The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

 

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde is a Gothic novella written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886. It is about personality and transformation. Dr.Jekyll discovers a way to split his own personality between good and evil. However his alter ego, Hyde begins to take over Jekyll’s persona and finally, unable to find antidotes, so Jekyll ends his life in despaire.

            The novel begins with a lawyer named Mr. Utterson going for a walk with his friend and relative Mr. Enfield. Enfield tells the story of a horrible incident, in which a man trampled a young girl and, when apprehended, seemed remorseless but agreed to pay a large check when threatened by the police. He disappeared into this very house and revealed a check drawn from Dr. Jekyll’s bank account. The nasty man is none other than Mr. Hyde.

Mr. Utterson, is Dr. Jekyll’s lawyer. He has a copy of Dr. Jekyll’s will. The will stipulates that should Jekyll disappear or perish, Edward Hyde will inherit his estate. Mr.Utterson wants to find the mystery. When, he asks Dr.Jekyll about the will, Dr. Jekyll refuses to comment

About a year passes. A prominent politician named Sir Danvers Crew is brutally beaten to death. The murder is witnessed by a maid, who points out Edward Hyde as the culprit.Everyone tries to hunt down this evil man, but with no success. Meanwhile, Dr. Jekyll is in great health and spirits; he entertains his friends (among them one Dr. Lanyon), gives dinner parties, and attends to his religious duties.

Two months later, both Dr. Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll fall terribly ill, and claim to have irrevocably quarrelled with each other. Dr. Lanyon dies, leaving mysterious documents in Mr.Utterson’s possession, to be opened only if Dr.Jekyll dies or disappears.
Before Utterson can read the letter, he and Mr. Enfield witness a shocking event. While out on another walk, they come across Dr. Jekyll’s home. He talks with them out his window, but then he transforms, which shocks them both. It’s not until Mr. Utterson goes into Jekyll's laboratory after hearing Hyde’s words that he confirms the truth: inside, he finds Edward Hyde, dead on the floor and wearing Dr. Jekyll's clothes. He finds a letter on the body from Dr. Jekyll.

Mr. Utterson reads Dr. Lanyon's letter first. Lanyon explains that Dr. Jekyll had been having difficulties with the side effects of a drug he was working on, and that he had asked for Lanyon’s help in procuring some hard-to-come-by ingredients for it. Lanyon describes how Dr. Jekyll transformed into Edward Hyde, and how that transformation shocked him into his sickness and ultimate death. Mr. Utterson, continuing to read Dr. Jekyll’s letter, discovers that the drug he was working on was meant to test whether or not man had a dual nature—good and evil. With the drug, he could separate out his evil side, embodied by Edward Hyde. Unfortunately, the more Dr. Jekyll worked with the drug, the less predictable it was, so that he could no longer control when he turned into Edward Hyde or what Hyde would do when in control. He knew that if Hyde won, he’d cease to be Dr. Jekyll, and all of his goodness would be gone. So, he wrote the letter and took his own life.