News Desk reporter Louis Collins gives his views on the classic story The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He writes…
The story of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a simple one, a man giving into his base desires and making a form to get away with his crimes, but why do the movies always mess it up, it is so simple, I will explain it here.
First, let’s get the premise correct, Jekyll and Hyde is the story of Dr Jekyll making a disfigured version of himself, not making an evil side as commonly seen in the movies, the story is also told from the point of view of Gabriel Utterson, who is Dr Jekyll’s solicitor and friend, not the “good” Doctor Henry Jekyll. However, it does not end up well after Jekyll loses the potion to turn him back.
The idea of it is easy to understand, it may be called The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but realistically, there is no Hyde, just Jekyll giving himself a get out of jail free card, I’d suggest watching a movie to do with the story then reading the book as, if you’re anything like me (or my family for that matter) if you read the very short novella first then watch the movie, it just ruins it, makes you want to create a potion consisting of a “blood-red liquor,” a “white powder,” and a key crystalline “particular salt” or maybe that’s just me.
I will now discuss topics that are linked to the story, Jekyll and Hyde was not based on anything beforehand, but Robert Louis Stevenson did take inspiration from the very real Deacon William Brodie, a locksmith from Edinburgh. He was a normal nobleman throughout the day but by night he gambled excessively, drank a lot and had many affairs with many different mistresses, on October 1st he was executed by means of hanging as he was caught stealing, like how Hyde died after the murder of Sir Danvers Carew, although that was technically a suicide, it is extremely similar.
Another topic to do with the story is the topic of repression and the duality of man. I will start with the latter, the novel leans heavily on the fact of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde being the same person, for example, in the closing chapter Jekyll tells the story of how he turned into Hyde. It all began with scientific curiosity about the good and evil (duality) of human nature, and him trying to destroy his ‘darker self’. At first, he required a potion to turn into Hyde but soon he began to automatically turn into Hyde. Hyde was a way for Jekyll to let out his darker side without damaging his reputation as Jekyll. Eventually, he was addicted to the character of Hyde, who increasingly took over and destroyed him. The repression in the story is simple to explain, it’s simply Jekyll having to hide his true self due to his status in the Victorian society, repressing “Hyde” (his true self) to nothing so his reputation wouldn’t be tarnished, therefor he makes the potion to make himself unrecognisable names himself Mr. Edward Hyde in that form and the rest is history.
By Louis Collins
