the scientist who drinks his potion to become a giant green and powerful monster.
  • *The novel and subsequent film of American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis shares many thematic qualities to Stevenson's work. The protagonist Patrick Bateman, while on an outward and social level is a respectable, charming and all-together normal twenty-something, is at night, unknown to those who believe they know him, a psychopathic, amoral serial murderer-rapist. The juxtaposition between the two seeming opposites echoes that of Jekyl and Hyde.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
  • *Fight Club, the novel and movie, share, not thematic, but stylistic elements, with the protagonist and antagonist being revealed to the same person. Thematically though, this differs from Stevenson's novella, as in the normal-blue collar character is shown to be the depressed, emotionally dead one, whereas the amoral Tyler Durden is the fun, charming and more interesting character, not the abominal evil alter-ego of Hyde.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
  • *Darth Vader / Anakin Skywalker. In his lust for power, the good Anakin is overcome by evil becoming Darth Vader. Having been denied a childhood with his mother, an open relationship with his lover, and the right to question the Jedi Order, his repression opens the doorway to Palpatine. The inner conflict between good and evil is explored here in greater detail.[[Citing sources citation needed]] This theme appears often in the Star Wars movies and related media, focusing on the collision of the two basic forces of the universe: The Dark and Light side of the Force. The teachings of the Dark Side often emphasize the Hyde personality(power, dominance, freedom) while the Light Side exemplifies Jekyll(reason, isolation, control).
  • * In The Nutty Professor, Sherman Klump is a friendly, naive, obese college science teacher who develops a formula for rapid weight loss. This formula gives birth to Sherman's alter ego, a sexual, fast-talking, remarkably thin Buddy Love. The two eventually come into conflict as Buddy ceases to be an alter ego and develops his own personality and motives, attempting to completely supplant Sherman and assume dominance. In a twist, Sherman does not become subsumed by Buddy, but regains control by realizing that the freedom Buddy granted was not worth losing his identity over.
  • * Jekyll is a line of Mountain bicycles produced by Cannondale. So named as the rider can adjust the bike's angle-of-attack, from mellow Cross-Country style to aggressive Downhill style.
    • 
See also DID/MPD in fiction.
    


    Trivia
    


    Notes
    


    References
    


    External links
    

    


    


    


    


    


    


    


    


    




     



    

    From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
    All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.
    






    


    


    
Search Titles

    


    


    

    0123456789
    ABCDEFGHIJ
    KLMNOPQRST
    UVWXYZ?
    




    

    

    
E-mail this article to:
    

    
Personal Message: