By Jake Weatherill from Lewisham Branch
In the last of my Gothic Horror blogs (for now at least.....) I wanted to go with not just another book that had an effect on me, but an absolute classic of the genre. The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, which for the purposes of not having to type that out every time will from now on be referred to as Jekyll & Hyde.
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Unlike Dorian Gray, I couldn't tell you when I discovered Jekyll & Hyde. The idea of the two seems to have been ingrained into my psyche longer than I can recall.
Even then, it wasn't until my self confessed 'hipster reads the classics' stage that I actually read the book.
I mean I kind of knew the key points before I even started. Good Jekyll. Evil Hyde.
Yada, yada, yada.
Yet reading it was a fun experience. I had let my preconceptions of what Jekyll & Hyde was about make me assume that I actually knew what it was going to be about. The ideas of hulking Hyde and a tiny meek Jekyll were wrong.
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| Entry for detective stories from The Oxford Reference Online |
Firstly we don't actually see the story from the perspective of either Jekyll or Hyde. In fact we don't get any real contribution from either until the end. Instead we follow Gabriel John Utterson, lawyer and friend to Dr Henry Jekyll.
After a conversation with his cousin at the door to a large house about a man trampling a little girl he had walked into, then forced to pay £100 to the girl's parents to avoid scandal.
Upon further enquiry Utterson learns the name of the man. Mr Edward Hyde, the recently made beneficiary of his friend Dr Henry Jekyll.
The story up to a certain point progresses more as a detective story than a Gothic horror. Utterson tries to decipher what exactly is going on with his friend, while trying to discern the connection between Jekyll and Hyde. This steps up in intensity when Hyde is witnessed bludgeoning a man to death.
This is however all misdirection by literary great Robert Louis Stevenson. When you think the story is over it's not.
That's where the
real horror begins. With one swish of his hand Stevenson turns a
whodunnit into a howdunnit.
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| Entry for Detective Stories from The Oxford Reference Online |
All of this is done over the space of two letters in Utterson's possession. The first from a mutual friend of his and Jekyll's, one Dr Hastie Lanyon, the other from Jekyll himself.
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| Entry for Duality from the Oxford Reference Online |
Ultimately it's the revelations that come from these two letters that changes everything. All the events we have read before become, if possible, more sinister.
This partly comes from the theme of forbidden knowledge that runs throughout the genre. If Dracula is the unknowable of his own book, while Dorian Gray's is his picture, then these letters, and the ensuing information they divulge is what Stevenson has chosen to withhold from us.
This is his own take on that concept.
However if I were to compare Jekyll & Hyde to either of the two aforementioned stories, it is more comparable to The Picture of Dorian Gray. It's because when you delve into the story of Jekyll & Hyde it deals with deeper questions about what makes us human, and ideas of morality.
If Dorian's descent is based on an idea of wholly giving himself over to the darker aspects of himself because he believes he is above the repercussions of his actions, then Jekyll & Hyde takes a different concept.
Stevenson, rather than looking at what happens if you give yourself over
to one of virtue or vice, instead asks the question of what happens if
you seek to separate the two. Is it possible to truly be complete if you
seek to deny the existence of one of these traits, let alone in a sense
denying both.
Jekyll's obsession to be free of his sins leads to both he and Hyde
ultimately being incomplete.
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Jekyll's denial that there is a darker side
to his nature leaves him at the mercy of the very traits he has refused
to acknowledge, with said traits given the form of Hyde. Hyde meanwhile, being an embodiment of the Id lacks the restraint of
Jekyll, and so indulges himself in the very things the good doctor has
denied exist within himself.
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| Entry for Duality from the Oxford English Dictionary |
Jekyll's fear of Hyde, and subsequent attempt to repress him, leads to Hyde descending even further into darkness upon his return.
As a young man growing up this left a strong impression on me.
Ultimately this is a story about control and denial.
Stevenson tries to
highlight to the reader that in reality it's impossible to be wholly
good or bad, instead both exist within us. Rather than trying to
separate the two, or giving yourself wholly over to either leaves you
with a void. A denial of human nature itself.
Duality is a part of
life, therefore there's nothing wrong with acknowledging you have
capacity for both good and evil.
What's more important is that while recognising as a human you have capacity for both, that it's your responsibility to control aspects of your personality. To proactively make a choice on which path you choose to walk.
Want to check out the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde?
You can find it on our E-Library here
or from our Click and Collect service.
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