Boeke

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

By Robert L. Stevenson ( 1886 )

This morning I finished reading an edited version of this novel. It only took about 4 hours.

Most of us have heard about this story and know that it is about someone who has two personalities, one good and one evil (or "good" and "bad" if evil sounds too strong ).

In this book I particularly liked the way that very strong descriptive words were used. It was easy to imagine the characters and the setting in which the story took place. Also exactly too my taste was the fact that there weren`t any endless useless descriptions of people and places. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that I read an edited version.

The main characters are:

Mr Utterson, the lawyer of Dr. Jeckell

"a man of rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow loveable."

another characteristic about him that I quite like is the following:

"But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove"

and

"I let my brother go to the devil in his own way"

Mr Enfield, a distant kinsman of Mr Utterson

"well-known man about town"

that takes Sunday walks together with Mr. Utterson. Comments on having seen Mr Hyde and making it possible for
Mr Utterton track him down.


Dr Lanyon, general practicioner

"This was a hearty, healty, dapper, red-faced gentleman, with a shock of hair prematurely white, and a boisterous and decided manner."

Dr. Lanyon and Mr. Utterson were:

"old friends, old mates both at schooland college, both thorough  respecters of themselves and of each other,and,what does not always follow, men who thoroughly enjoyed each other`s company."

Mr Poole, the butler

" a well dressed elderly servant"

Dr Jeckell

"a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a stylish cast perhaps but every mark of capacity and kindness-" 

"the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies, all intellligent reputable men"

Mr. Hyde

"Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish; he gave the impression of deformity without any namable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice,-all these points were against him; but not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him."

"or is it the mere radiance of a foul soul that thus transpires through, and transfigures, its clay continent? The last, I think; for, O my poor old Harry Jeckell, if I ever read Satan`s signature upon a face, it is that of your new friend. 

 The story in short goes like this:

Dr. Jeckell wants to explore his "evil" side and finds away to do so by drinking a special potion. When he is Mr. Hyde he can do all the bad things he wants to do without feeling guilty. He writes a will leaving his whole estate to Mr Hyde in case his experiment goes wrong and he doesn`t turn back into Dr Jeckell.

 As time passes the persona of Mr Hyde becomes stronger and stronger. One evening he even commits a murder... a crime of singular ferocity... which is witnessed and he has to go into "hiding".

 During this time Dr Jeckell has a tough time resisting the urge to drink the potion and one morning he wakes up as Mr Hyde without having drunk the potion. Because he cannot be seen in public, he gets Dr Lanyon to fetch his chemicals with which he mixes his potion and turns back into Dr Jeckell right in front of Dr Lanyon`s eyes... he put the glass to his lips, and drank at one gulp. A cry followed; he reeled, staggered, clutched at the table and held on, staring with injected eyes, gasping with open mouth; and as I looked, there came,I thought, a change - he seemed to swell - his face became suddenly black, and the featured seemed to melt and alter -
This is too much for Dr Lanyon to get his head around and he eventually withers away and dies
...a week afterwards Dr Lanyon took to his bed, and in something less than a fortnight he was dead. after writing letter to Mr Utterton explaining everything. The letter is sealed and should only be opened should Dr Jeckell die or disappear.

Now Dr Jeckell finds that he has no more control over his change in persona.
...but the words were hardly uttered, before the smile was struck out of his face and succeeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair, as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below...
He re-writes his will and leaves everything to Mr Utterton should Dr Jeckell die or disappear and then he locks himself in his rooms.By now Dr Jeckell has realized the predicament he is in. He had tried to get hold of some more of the chemicals with which he mixes his potion but did not succeed. He uses his last portion to write an explanatory letter to Mr Utterson.

 Days later Mr Poole, the butler, fetches Mr Utterton when the household staff can`t bear the screams, crying and funny noises coming from Dr Jeckell`s chambers any more.
...Mr Utterton, said the man, there is something wrong.
They think he has been murdered and that someoe else is in the room now ( little do they know!).

 Mr Utterton and Mr Poole break down the door.
..." Do you know,Poole", he said, looking up, "that you and I are about to place ourselves in a position of some peril?"
They find Edward Hyde dying on the floor. He had taken his own life by means of arsenic poisoning. Mr. Utterton goes back to his rooms and reads the confessions of Dr. Lanyon and Dr Jeckell and understands for the first time how all the pieces fit together.

What I find worth thinking about is:

• how there is a Dr Jeckell and Mr Hyde in each of us
• do we let Mr Hyde come out to play or not?
• how do we do that?
• does a "foul soul" really radiate outwards, does a person look different?
• how Dr Lanyon is so shocked when he sees the transformation that he eventually dies from having witnessed it...and our kids watch men turn into werewolves and think nothing of it?
• which character do I most indentify with?