The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Novella by Robert Louis Stevenson

 

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Novella by Robert Louis Stevenson

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a narrative about the complexities of science and the deceitfulness of human nature. Dr Jekyll is a kind, well-respected and intelligent scientist who meddles with the darker side of science, as he wants to bring out his repressed evil nature. He does this by transforming himself into Mr Hyde, his evil alter ego, who does not repent or accept responsibility for his evil crimes. Jekyll tries to control his alter ego, Hyde, and for a while, Jekyll has power. However, towards the end of the novel, Hyde takes over and this results in their deaths.

The tale of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is told mostly from the perspective of Mr Gabriel John Utterson, a lawyer from London and a friend of Dr Henry Jekyll. He recollects the events with his friend, Mr. Richard Enfield’s story. Mr Enfield describes of returning home in the early hours of the morning when he witnessed a horrible incident. A small girl, running across the street, was trampled by a man named Mr Edward Hyde, who left her screaming on the ground. After being caught, Hyde agreed to pay the child’s family, and he retrieved a cheque from the account of Dr Jekyll.

Utterson has a will in which Jekyll entrusts his property to Hyde. Troubled, the lawyer visits Dr Hastie Lanyon, a longtime friend of both Jekyll and Utterson. Lanyon says that he has not seen Jekyll for more than 10 years, since Jekyll had gotten involved with “unscientific balderdash,” and that he does not know Hyde. Utterson traps Hyde and introduces himself and then goes around to Jekyll’s house. He understands that Jekyll is not at home and that his servants have orders to obey Hyde.

Almost a year later, a maid witnesses Hyde beating to death a prominent gentleman who is also a client of Utterson’s. Utterson leads the police to Hyde’s home. Though he is absent, evidence of his guilt is clear. Utterson goes to see if Jekyll is protecting Hyde, and Jekyll gives Utterson a letter from Hyde, in which Hyde declares that he will be able to escape. However, Utterson’s clerk notices that Jekyll and Hyde appear to have the same handwriting. Jekyll seems healthier and happier over the next few months but later starts refusing visitors. Utterson visits a dying Lanyon, who gives Utterson a document to be opened only after Jekyll’s death or disappearance.

Weeks later, Mr Poole, the servant, requests Utterson to come to Jekyll’s home, as he is scared that Hyde has murdered Jekyll. When Poole and Utterson break into the laboratory office, they find Hyde’s body on the floor and three documents for Utterson from Jekyll. Lanyon’s letter to Utterson and Jekyll’s documents reveal that Jekyll had secretly developed a potion to allow him to separate the good and evil aspects of his personality. He was thereby able at will to change into his increasingly dominant evil counterpart, Mr Hyde. While the respectable doctor initially had no difficulty in returning from his rabid personality, he soon found himself slipping into Mr. Hyde without in taking his drug. He temporarily stopped using the potion, but, when he tried it again, Mr. Hyde committed murder. After that, it took a vast amount of potion to keep him from spontaneously becoming Mr Hyde. Unable to make any more of the drug because of an impurity in the original supply, Jekyll soon ran out of the drug. He took the last of it to write a confession before becoming Hyde permanently. Thus, the book acts as a parable about what it means to be a good person, and presents a deeply critical portrait of medicine, with its power and potential harms. Jekyll's struggle with his good and evil sides demonstrates how there is good and evil in everyone.