Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Signet Classics) by Robert Louis Stevenson
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Book Reviews of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Signet Classics)
Book Review: A famous classic that has been a victim of its own success
Summary: 4 Stars
I am currently engaged in a long-term and pretty in depth project that involves me reading all of the major fictional works on robots, Cyborgs, and other artificially created human life forms. DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE belongs in this group even if it is an odd fit. Hyde is definitely an artificial creation, due to the chemical and medical experiments of Dr. Jekyll. And Jekyll is definitely one in a long line of insane (morally, if not psychologically) scientists who attempt to play god. Along with FRANKENSTEIN it provides the template for the isolated made geniuses that populate so much subsequent Sci-fi from Wells's THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU and THE INVISIBLE MAN to Crichton's JURASSAIC PARK. The historical importance of the book can hardly be overstressed.
Yet, for a classic of its magnitude, it makes curiously unentertaining reading. Victorian English literature is perhaps my favorite period in the history of literature. I've read most of Dickens, nearly thirty novels by Anthony Trollope (one of my favorite authors), George Eliot's major works (and several minor), and a long string of early and late Victorian writers from Thackeray to Hardy to Butler to Wilde to Gissing, to Collins. I even enjoy lesser writers like George Meredith and genre writers like Arthur Conan Doyle (who edges more into the Edwardian period for the bulk of his career). And I absolutely adore Lewis Carroll. Moving a bit further into literary history I have read all of H. G. Wells's major Sci-fi works and found something to enjoy in all of them. But Stevenson's DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE I found curiously uninteresting. The problem, in part, is that the book is structured to provide a shock, namely, that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person, only embodying different aspects of the same moral character. I first read JEKYLL AND HYDE when I was in high school and did not enjoy it then, either. I thought rereading it as a more mature reader might make a difference, but it did not. The central idea of two people sharing the same body is brilliant and justly famous (is there anyone in our culture who doesn't know Jekyll and Hyde's joint secret?), but once you know that secret, the naiveté of Jekyll's friends in striving to understand the mystery of Hyde and his power over Jekyll is a tad tedious.
The one thing that I did learn (or I supposed more properly, relearned) was that Hyde was a shrunken thing of a man. My most recent encounters with Hyde have been in Alan Moore's brilliant graphic stories in THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, in which Jekyll and especially Hyde is vividly and brilliantly drawn. But in Moore's version, Hyde is a huge, hulking monster, akin to a Mighty Joe Young, capable of ripping men apart limb by limb. Stevenson's Hyde, on the contrary, is a diminutive, skulking thing. With Darwin's theories prevalent, we are clearly to perceive Hyde as a devolution of a human soul, a step backwards in primitiveness.
I would love to have been one of the first readers of the story. I would love to know precisely how this story appeared to people when the concept was fresh and unknown. The story as it currently exists is hurt by its own success. It remains must reading for anyone concerned about the history of Sci-fi and the quirky edges of Victorian literature. But I wonder if it still has the capacity to entertain like so many other books. I've read Wilkie Collins's THE WOMAN IN WHITE three times and fully expect to read it again at some point. But I wonder if I will be similarly tempted to read Stevenson's famous story again.
Book Review: Carnal and Moral Forces Collide
Summary: 4 Stars
What would you do if you could drink an elixir that removes all guilt from your mind for a few hours and allows you to partake in things that you normally would never dream of? Robert Louis Stevenson gives us a glimpse of what could happen in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." It's a wonderful classic originally published in 1886. In it, the well-worn battle between good and evil is played out not in the forms of a hero and a villain, but inside the mind and soul of one man who toys with the idea of acting out his most carnal (at least that's what the reader assumes) longings.
This isn't your cookie-cutter Hollywood version of "Jekyll and Hyde." It's a much deeper study of the human soul and it's longing to be a bit "naughty" and suffer none of the consequences. Time and again, Jekyll drinks his "liquid courage" and unleashes the evil that lies within. As the days, weeks and months pass by, Jekyll finds it harder to control the beast within, and his unholy friend makes more and longer appearances. Eventually, Mr. Hyde goes too far on one of his escapades, and it drives Jekyll to the brink of sanity.
Along the way, we are introduced to characters such as Utterson and his friend Enfield. We also meet Poole, Dr. Lanyon, and in a brief appearance, a maid servant who witnesses actions against one Mr. Carew. Although Jekyll and Hyde are the title characters, most of the book's focus is placed on Utterson. Jekyll gets one chapter (the final one) in which to give his account of what happens to him as he undergoes his changes.
Most of the films and plays based on this book portray the doctor as a good, wholesome man. However, while reading this book, I found that he was perhaps more evil than Hyde. He is capable of controlling his desires. Hyde is not. Instead of prohibiting himself from taking more of the elixir, Jekyll openly enjoys it. As he begins to lose more and more control of his situation, he attempts to correct his own wrongdoing. When this occurs, we find the one thing that Hyde fears.
This particular edition of "Jekyll and Hyde" features a rather humdrum introductory essay by Vladimir Nabokov. In my opinion, he goes to depths that Stevenson probably never meant to be uncovered in his morality tale. Skip the introduction if you are unfamiliar with the story. It will do nothing more than spoil your read. I do recommend the afterword by Dan Chaon. It's a much more interesting, less in depth look at this brief, wonderful story.
I highly recommend the tale. It gets five stars, but the introductory essay drags the story down and makes it almost boring. Therefore, I give this version of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" four stars.
Book Review: Somewhat Faded With Time But Still Incredibly Influential
Summary: 4 Stars
Published in 1886, THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE was an instant sensation and had a tremendous impact on later generations; it would not be an exaggeration to say that there have been hundreds of stage and film productions drawn either directly or indirectly from the original Robert Louis Stevenson story. Readers who come to the story from these adaptations, however, will very likely be surprised: few of them do more than borrow Stevenson's central concept.
Unlike the numerous stage and film adaptations, Dr. Jekyll is not a young or remarkably handsome man, nor the book does not contain any of the romantic subplots to which its adaptations are prone. At approximately one hundred pages, the story is very direct and extremely well suited to Stevenson's very precise style, which is very clean yet extremely evocative and very readable.
That said, modern readers are unlikely to be shocked by the book. For one thing, the story is too well known; for another, it contains very little of the graphic horror typical of current horror stories. But more than anything else, DR. JEKYLL is very distinctly a novel that draws from the Victorian era, and much of its impact was due to that society's remarkable hypocrisy; it was a world in which appearances were everything and a double life "acceptable" as long as you were not caught at it.
The same concept arises in two other novels from the same era, Bram Stoker's DRACULA and Oscar Wilde's THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, albeit in distinctly different forms. But whereas the Stoker and Wilde novels transcend their era, Stevenson's tale does not, and with the passing of Victorian attitudes the work has lost a great deal of its power to shock. Even so, Stevenson does touch a nerve with his chemically-induced transformation; then as now, drug abuse was a scourge, and in addition to this the work is somewhat similar to Mary Shelly's FRANKENSTEIN in the sense that it anticipates a host of ethical concerns that have become more and more pressing with the passage of time.
Although it has not held up as well as the other titles named, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE is nonetheless unavoidable for any one who has an interest in gothic or horror literature because it had--and continues to have--such a tremendous influence on later works. Stevenson's prose is elegant, it is "an easy read," and I think most contemporary readers will enjoy it if they make the effort to see it within the context of its era.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Book Review: Living la vida loca
Summary: 4 Stars
The classic story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tells of a respectable citizen Dr Jekyll who transforms into a heinous villian by night that trolls the streets of Edinburgh in the 1800s. This dual life of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is traced in a third person account by a friend of the good doctor, who follows the evidence provided by both Jekyll and Hyde. The story itself is easy to understand and enjoyable to follow. The book is appropriate for anyone in high school or higher, and makes for a good movie script.
The analysis that has gone into this story is quite extensive, and often goes like this: this story is a commentary on good versus evil, the conflict between these two opposing forces within each individual, and the secret thoughts that lay beneath the polite veneer of everyday life. Legend has it that the author wrote this from recollections of nightmares, and hence this book is a good foreshadowing of modern psychology and the interpretation of dreams espoused by Freud.
This reviewer would like to propose an alternate explanation of this book's story; one that is not original to me, but is actually put forth in the book: "Cocaine, an unauthorized biography" by Dominic Streatfield. If you read the book and examine the behavior of Mr. Hyde and the recollections of it by Dr. Jekyll, it becomes clear that Dr. Jekyll was experimenting with drugs; probably some combination of uppers and hallucinogenics. While under the influence of these drugs, he committed acts that he would never dream of doing while sober. Afterwards, he had only a slight recollection of what happened. This sounds a lot like the lives of many drug addicts. Add that to the fact that in 1800's England, proper society was just becoming exposed to many of the chemicals now found in the drug scene, hence someone addicted back then would have been beyond the help, sympathy or comprehension of society at large. Biographical notes from both R. L. Stevenson and his peers, including his wife, hint that he might have experimented with drugs in the period immediately before he authored this book; and that these led to strong and powerful nightmares. In essence, R. L. Stevenson might have authored this book from a synthesized recollection of his own experiences (real and imagined) and those of others while under the influence of intoxicants.
All in all a great book and fun story. Highly recommended.
Book Review: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Summary: 4 Stars
I love this book! It was very deep and mysterious. It kept me on the edge of my seat for most of the time, forcing me to keep guessing who Mr. Hyde was and why he was so evil. I also like the fact that it was short, and got to the point pretty quickly compared to a lot of other books. The only bad thing about this book is that it is written in 1886 and uses different writing style that most people are not familiar with. At times, it was hard to understand what Robert Louis Stevenson was writing about. I recommend this book for people who like mysteries and can understand and read the writing style. Also, this would be a good book for people planning to go to college. Do not be afraid of this book just because it may be a little difficult to understand at first, try it anyway. You may like it.
Have you ever had suspicions of something, but you really could not prove them? I have. I can relate to Mr. Utterson in many ways. He is a caring friend, who wants to protect Dr. Jekyll from harm, and he is a very smart fellow. He can put two and two together, and he can get the correct answer. I can do that too. I am sure you can relate to at least one of the characters, too. There is a curious fellow, an evil man, a smart and inquisitive fellow, and an easily frightened butler. Here is a short preview of the book.
Mr. Utterson, a lawyer, hears a story about a despicable man who trampled a little girl for no apparent reason. The man who did this was named Mr. Hyde. The next day, Mr. Utterson looked over his friend's, Dr. Jekyll, will. It states that is anything happened to him that all of his belongings should go to a Mr. Hyde. This, coupled with the fact that Dr. Jekyll is acting wierd, rouses Mr. Utterson's suspicions, and he fears for Dr. Jekyll's life. When Dr. Jekyll goes back to his normal sel, Mr. Utterson's suspicions subside, but it will last for only a short time. First, there is the murder of a Sir Danvers Carew by a man who looks like Mr. Hyde. Then, Dr. Jekyll becomes sick, and he refuses to leave his study at his house. Finally, to confirm his suspicions, there is a letter from a friend, Dr. Lanyon, explaining everything. Who is Mr. Hyde? What does he have to do with Dr. Jekyll? Read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson, to find out!