Book review: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson

Posted on | January 31, 2012 | No Comments

Title: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1884)
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
ISBN-13: 9780141023588
Release date: January 26th 2006
Publisher: Penguin Books
Genre: science fiction, horror
Source: public library
Challenges: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book challenge, Sci-Fi reader challenge, Sci-Fi challenge
Verdict: ★★★★★

Summary
During one of his customary, but boring, walks with his friend Mr. Enfield, Mr. Utterson is told a story connected to particular door. The lawyer discovers to his shock that the villain of this awful tale is somehow involved with his client and friend Dr. Henry Jekyll. It is a fact he cannot ignore, especially when he finds himself in the same room as this mysterious Mr. Edward Hyde: a man who appears malformed while being of regular build, who anatagonises everyone at first sight without having said a word or blinked an eye. When people start dying around him, Utterson resorts to action. Somebody has to stop Hyde before any more deaths occur. Who knows? Jekyll could be next…

Review
Apparently the idea for the book came in a dream, which makes me wonder about the state in which the author must’ve woken up: paralysed, covered in sweat and unable to breathe? Although Stevenson did his utmost to portray the ugly and intrinsically evil Edward Hyde as a supernatural creature from nightmares (pardon the pun), he never really convinced me. Perhaps if Utterson, the character who narrates the story, had been a more likable fellow or at least a more empathic one, I would have believed it more. Instead, he is slightly socially awkward and uninteresting as a character.
As for Jekyll, his final letters explain a great deal about himself and his actions. It is here that I first felt the eeriness of his situation (the part of Jekyll waking up as someone else), but that’s about it. The story could have benefited from Jekyll’s first person narrative, inserted between the Utterson chapters. Saving his explanation for the end removed all the suspense.
The idea of concentrating the evil side of a person into a separate entity – in the same body, like having one’s cells rearranged – was a very interesting one. Personally, I don’t believe in removing the bad from the good; a person cannot be whole without these “lesser” parts of himself or herself. Still, it is wholly plausible how Hyde grew in strength, because he got to take over so often. In reality, people may get used to doing bad things, slowly starting to accept that behaviour as normal, and thereby becoming more evil themselves. Henry Jekyll should have realised in time that Hyde was not different from him, but simply a different aspect of him. Which means that Jekyll himself was equally responsible for Hyde’s actions.
Nevertheless, as it stands, despite this book having only 88 pages, reading the book became so tedious that it felt like I had to leaf through 880 pages. This may be labeled a classic, but many Stephen King books have managed to raise my pulse more than the Jekyll/Hyde duo.

Have you read this book? Did it live up to your expectations?