Dr Jekyll and Mr.

Hyde

A crime story in Victorian London, The Strange of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is also a reflection on ethics. The story begins when Richard Enfield tells his distant relative and friend, G. J. Utterson, a lawyer, about Mr. Hyde, who had beaten up a child and then paid the girls family a check in Jekylls name, a friend of Utterson. Surprised, Utterson remembers Hyde as being in Dr. Jekylls will: if something happened to him, all of his possessions should be given to Mr. Hyde. The relation between Jekyll and Hyde was suspicious to Utterson, Dr. Jekylls lawyer. When he discovered the girls story, his suspicions grew even bigger. He went talking to Mr. Hyde, an almost deformed man (although Utterson couldnt really tell what was wrong with him). Hyde gave Utterson his address and Jekyll told his lawyer that he should stop bothering about the situation. Mr. Hyde is seen, some months after, killing another client of Utterson, Sir Danvers, a very important member of society. The weapon of the crime was a cane that was given to Jekyll by Utterson. Seeing the growing relation between the two, the lawyer goes speak with Dr. Jekyll, who tells him he has ended all relations with Hyde, showing a letter written by Hyde. The lawyers butler notices the similarities between Jekyll and Hydes writings. Dr. Lanyon a friend of both Jekyll and Utterson dies a few months after these events. He left a letter to the lawyer, only to be read if Jekyll was dead or missing. Mr. Poole, Jekylls butler goes to Uttersons house asking for help: Jekyll hadnt left his lab for several weeks. They decide to go to the Drs lab to see what was wrong. They break into the lab and they find Hyde dead he had killed himself. Along with the body was a letter from Jekyll to Utterson explaining what happened. The lawyer firstly read Lanyons letter: he found out that he died of agony because he saw Mr. Hyde drinking a potion and becoming Jekyll. He then proceeded to read Jekylls letter, which revealed that he and Hyde were the same person: Jekyll wanted to separate the two forces in this personality, evil and good, so he created a potion capable of doing that. He would be pure evil as Hyde, but normal as Jekyll (the experiments failed here: he should had been pure good as Jekyll). At first, he changed from one another when he wanted but as time passed, he started to lose control of his two personalities. When the potion began to run out and he couldnt make more, he knew that his end was near. He wrote his confession ending with the words: I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekylls to an end

Are we, as humans, naturally good or evil? Or is our personality a mix of those two concepts? 19th century Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson and his novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, not only a crime story but also a reflection on human nature, ask us those questions. The story of Utterson, a lawyer; his friend Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a sociopath, is set in the Victorian London. Utterson is told about Mr. Hyde who is known to be very violent. As the story unfolds, Utterson begins to suspect more and more of Mr. Hyde, and since he is a friend of Jekyll, he also starts to worry about the safety of his friend. When Jekyll locks himself in his lab, his friends start to be worried. They decide to break into his lab only to find Mr. Hyde dead with a letter written by Jekyll. They find out that Hyde and Jekyll were the same person: the experiments led by Jekyll went wrong. He tried to separate his good self from his evil, so that they would take on different ways; he created a potion, and he became Mr. Hyde, pure evil. At the beginning he had total control on which personality he wanted to adopt, but as time went by he started to become Hyde without wanting to and ultimately he failed to control his life, so he killed himself. So in my opinion, Stevensons book is a good piece of advice: since we cant totally control our impulses/desires, we shouldnt try too hard to repress those feelings, or they will come back stronger. Is this book dated? One could say that. But only in the crime story part of the book. I already knew that Jekyll and Hyde were the same person and so part of the surprise was ruined. But this book still offers a powerful reflection on ethics (the confession of Jekyll is a great ending) and the description of Victorians England and English is also very good. So for anyone interested in human behavior or in a good crime story (even if you already know the ending) this book is a must.