A wealthy lawyer, Mr. Utterson is a very boring man, who is very close with his relative, Mr. Enfield. One day, on their usual Sunday stroll, Enfield walks pass a building and recalls a incident that happened late night as he was walking past the neighborhood. He recalls that a very despised man was crashed into a young girl and tried to run away, but Enfield grabbed him by his collar and took him back to the angry crowd. They wanted to kill him, but he offers a big check to them. As Enfield saw the name on the check, he let him go and went on with his night. When, Enfield reveals the name of the accused’s name, Hyde to Utterson, he is taken into utter shock. After he came back from his walk, Utterson studies the will that he drew up for his client/friend, Dr. Jekyll. It states that if Jekyll goes missing or dies, all of his property will be given to Edward Hyde. Utterson feels that Hyde is probably holding something over his friend, after hearing about his behavior. At night, he is tormented with nightmares of a faceless man running after a small kid and he is standing besides Jekyll’s bed, giving him orders. Soon after, Utterson walks past the same neighborhood Enfield had described to him, hoping to cross paths with Hyde. When Hyde finally appears, Utterson introduces himself and as he gets a clear picture of his face, he is utterly taken back with his not so appealing features. He could not describe what was so ugly about him. Hyde tells him where he lives, and Utterson took this as a sign to Jekyll’s death. After paying visit to him, Utterson runs down to Jekyll’s house and realizes that Hyde’s building is connected to Jekyll’s townhouse. He runs into Jekyll’s butler, Poole, who reveals that every servant has to obey Hyde’s orders. A couple of weeks later, when Utterson is invited to Jekyll’s house, where he finally comes out clean about the will and says that he does not trust Hyde. However, Jekyll makes him promise to carry out the will if anything happens to him.
One year later, a maid sitting by window witness a murder across the street, by a man who she recognized as Mr. Hyde. She describes that he beat the man to death with a stick. Police finds a letter with Utterson’s address on the death body. Utterson takes the police to the place, where Hyde used to stay, where he ponders upon the fact that a man like him is heir of Jekyll’s property. As they look around, police find a burned check book and a murder weapon. They hope that Hyde will eventually withdraw some money and they will have to wait for that moment. Utterson visits Jekyll once again and Jekyll discloses that Hyde and him and are no longer friends. He then shows him a letter that Hyde wrote to him stating that he has hope to escape and he does not feel worthy of his Jekll’s fortunes. Utterson takes the letter with him, when one again he runs into Poole, who disclaims that no letter was ever delivered to Jekyll. Finally, Utterson consults with his clerk, Mr. Guest, a handwriting expert. He discloses that the writing on the letter matches with the writing of Jekyll’s.
The theme of Good vs. Evil quickly changes as we come to the end of chapter 5. From the beginning, we have seen Hyde as the Evil man, beating up a little girl, his ugly face symbolizing the darkness he possess and spreads around the entire London. However, we realize that Jekyll is forged a letter for a murder. Why is that? We always focus on the outer appearance of the person and be ignorant of how a person is from inside. The appearance is also another major part of the story.
We can compare this piece of literature with Frankenstein’s novel Monster, which also depicts the story of a horrified ugly looking monster. Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll are scientists in their respective tales. They both consisted of an individual that they obsessed about and played an important part in the character. Frankenstein was passionate with “creature”, whereas Jekyll with Hyde. Both novels consisted of a laboratory that plays an important role in the literatures. Frankenstein creates a monster that he despises of, whereas Jekyll’s laboratory is connected with Hyde’s building, who also has the keys. Both tales pick children as their first victims, who is murdered by their obsessions. Most importantly, they are both isolated from the society.
Discussion questions
- what kind of a relationship does Hyde and Dr. Jekyll?
- Why is this literature focusing more on the appearance of the individuals?
- why is there a connection between Hyde’s building and Jekyll’s building?
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are just the same characters. During the Victorian era, English men followed a pattern of high morality and values. Also, during the Victorian Society, people tended to avoid talking about scandalous situations, unacceptable circumstances, sexual desires, or disreputable topics. Robert Louis Stevenson wants to depict how a moral and respectable gentleman as Dr. Jekyll can be as bad as any other individual regardless their appearance or social class. Mr. Hyde is a horrible man which his face cannot be described; this monster due to his unpleasant look is seen as the suspect murderer. However, nobody expects that Jekyll and Hyde are both the same person. Mr. Underson represents Victorian society as an individual who avoids being involved in any scandal even though he suspects what the truth is.
The run-down building that Hyde frequents is a laboratory attached to Jekyll’s well-kept townhouse.
The emphasis on popular perceptions and reputation vs. reality is really reminiscent of Caleb Williams, don’t you think?
Yes, I totally agree. The 2 mentioned novels are different; however, Mr. Flankland and Dr. Jekyll are alike in a way that both characters hide a dark evil side inside of them. Mr. Flankland is a respectable gentleman who has volatile tempers and dark moods. The same as Dr. Jekyll who turns into Mr. Hyde to be able to show the person that he has inside. Both characters don’t want to be questioned about their behaviors and want to resemble good people in front of society.
Mr. Hyde is the alter ego of Dr. Jekyll, the part of him that holds all of the vileness and inhumanity housed in his personality that a society so focused on reputation (as in the case in Victorian times) would otherwise repress out of existence. They inhabit the same body, but cannot occupy the same persona due to the social climate. This may be a statement on how highly repressive moral conditions hide, but do not eradicate, the vile side of one’s personality. It only forces it to present itself differently.
I’m actually a bit confused as to why the hyperfixation on appearances, as I feel like that even detracts from the point, although it may be a stylistic thing or a preference of the period. Perhaps it is to increase the contrast between the two sides of Dr. Jekyll. But in truth, these two personas come from the same individual, and I feel like the appearance difference undermines that.
The relationship between Hyde and Mr.Jekyll is obvious; they are the same person. What differentiates between the two characters is their persona. Mr. Jekyll plays as the good or innocent character while Mr.Hyde, the evil and hideous character. From a psychological perspective, when reading this novel is seems like there was some indication towards multiple personality disorder. In other words, one character exhibits several personalities.
I believe that appearance reference was used to add an evil side to Mr.Hyde. Mr.Hyde was described as this hideous, hairy looking creature which may also suggest an evolutionary and animal like perspective. Mr.Hyde’s appearance displays the lack of moral that his character possesses.
The relationship between hyde and jekyll is that they are a same person , the difference between them is that who he choose to be, I believe both hyde and jekyll were controlled by same person, maybe the potion has no effect itself, maybe it’s just a excuse through which jekyll can relese his bad side out .I don’t think he is personality disorder or something, I believe that he knows what he is doing, it just about who he choose to be. I think the novel focus more on appearance just a way to symbolize how they really are, good or bad.
Your observation that the first victims in both Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are children is quite insightful, as is your connection between Jekyll/Hyde’s isolation and the Creature’s. Why do you suppose it is that the “evil” side in each novel is shown through the victimization of a child? What might that tell us about how each novel defines “evil”? And what about isolation? Does it cause a character to become evil, or do evil characters self-isolate?
This is one of the first cases where a novel displays both characters as the same person. Many novels usually have distinct characters and each has their own distinctive traits and personalities. This novel takes on the idea of split/multiple personalities. This creates an unreliable narrative. Stevenson may have tried this tactic, to distract the reader. The reader is jumping through different personas as Mr. Jekyll seemed to be innocent, while Mr. Hyde was evil and hideous. We saw in Frankenstein, how obsessed Victor was telling Waldman to recreate his story properly so others can understand. What was Stevenson trying to narrate with different character identities? I believe it was to give readers options in deciding how to piece the story together based on their preferences. This is why there is a connection between Jekyll and Hyde’s building. They are essentially occupying the same living quarters (one person).
Humans are guilty of judging based on first appearance. The world is full of many unknown quantities. Humans usually have preconceived schema’s and attach it immediately to things they don’t understand, to make better sense of this very confusing world. Mr. Utterson was playing the role of a detective. He was just trying to have a better understanding of what was going on around him. Victor made the same mistake by attaching his schema of something ugly and hideous as bad. This is why he never gave the Monster a chance and threw it away.
The relationship between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is they are of course the same person, but the difference is one shows the good and the other shows the evil within themselves. The literature focuses on appearance of the individual because in society that is something that is very important- the first thing people judge is the way you look. The novel also uses it to show the distinct difference in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde is described as an animal like creature. The connection with the building showed us that their two homes were connected this whole time and they are obviously both living there because they are the same person.
The connection between Jekyll and Hyde, Other than the obvious, seems to be the repressed sides of Jekyll embodied into a person. Jekyll describes the thoughts he’s always had but never felt comfortable acting on. When he is Hyde he can act on these urges and as he says he does not feel guilt for how he acts as Hyde. I believe this is a case of nature vs nurture. The form of Jekyll is the personality created by social pressures and morals put upon him. While Hyde is free of those pressures and can act more on the natural urges.