The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a familiar story to almost everyone who has read books or watched American movies. Dr. Jekyll is a genial physician who studied the chemicals of the profession. He usually acts with all propriety. Yet there are times he'd like to let his wild side loose.

Dr. Jekyll finally discovers a potion that changes him and he can start acting out some of his evil fantasies. When he drinks it he turns into Mr. Hyde. When he drinks it again, he returns to Dr. Jekyll. Unfortunately, it finally gets to be too much for him.

I hadn't read the book before, so didn't know how the story was written. I like the way Stevenson wrote it and put it together. Instead, it is told from Jekyll's lawyers point of view. If the reader doesn't know the story before hand the reader hears the story of this strange man, Mr. Hyde, that appears around London. Then Mr. Hyde is seen beating a man to death. The police look for him, but he has disappeared. Dr. Jekyll tells his lawyer that Mr. Hyde is gone for good. Unfortunately, Dr. Jekyll can't keep that promise.

Robert Louis Stevenson makes us think about the presence of good and evil within all of us. In Jekyll's letter to his lawyer, he discusses both his dark and light side and how they are constantly warring with each other. We all have both sides within us. His description of which side should survive shows what we all go through.

This book is much shorter than I expected. Today it would be a novella at best. It's length doesn't lessen its impact. All humans deal with the good and evil sides of our nature. Mr. Hyde is completely evil - no conscious. Fortunately, most of us have Dr. Jekyll to counteract the Mr. Hyde personality.

There are times when Dr. Jekyll's letter of explanation to his lawyer gets wordy. There is a lot of moralizing, which is the point of the book. I think the point could have been made easily with about 3/4 of what Stevenson has. Don't let that stop you. This is a good book with a strong message and clearly shows how a person has to continually balance both sides of good and evil daily.