The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
My friend Kate and I have decided we haven't read enough classic literature. One of the hardest thing about reading classics is feeling like one ought to like them. We have formed a two person book club to correct the problem. The difference between this and our usual sharing of books is getting to copies and reading at the same time. Having a like minded reader to discuss and validate opinions which many be outside the accepted analysis. I even got Kate to write up her thoughts as guest post. The bold text at the bottom of the post is hers.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
is a story deeply implanted in our cultural psyche. To me, it makes reading the original story all the more complicated. It is hard to separate my preconceived notions from the story as it was written. One interesting note is the description of Hyde in the story is an underdeveloped and deformed in body, along with being the evil monster we are familiar with. In the movies, Hyde is built more like Frankenstein
's monster than hunchbacked Igor. I imagine Hyde would have trouble getting a good rate on life insurance due to overall poor health. Robert Lewis Stevenson explains how Dr. Jekyll developed his good traits, so his darker tendencies manifest as a small and weak man. Less impressive for horror films, of course, it also seems to illustrate how evil was viewed in his time and ours. Now for some thoughts from Kate, who you can find on Twitter @Katerbell81:
People assume I'm smart and I never correct them. Thus, I felt connected to Dr. J in his self-imposed virtuous exile. People assume he's nice and he has never corrected them. He simply doesn't want to be good anymore. Really, who can blame him? Nice people has massive amounts of expectations placed upon them. They must not just be nice but nice ALL the time and to EVERYone. Nice people never turn to the ever present annoying person and say, "Do you like games? I've got a great new game. It's called hide and go ---- yourself. You start." So Dr. J is simply finding a way to express his dual nature and we get an amazing view on the human condition. Mr. H is malnourished and (unlike his movie star likeness) short, diminished, and ill-fit. I enjoy this view as it greatly demonstrates the restraint Dr J has maintained. The book is not a favorite and I probably won't revisit it. The story lacks rhythm and flow for me. We are simply told Dr. J has desires and impulses, but they are never fleshed out. The implied is they are sexual in nature but without description or detail I am left wondering. Is Dr. J into some odd S&M fantasy? under-aged girls?or horror upon horror for a prominent man of the era is he simply gay? All we the readers are sure of is the separation of good and evil allows for Mr H to displace Dr J as the man in charge, thus eventually resulting in death. Personally I find Dr J to be weak in the story. He wants to allow his inner desires to be fulfilled but creates not an alter ego that he can exercise control over but an entire different being so as to avoid culpability. Smacks of wussy behavior and leaves me doubting his inherit goodness from the start. Reading this paragraph I notice several contradictions, I have decided to allow them to stand as is. I am my own Hyde.
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