The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde door Robert Louis Stevenson

Title: The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Publisher and edition: Wolters-Noordhoff, BlackBirds 1995 nr. 4
Number of pages: 75 pages

Summary: Mr. Utterson is a London lawyer who is a friend of Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll gave up his regular practice to experiment with non-traditional medicine. Utterson is concerned because Jekyll has written a will that leaves all his money to his new partner Mr. Hyde. Utterson has heard bad things of Hyde and disliked him at first sight. The lawyer thinks his friend is being blackmailed. One day, the lawyer is asked to identify the body of a murdered man, Sir Danvers Carew, one of Utterson\'s clients. Hyde is suspected of the murder, but he has disappeared. Jekyll swears that he has not seen Hyde and has broken with him forever. The case remains unsolved and Jekyll becomes more sociable than he had been. Suddenly, though, he locks himself into his laboratory, yelling to the servants through the door, directing them to gather chemicals for him. The servants recognize a change in his voice and think that their master has been murdered; another man has taken his place in the lab. They call Utterson who breaks down the door. On the floor lies Hyde, who has killed himself with poison. Sadly, Utterson assumes Hyde returned and killed Jekyll, but the doctor\'s body is nowhere to be found. He does find, however, a letter in which Jekyll explains his relationship to Hyde. Jekyll had sometimes indulged in debauches which, if discovered, could have ruined his reputation and of which he is ashamed. Pondering this split in his personality, he decides to find a way to separate his two beings. Jekyll creates a potion that releases his evil side, Mr. Hyde. Hyde is shorter and smaller than Jekyll, having not had as much exercise. For a while Jekyll enjoys his two bodies; he can do whatever he likes without fear of discovery. His pleasure is stunted when Hyde kills Carew in a nonsensical fit, and he resolves never to take the potion again. Hyde is now strong, however, and emerges whether Jekyll will have him or not. Indeed, Jekyll must use the potion to be rid of him if only for a moment. Jekyll knows that it is only by killing his body that Hyde\'s body, too, will die.

Opinion title: I think the title used is a good title, because the whole book is described around the mysterious event (strange case) of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Best passage: I thought the best part of the book was Jekyll’s point of view. I thought it was great that in his quest for knowledge and experimenting with his darker side he started to develop that darker side. Too bad it got out of control, but I loved the doctors way of morbid thinking. He was one who was not afraid to develop his dark side, he was actually eager to. I loved that part because I liked his way of thinking.

Worst passage: In this book there isn’t a part that I would describe as a worst part of the book. Some passages were a bit dull, because of all the details in somewhat difficult language. There wasn’t really a passage that was very dull, but that was also because of the length of the story. It was a rather short story in comparisement with the other books I’ve read.

Comparisement of the main character: I think a lot of people would consider Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde as main character, only I think of Mr. Utterson as the main character. He changed a lot during the story. He was quite the gentleman and was never too lazy to help out a friend, and that didn’t change. But, with the help of Jekyll, his way of thinking did change. He was a rather down to earth man, believing in the powers of good. Jekyll showed him the evil side of human nature and of life. This had quite an impact on Utterson.

Which character would you like to be: If I had to choose which character I could be, I think I would choose Mr. Utterson. He was a wise gentleman, and quite the social fellow. Furthermore he discovered the darkside of human nature, a thing which I loved about Dr. Jekyll, and it did change him.

Who did you dislike: I disliked Mr. Hide. I loved Jekyll and Hyde at some points, because I thought it was a very morbid thought to discover your evil side, but I also liked that. I thought it was cool that Jekyll was brave enough to face his demon, explore and develop his dark side. Then why did I hate Mr. Hyde you might ask. Well I hated him because eventually he took control. He led to the destruction of Jekyll. I didn’t really mind the killing, but I think a dark side has the urge to survive. I was disappointed when the dark side did not manage to stay alive, and that’s why I didn’t like Hyde.

Were you stisfied with the ending: The ending was in one way good, but in one way it wasn’t satisfacting me. I thought it was a noble thing to do of Jekyll to kill himself to destroy the evil. But I did expect much more from a darker side. I wanted Hyde to develop more, and pay for his actions in this life. This chance was taken away by the suicide of Hyde.

Place: The story takes place in London (page 8: “It chanced on…quarter of London”).

Time: The story took place in the 19th century. I can’t be anymore exact, because in every passage where the date is mentioned it only states 18-, and there fore not the entire year. (page 52: “10th December 18-“)

Perspective: The story is narrated by an omniscient author.

Turningpoint: The turningpoint of the story was quite late. It was when Jekyll exposed to Lanyon his true identity, that of Jekyll and Hyde. The mistery was solved at that point, and all the pieces came together. From that point all the thoughts and points of view were discussed.

Genre: It’s a psychological thriller.

Message: The book was about the old struggle between good and evil. Evil seemed to have the upperhand in this book, but the good and evil leads to the destruction. This was quite a morbid story. I thought it was, especially for that time, very innovating to read about a man who wanted to discover his dark side.

Recommendation: I thought the book was very good. The approach on the whole good and evil theme was very well dealt with. It’s originality makes the book so good to me. Although at times the book contains a lot of details, which makes some passages hard to read, also because there are some difficult words in the book. I thought it was very well written. I did expect Mr. Hyde to go on a killing rampage with gross details of the murders, but that wasn’t the case. The emphasis was more on the psychological mind behind Hyde and Jekyll, and the book didn’t focus on the events, but rather on the thoughts. That worked surprisingly well for me. I would really recommend this book, because it’s a classic, and it’s very fun to read.