Title: “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Category: Horror
First published: 1885
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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Purchase: Amazon
This is not so much a review as my comments about Stevenson’s classic story, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” After all, how can you really review a classic like that. It’s obviously captured people’s imaginations for years, impacted culture, become one of the stories we know, even if we don’t actually know it.
Dr. Jekyll creates a potion that he drinks and it lets loose his “evil side,” Mr. Hyde, the side that lacks inhibitions, that gives into his baser instincts. Dr. Jekyll believes that people are dual-natured and his goal had been just that, to separate the two portions of himself, which he does, but with disastrous results. I think that’s what makes the story, the idea that everyone has at least a bit of Hyde inside, contained or ignored, but still there. That maybe we are all capable of murder, under the right circumstances.
The story is more introspective than thrilling. I expected more of an adventure. I’m not complaining about how the story was written, but it dealt more with Jekyll’s feeling and his friends’ reactions to his odd behaviors. We saw what Hyde did, we learned how Jekyll transformed into the monster, but those scenes didn’t really have as much impact as I had expected. It’s more subdued, but I don’t think that makes the story any less memorable. I think it’s important to picture the deformed, malicious Hyde and how his differs, in both behavior and appearance from the rest of the proper Londoners in the story, both the gentleman and Jekyll’s servants.
I know the story can be read in different ways, as a lesson on the evil inherent in every human, kept under control only by society and civilation. After all, once Hyde was let out he could not be contained. Eventually Jekyll had to take the serum to return to himself, to pull himself back from his evil side. Or maybe it’s a tale of the dangers of science. It was after all science that led to the creation of Hyde, science without guidance or restraint, without consultation with peers. But I’m not really interested in the deeper meaning, at least today.
It’s not exactly an easy story to read. It feels stilted at first, but I think that’s the style of the time, and in a way it softens the horror. It feels more distanced. It’s not a story I’ll re-read, or even one I necessarily enjoyed, but I am glad I read it. It feels like one you should read, so you know the actual story, not only the cartoonized versions.
This was my second short story read for R.I.P. VIII’s Peril of the Short Story. R.I.P VIII is a reading event embracing the ghastly and ghostly, mysterious and grim hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings.
Yeah, the language definitely was different back then and it always takes me a little while to get used to it when I read a classic. I am familiar with this story but have never read it.
I really should read a classic…but then my Tbr pile is big enough
I read this last year and agree with you. I felt a little underwhelmed at the time although glad that i’d read it and my review was much more a discussion about human nature. I was expecting something a bit more gothic and twisted when I originally picked it up and i think the fact that I already knew the twist in the tale lessened the impact.
Still, that being said, I’m not sorry to have read it.
Lynn 😀
This does sound like an interesting classic and like one that makes for great reflection on human nature. Great post!
I was so wanting to read this one this year, but it didn’t work out for me.
I’ve been thinking I will read this one someday, but I’ve heard so much about it I’m afraid my expectations are rather high. That said, Robert Louis Stevenson is a hit-or-miss author for me; I’ve only really liked one of his works so far (Kidnapped).
I liked this one very much, to tell you the truth. Reread it a couple of times in fact 🙂