Strange Case of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
Dublin Core
Title
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
Description
In this story we follow the tales of Mr. Utterson and his exploration into the secret behind Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The first thing that we see of Hyde comes in the form of when he was beating up a child who had gotten in his way, causing them to suffer some injury from it. To avoid any further problems he pays for the child's injuries and continues to occasionally disappear and reappear throughout the course of the story.
One of the things that I find notable about people's reception of Hyde is the input in regards to his physical appearance and transformation. When people look at him he is noted as someone who has a dwarfish stature and that there is something about him that is irking to the eye. In his first interaction with Dr. Utterson on the sixth page it is described that he made a face 'so ugly that it brought the sweat out of me'. In the following pages it also mentions, "I never saw a circle of such hateful faces; and there was the man in the middle, with a kind of black sneering coolness but carrying it off, sir, really like Satan" (Stevenson, 8). This theme of how devilish an appearance Hyde has is one that is repeated through the multiple appearances that he makes.
Mr. Utterson did not believe that Mr. Hyde was a good person, and did not think it was a good idea for Dr. Jekyll to provide for him. In his will Dr. Jekyll made sure to say that Hyde would inherit the majority of his belongings upon his death. Since the doctor was one of his clients he was concerned about his friend's welfare.
Mr. Hyde is shown to progressively become worse with time. It is revealed that at one point he brutally murdered Sir George Carewe, another client of Mr. Utterson. The description of a witness who saw the event unfold was able to provide some description of Mr. Hyde along with evidence at the scene which related to Dr. Jekyll. After this murder Hyde disappears for a while, and Dr. Jekyll manages to explain his innocence when people start searching for Mr. Hyde.
In the climax of the series events Mr. Hyde is cornered in a room, attempting to undo the changes. Considering how the relation between Jekyll and Hyde is described in the end I find it ironic that the time that he is caught is a time that he, as Hyde, is the one who is struggling to change back into Jekyll although he failed to do so. By that time Jekyll lost what he truly had, and become the embodiment of the 'evil' portion of his self.
After this moment where Hyde is cornered we get a glimpse into the two testimonies that discuss what truly happened, one was an account from his friend and the other was a statement from the doctor himself. It is revealed that Dr, Jekyll had created a medicine that was able to take what could be considered the 'worst' of humanity and giving it life in the form of Mr. Hyde. It is stated in his account near the end of the novel that he had intended for this medicine to fully divide one's positive and negative nature so that each side could be split from each other, and so that the purer side of one's self could achieve a higher purpose in society unhindered by 'evil'. In the beginning his attempts only brought about failure after failure. But, after many trials, Dr. Jekyll managed to succeed in his experiment. He created something that was so evil that people would instinctively be repulsed by him. Along with this change in aura came physical changes. Dr. Jekyll shrank in stature, and it is interesting that he sees some sort of 'freedom' in being Hyde that he can't get with his previous persona. It is probably easier to compare it to a childlike mentality.
But as Jekyll spent time with Hyde he began to see Hyde as intriguing to him. While the doctor had this interest in Hyde, the feeling wasn't exactly reciprocated. In the text it alludes to the fact that Hyde sees Jekyll as a form of escape from his crime. It probably ties into his mentality mentioned earlier, but as long as Hyde had Jekyll it was much easier to get away with crimes such as beating up the girl and murdering the other client of Mr. Utterson.
Upon finishing the story I would like to draw some parallels to a story called The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In that story there was a scientist who failed plenty but aimed to cheat nature through the means of his science. He thought that with his own concoction he would be able to remove the birthmark that more or less 'plagued' his love's cheek. In the end the thing that he creates kills his lover, causing the birthmark to fade at the cost of her life. I do think that it is an interesting comparison due to the fact that both scientists are doing something that would attempt to control how nature functions. If Jekyll had succeeded in making the perfect medicine he probably could have purified humanity in his own way. However, their projects did not manage to do what they were supposed to do.
One of the things that I find notable about people's reception of Hyde is the input in regards to his physical appearance and transformation. When people look at him he is noted as someone who has a dwarfish stature and that there is something about him that is irking to the eye. In his first interaction with Dr. Utterson on the sixth page it is described that he made a face 'so ugly that it brought the sweat out of me'. In the following pages it also mentions, "I never saw a circle of such hateful faces; and there was the man in the middle, with a kind of black sneering coolness but carrying it off, sir, really like Satan" (Stevenson, 8). This theme of how devilish an appearance Hyde has is one that is repeated through the multiple appearances that he makes.
Mr. Utterson did not believe that Mr. Hyde was a good person, and did not think it was a good idea for Dr. Jekyll to provide for him. In his will Dr. Jekyll made sure to say that Hyde would inherit the majority of his belongings upon his death. Since the doctor was one of his clients he was concerned about his friend's welfare.
Mr. Hyde is shown to progressively become worse with time. It is revealed that at one point he brutally murdered Sir George Carewe, another client of Mr. Utterson. The description of a witness who saw the event unfold was able to provide some description of Mr. Hyde along with evidence at the scene which related to Dr. Jekyll. After this murder Hyde disappears for a while, and Dr. Jekyll manages to explain his innocence when people start searching for Mr. Hyde.
In the climax of the series events Mr. Hyde is cornered in a room, attempting to undo the changes. Considering how the relation between Jekyll and Hyde is described in the end I find it ironic that the time that he is caught is a time that he, as Hyde, is the one who is struggling to change back into Jekyll although he failed to do so. By that time Jekyll lost what he truly had, and become the embodiment of the 'evil' portion of his self.
After this moment where Hyde is cornered we get a glimpse into the two testimonies that discuss what truly happened, one was an account from his friend and the other was a statement from the doctor himself. It is revealed that Dr, Jekyll had created a medicine that was able to take what could be considered the 'worst' of humanity and giving it life in the form of Mr. Hyde. It is stated in his account near the end of the novel that he had intended for this medicine to fully divide one's positive and negative nature so that each side could be split from each other, and so that the purer side of one's self could achieve a higher purpose in society unhindered by 'evil'. In the beginning his attempts only brought about failure after failure. But, after many trials, Dr. Jekyll managed to succeed in his experiment. He created something that was so evil that people would instinctively be repulsed by him. Along with this change in aura came physical changes. Dr. Jekyll shrank in stature, and it is interesting that he sees some sort of 'freedom' in being Hyde that he can't get with his previous persona. It is probably easier to compare it to a childlike mentality.
But as Jekyll spent time with Hyde he began to see Hyde as intriguing to him. While the doctor had this interest in Hyde, the feeling wasn't exactly reciprocated. In the text it alludes to the fact that Hyde sees Jekyll as a form of escape from his crime. It probably ties into his mentality mentioned earlier, but as long as Hyde had Jekyll it was much easier to get away with crimes such as beating up the girl and murdering the other client of Mr. Utterson.
Upon finishing the story I would like to draw some parallels to a story called The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In that story there was a scientist who failed plenty but aimed to cheat nature through the means of his science. He thought that with his own concoction he would be able to remove the birthmark that more or less 'plagued' his love's cheek. In the end the thing that he creates kills his lover, causing the birthmark to fade at the cost of her life. I do think that it is an interesting comparison due to the fact that both scientists are doing something that would attempt to control how nature functions. If Jekyll had succeeded in making the perfect medicine he probably could have purified humanity in his own way. However, their projects did not manage to do what they were supposed to do.
Creator
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Source
archive.org, Elizabeth Robins Pennell Collection (Library of Congress) DLC
Publisher
Longmans, Green, And Co
Date
January 1886
Contributor
Not applicable
Rights
archive.org
Format
Folio, 149 pages
Type
Novel
Files
Citation
Stevenson, Robert Louis, “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde,” Manhattan College Omeka , accessed May 14, 2024, https://omeka-pilot.manhattan.edu/items/show/335.