Book Review: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

This is yet another one of the classic tales of suspense and terror that I think everyone knows: a man who has found a way to tap into his darker side of his personality, only to find himself less able to control those impulses once they are given a glimpse of freedom. How many of us have seen the various movie incarnations, delighting in Frederich March's Oscar-winning performance or even the more recent Broadway musical version? Yet, I never read the book.

So I decided to remedy that, as I have done with Dracula and Frankenstein.

The story focuses on Gabriel Utterson, a lawyer who also happens to be a close friend of Dr. Henry Jekyll. While Mr. Utterson and his friend Richard Enfield are out and about for a walk, they chance upon a darkened doorway, and Mr. Enfield relates an unusual tale about a strange, short, loathesome man who literally ran right over a young girl without stopping or checking on her. When Utterson learns the name of this mand -- Hyde -- he suddenly remembers a will that he reluctantly drew for Dr. Jekyll, involving one Edward Hyde. So begins his mission to learn about his friend Jekyll whom no one has seen for some months. Yet as he uncovers more about he friend, he soon learns the awful price Jekyll has paid to unleash his inner demons.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is definitely a classic, with remarkable writing and very vivid images. The heart of the story lies in describing the duality that hides in all humans -- the light side, which tends toward the good in things, is altruistic, friendly and happy; and the darker side, which relishes in the baser human tastes, violence and a general sense of evil. Through his tampering with the balance of light and dark, Jekyll learns that keeping one from overcoming the other is a difficult, almost impossible task. I also feel that the story sheds some light on addiction. Jekyll describes in his statement of events the white powder he created, how it affected his mood and personality, how it created the wonderful sense of change and power at the onset but over time turned into something more necessary to keep himself sane and intact.

Whatever you take from the story after reading it, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde deserves its place in classic literature as a fine example of suspense and horror and human psychology.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Bantam Classic
ISBN: 0-553-21277-x
softcover, 98 pages

borrowed book from the Long Beach Public Library

Image from Lolita Classics.