Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

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Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Title page of the first London edition (1886)
Author	Robert Louis Stevenson
Country	Scotland
Language	English
Publisher	Longmans, Green & co.
Publication date	5 January 1886

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886.^[1] It is about a London lawyer who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll,^[2] and the misanthropic Mr. Edward Hyde.

The work is known for its vivid portrayal of a split personality, split in the sense that within the same person there is both an apparently good and an evil personality each being quite distinct from the other. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" coming to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next.^[3]

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was an immediate success and is one of Stevenson's best-selling works. Stage adaptations began in Boston and London within a year of its publication and it has gone on to inspire scores of major film and stage performances.

[edit] History

Stevenson had long been interested in the idea of the duality of human nature and how to incorporate the interplay of good and evil into a story. While still a teenager, he developed a script for a play on Deacon Brodie, which he later reworked with the help of W. E. Henley and saw produced for the first time in 1882.^[4] In the late 1884 he wrote the short story "Markheim," which he revised in 1885 for publication in a Christmas annual. One night in late September or early October 1885, possibly while he was still revising "Markheim," Stevenson had a dream, and on wakening had the intuition for two or three scenes that would appear in the story. "In the small hours of one morning," says Mrs Stevenson, "I was awakened by cries of horror from Louis. Thinking he had a nightmare, I woke him. He said angrily, 'Why did you wake me? I was dreaming a fine bogey tale.' I had awakened him at the first transformation scene ..."

Lloyd Osbourne, Stevenson's stepson, remembers, "I don't believe that there was ever such a literary feat before as the writing of Dr. Jekyll. I remember the first reading as if it were yesterday. Louis came downstairs in a fever; read nearly half the book aloud; and then, while we were still gasping, he was away again, and busy writing. I doubt if the first draft took so long as three days".

As was the custom, Mrs. Stevenson would read the draft and offer her criticisms in the margins. Louis was confined to bed at the time from a haemorrhage; therefore she left her comments with the manuscript and Louis in the bedroom. She said that in effect the story was really an allegory, but Louis was writing it as a story. After a while Louis called her back into the bedroom and pointed to a pile of ashes: he had burnt the manuscript in fear that he would try to salvage it, and in the process forcing himself to start over from nothing, writing an allegorical story as she had suggested. Scholars debate if he really burnt his manuscript or not. Other scholars^[who?] suggest her criticism was not about allegory, but about inappropriate sexual content^{[citation needed]}. Whatever the case, there is no direct factual evidence for the burning of the manuscript, but it remains an integral part of the history of the novella.

Stevenson re-wrote the story again in three to six days.^[5] According to Osbourne, "The mere physical feat was tremendous; and instead of harming him, it roused and cheered him inexpressibly". He refined and continued to work on it for 4 to 6 weeks afterward. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the U.S. Initially stores would not stock it until a review appeared in The Times, on 25 January 1886, giving it a favourable reception. Within the next six months close to forty thousand copies were sold. Its success was probably due more to the "moral instincts of the public" than any perception of its artistic merits; it was widely read by those who never otherwise read fiction, quoted in pulpit sermons and in religious papers.^{[citation needed]} By 1901 it was estimated to have sold over 250,000 copies.

[edit] Analysis

Richard Mansfield was mostly known for his dual role depicted in this double exposure. The stage adaptation opened in London in 1887, a year after the publication of the novella. Picture 1895.

This story represents a concept in Western culture, that of the inner conflict of humanity's sense of good and evil.^[6] The novella has been interpreted as an examination of the duality of human nature (that good and evil exists in all) and that the failure to accept this tension (to accept the evil or shadow side) results in the evil being projected onto others.^[7] Paradoxically in this argument, evil is actually committed in an effort to extinguish the perceived evil that has been projected onto the innocent victims. In Freudian Theory the thoughts and desires banished to the unconscious mind motivate the behavior of the conscious mind. If someone banishes all evil to the unconscious mind in an attempt to be wholly and completely good, it can result in the development of a Mr. Hyde-type aspect to that person's character.^[7] This failure to accept the tension of duality is related to Christian theology where Satan's fall from Heaven is due to his refusal to accept that he is a created being (that he has a dual nature) and is not God.^[7] This is why in Christianity pride (to consider oneself as without sin or without evil) is the greatest sin as it is the precursor to evil itself, it also explains the Christian concept of evil hiding in the light.^[7] The novella has also been noted as "one of the best guidebooks of the Victorian era" because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy of the 19th century "outward respectability and inward lust" as this period had a tendency for social hypocrisy.^[6]

Various direct influences have been suggested for Stevenson's interest in the mental condition that separates the sinful from moral self. Among them are the Biblical text of Romans (7:20 "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."); the split life in the 1780s of Edinburgh city councillor Deacon William Brodie, master craftsman by day, burglar by night; and James Hogg's novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824), in which a young man falls under the spell of the devil.

Literary genres which critics have applied as a framework for interpreting the novel include religious allegory, fable, detective story, sensation fiction, science fiction, doppelgänger literature, Scottish devil tales and gothic novel. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has been the influence for The Hulk, Two-Face and the general superhero genre for the story's ties to a double life.

Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly forays, saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature; thus it is in the context of the times, abhorrent to Victorian religious morality. Hyde may have simply been revelling in activities that were not appropriate to a man of Jekyll's stature, such as engaging with prostitutes or burglary. However scientists in the closing decades of the 19th century, within a post-Darwinian perspective, were also beginning to examine various biological influences on human morality, including drug and alcohol addiction, homosexuality, multiple personality disorder, and regressive animality.^[8]

[edit] Characters

[edit] Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde

The dual title character, a doctor who has covered up a secret life full of cruel deeds. He feels as if he is constantly battling within himself between what is good and what is evil, and is pushing away people dear to him. After drinking a potion of his own creation, Jekyll is transformed into the cruel, remorseless, evil Edward Hyde, representing the hidden side of Dr. Jekyll's nature brought to the fore. Dr. Jekyll has many friends and has a friendly personality, but as Mr. Hyde, he becomes mysterious, violent, and secretive and as time goes by, Mr. Hyde grows in power. After taking the potion repetitively, he no longer relies upon the potion to unleash his inner demon.

[edit] Dr. Lanyon

A former friend of Jekyll's, Hastie Lanyon disagrees with his scientific principles. He is the first person to whom Hyde's identity is revealed. Helps Utterson solve the case when he describes the letter given to him by Jekyll. When he finds out about Hyde's identity he then becomes critically ill, and later dies of shock.

[edit] Mr. Utterson

Gabriel John Utterson, a lawyer and friend of Jekyll's, is the character the narrator follows in his quest to discover the identity of Hyde. In most adaptations of the novel, he is omitted and replaced by Dr. Lanyon.^{[citation needed]} Utterson is described as a measured, and at all times emotionless, bachelor, who is nonetheless believable and trustworthy in his accounts of the events of the story. He is a good man

[edit] Poole

Poole is Dr. Jekyll's butler who, upon noticing the reclusiveness and changes of his master, goes to Mr. Utterson with the fear that his master has been murdered and his murderer, Mr. Hyde, is residing in his chambers.

[edit] Richard Enfield

Richard Enfield is Mr. Utterson's acquaintance. He is the person who mentions to the lawyer the actual personality of Jekyll's heir, Mr. Hyde. Enfield witnessed Hyde walking over a little girl in the street, and he, with the girl's parents and other residents, force Hyde into writing a cheque for the girl's family. Enfield discovers that the cheque was signed by Dr. Jekyll.

[edit] Inspector Newcomen

This Scotland Yard inspector is joined by Mr. Utterson, after the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. They explore Hyde's loft in Soho and discover evidence of his depraved life.

[edit] Sir Danvers Carew

A kind old man and important member of Parliament. He was killed in the streets of London by Mr. Hyde in a murderous rage. In many adaptations of the story, Sir Danvers is the father of Jekyll's fiancée. The book makes no such connection and Hyde's murder of Sir Danvers is described as a wanton act of violence.

[edit] Adaptations

Poster from the 1880s.

There are dozens of stage and film adaptations. Most omit the figure of Utterson, telling the story from Jekyll's and Hyde's viewpoint, thus eliminating the mystery aspect about who Hyde is; there have been no major adaptations to date that remain faithful to Stevenson's original, almost all adaptations introducing a romantic element.

There are over 123 film versions, not including stage and radio. Notable adaptations listed in chronological order:

• 1887, stage play, opened in Boston. Thomas Russell Sullivan's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This was the first serious theatrical rendering, it went on to tour Britain and ran for 20 years. It became forever linked with Richard Mansfield's performance, who continued playing the part up until his death in 1907. Sullivan reworked the plot to center around a domestic love interest.
• 1910, movie Denmark, Den Skaebnesvangre Opfindelse (USA Title: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). Directed by August Blom and starring Alwin Neuß for the Nordisk Film company.
• 1912, movie USA, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Thanhouser Company Starring James Cruze and Florence Labadie.
• 1920, movie USA, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A famous of silent film version, starring John Barrymore in a bravura performance. Plot follows the Sullivan version of 1887, with elements from The Picture of Dorian Gray.
• 1920, movie USA, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Directed by J. Charles Haydon.
• 1920, movie Germany, Der Januskopf (literally, The Janus-Head, (Janus being a Roman God depicted with two faces). Directed by F. W. Murnau. An unauthorized version of Stevenson's story, disguised by changing the names to Dr Warren and Mr O'Connor. The dual roles were essayed by Conrad Veidt. The film is now lost.
• 1931, movie USA, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Known for its acting, visual symbolism, and special effects, it follows the Sullivan plot. Fredric March won the Academy Award for his portrayal. The technical secret of the transformation scenes was not revealed until after the director's death.
• 1941, movie U.S., Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A remake of the 1931 movie, it stars Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, and Lana Turner."This is when JEEK-ull (/ˈdʒiːkəl/) became JEK-ull (/ˈdʒɛkəl/), the movie pronunciation."^[6]
• 1959, made-for-TV movie France, The Testament of Dr. Cordelier. A modern adaptation of Stevenson's novel, it stars Jean-Louis Barrault, Teddy Bilis, and Michel Vitold.
• 1960, movie UK, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (released in the US as House of Fright and Jekyll's Inferno). A lurid love triangle and explicit scenes of snakes, opium dens, rape, murder and bodies crashing through glass roofs. Notable in that an aged and ineffectual Dr. Jekyll becomes handsome and virile (but evil) Mr. Hyde.
• 1963, movie USA, The Nutty Professor. Directed by Jerry Lewis. This screwball comedy retains a thin connection to the original. Lewis reworks the Victorian polarised identity theme to the mid-20th century American dilemma of masculinity.
• 1968, TV U.S. and Canada, "Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". Starring Jack Palance, directed by Charles Jarrott and produced by Dan Curtis of Dark Shadows fame. Nominated for several Emmy awards, it follows Hyde on a sexual conquests and hack and slash murders.
• "The Who" release the song Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde on the Magic Bus album.
• 1972, movie UK, Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde. Starring Ralph Bates as Jekyll and Martine Beswick as Hyde. The earliest work to show Jekyll transform into a woman. Recasts Jekyll as Jack the Ripper, who uses Sister Hyde as a disguise to carry out his murders.
• 1971, movie UK, I, Monster. Starring Christopher Lee in the Jekyll and Hyde role and Peter Cushing as Utterson. Recasts Jekyll (with a name change to Dr Marlowe/Mr Blake) as a 1906 Freudian psychotherapist. Retains some of Stevenson's original plot and dialogue.
• 1972, movie Spain, Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo, a Paul Naschy film in his long-running series pits Dr. Jekyll against a werewolf.

Kirk Douglas (center) under the direction of David Winters (right) (1973) (TV).

• 1973, movie U.S. A musical for television with music by Lionel Bart, starring Kirk Douglas as Jekyll and Hyde, with co-stars Michael Redgrave as Danvers, Stanley Holloway as Poole and Donald Pleasance as Fred Smudge. Nominated for Emmy award (Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction of a Variety, Musical or Dramatic Program - Irwin Kostal {music director})
• 1981, TV UK, with David Hemmings in the dual role and directed by Alastair Reid. This version gives a twist to the usual ending when Jekyll's body turns into Mr Hyde upon his death.
• 1982 movie U.S., Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again, a campy satire with Mark Blankfield as Jekyll who experiments a drug to replace all surgery which is inadvertently mixed with an unknown substance.
• 1985, movie USSR, with Innokenty Smoktunovsky in title role.
• 1989, movie U.S., Edge Of Sanity, a low-budget remake with Anthony Perkins as a Jekyll whose experiments with synthetic cocaine transform him into Hyde, who is also Jack The Ripper.
• 1989, TV UK, with Laura Dern and Anthony Andrews in the dual role. This version, adapted by J. Michael Straczynski, was similar to Hammer's 1960 version in that Mr Hyde is the more physically attractive of the two.
• 1990, TV U.S., Jekyll & Hyde, a four-hour, two-part, made-for-television film starring Michael Caine in the title roles.
• 1991, stage play, opened in London. Written by David Edgar for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The play is notable for its fidelity to the book's plot.
• 1995, movie U.S., Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, in which a descendant of Dr. Jekyll creates a variant of his ancestor's potion that turns him into a woman.
• 1996, movie U.S., Mary Reilly. Starring Julia Roberts and John Malkovich and based on the 1990 novel Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin, a reworking of Stevenson's plot centered around a maid in Jekyll's household named Mary Reilly.
• 1997, musical U.S. Jekyll & Hyde. Music by Frank Wildhorn, book and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. Originally conceived for the stage by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn. This musical features the song "This Is The Moment".
• 2002, TV movie UK Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde starring John Hannah as both characters, with body language and wardrobe the only distinction between the appearance of the two. The narrative is chronologically disjointed, beginning with the end of the story then returning to the beginning via narrated flashbacks with the occasional brief glimpse of the reading of Jekyll's confession by Utterson.
• 2003, film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film). Starring Jason Flemyng as both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are employed by The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to combat The Fantom.
• 2004, film Van Helsing. Robbie Coltrane provides the voice of Mr. Hyde, who Van Helsing unintentionally kills when pursuing him through Paris.
• 2006, Canadian film Jekyll + Hyde. Starring Bryan Fisher as Henry "J" Jekyll and Bree Turner as Utterson. Two medical students set out to create a drug derived from ecstasy that would enhance and change their personalities.
• 2007, TV serial UK, Jekyll. A six part BBC serial, aired from June 16 2007, starring James Nesbitt as Tom Jackman, a modern Jekyll whose Hyde wreaks havoc in modern London.
• 2008, TV movie. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, starring Dougray Scott, Tom Skerritt, and Krista Bridges. [1]
• The Robert Swindells book Jacqueline Hyde concerns the protagonist's struggle with her 'Hyde' after smelling a bottle, the contents of which releases her bad side.
• In 2009, Abel Ferrara is due to begin shooting a modern day adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring Forrest Whitaker and 50 Cent.
• 2009, a theatrically intense new spin by nationally renowned playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, for Tony Award winning local Cincinnati Plyhouse in the Park.
• 2010, an independent film presented by Waterfoot Films adapting the novel with a screenplay that preserves as much of the original text as possible in a present-day setting.
• 2011, projected year of release for the in-development Universal Studios movie announced as a modern retelling featuring a script by Justin Haythe and starring Keanu Reeves.
• 2012, Guillermo del Toro will direct an adaption for Universal.^[9]

[edit] Spoofs and parodies

• Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde, a 1925 silent, black-and-white comedy film
• Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a 1953 horror comedy film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello
• Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde, a 1971 UK film made by Hammer Film Productions
• Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype, 1980. Starring Oliver Reed, where a kindly but hideous doctor develops a potion that turns him into a suave, but evil, man of the world.
• Jeckyll and Hyde... Together Again, 1982, starring Mark Blankfield.
• Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, 1995 comedy film starring Tim Daly, Sean Young and Lysette Anthony
• Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde, a British children's television series which aired on BBC One
• Jekyll and Heidi, a book in the Goosebumps series
• A Snoodle's Tale, a 2004 Veggietales film featuring The Strange Case of Dr. Jiggle and Mr. Sly.
• In Igor, a 2008 film spoofing old horror films, the main female villain, a high class woman named Jaclyn, transforms at points into a more provincial woman named Heidi.
• On the game show Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?, one of Carmen's henchmen was Jacqueline Hyde, a teenage girl who had a split personality: one side being the sweet, soft-spoken Jacqueline; and the other being the evil, berserk Hyde.
• An 1970 episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! featured a mystery involving the ghost of Dr. Jekyll, which turned out to be Dr. Jekyll's son. This was also featured in the GameBoy Color version of the video game Scooby-Doo! Classic Creep Capers.

[edit] References

• Borinskikh L.I. (1990c). ‘The method to reveal a character in the works of R.L.Stevenson [The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]’/. In *** (ed.) The Problem of character in literature. Tchelyabinsk: Tchelyabinsk State University. Pp. 31–32. [in Russian, German and Hindi].
• Richard Dury, ed. (2005). The Annotated Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. ISBN 88-7544-030-1, over 80 pages of introduction material, extensive annotation notes, 40 pages of derivative works and extensive bibliography.
• Paul M. Gahlinger, M.D., Ph.D. (2001). Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to their History, Chemistry, Use, and Abuse. Sagebrush Medical Guide. Pg 41. ISBN 0-9703130-1-2.
• Kathrine Linehan, ed. (2003). Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Norton Critical Edition, contains extensive annotations, contextual essays and criticisms. ISBN 0-393-97465-0
• Warlock was Dr Jekyll prototype BBC News

[edit] External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The Annotated Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

• Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde[2] from Internet Archive. Many antiquarian illustrated editions.
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at Project Gutenberg ver.1
• Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical official website
• "The Beast Within", Freudian fable, sexual morality tale, gay allegory — the novella has inspired as many interpretations as it has film adaptations. By James Campbell, The Guardian, December 13, 2008
• Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - format suitable for ereaders from feedbooks

v • d • e Works by Robert Louis Stevenson Novels Treasure Island (1883) · Prince Otto (1885) · Kidnapped (1886) · The Black Arrow (1888) · The Master of Ballantrae (1889) · The Wrong Box (1889) · The Wrecker (1892) · Catriona (1893) · The Ebb-Tide (1894) · Weir of Hermiston (1896) · St. Ives (1897) Short story collections New Arabian Nights (1882) · The Dynamiter (1885) · The Merry Men (1887) · Island Nights' Entertainments (1893) Short stories "The Body Snatcher" (1881) · "Markheim" (1885) · "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (1886) Other works An Inland Voyage (1878) · Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879) · The Silverado Squatters (1883) · Memories and Portraits (1887) · Across the Plains (1892) · The Amateur Emigrant (1895) Poetry A Child's Garden of Verses (1885) · Underwoods (1887) · Ballads (1890) · Songs of Travel and Other Verses (1896)