Before the novel was written, it was said that Stevenson would have extremely detailed nightmares, which he ‘pieced together’ to form ‘Jekyll and Hyde’. There is an account of him dreaming a particular ‘scene’, when his wife awoke him and asked him to be quiet, as she couldn’t sleep. ‘Why did you wake me, I was dreaming fine bogey tale’ his answer would be, to which he would then go downstairs in the middle of the night and write up his ideas. His wife, Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne, would say that on some occassions he would be up writing for three hours or more in the early hours of the morning, attempting to put together a story from his fantasy world.
The genre can be interpreted as a detective story with a gothic horror twist. The gothic elements are extremely noticeable in ‘Jekyll and Hyde’, being very similar to the famous Bram Stoker's ’Dracula’ and Mary Shelly’s ‘Frankenstein’, the pair of these books can possibly be interpreted as predecessors of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’. It could be said that Stevenson ‘borrowed’ these elements to help structure his own story, like the novel’s mood is similar to its predecessors’ moods, and the way that ‘Frankenstein’ wanted to push the boundaries of science with fictitious occurrences, just as much as ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ did.
He kept the mood of his story very gloomy; having dark descriptions of people and places of London alike shows this. What shows this method of description well is the way he wants us to imagine Utterson: ’Mr Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary….’ Every single word which is used to decribe this character agrees with the idea of gloominess; of dreariness. Other features of his gothic work include ideas of terror, madness, and secrets. All of this can be found in ’Jekyll and Hyde’; the way Mr. Hyde ends up terrorizing the city while his creator, Dr. Jekyll, slowly sinks further and further into madness while trying to keep the dark secret from his friends and the rest of London under control.
Ten months after the release of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’, 250,000 copies were sold worldwide, which proved a great success. This can be thanked for the genre of the novel (previously mentioned), as through the Victorian Era there was a growing interest in the human body and mind, which is what the novel takes into perspective. Many people would have thought that this work of Stevenson’s was exceptionally interesting and grasped a point of medical science which in the real world nobody ever had i.e. separating a supposed ‘dual personality’. Another reason may have simply been that there weren’t many novels of this type around and that it brought a new field of writing into existence.
Stevenson’s language throughout ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ remains vivid and powerful, and many praise him for his piercing accuracy about Victorian London, the text’s setting. He uses long and complex sentences to bring on a powerful, recurring image in the reader’s mind. A fantastic example could be the way Stevenson describes the street in which Jekyll’s back door can be found which leads to his laboratory: ‘Two doors from one corner, on the left hand going east, the line was broken by the entry of a court; and just at that point, a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street. It was two storeys high; showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower storey and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper…’ As previously mentioned, you get a feel of gloominess. Stevenson wants this feeling to emerge as the continuing description eventually leads up to Jekyll’s back door, but from what Hyde makes use of-and Hyde is the evil side of Jekyll’s dual personality, which perfectly suits the description.
The book was written near the end of the Victorian Era, a time when the population of England represented various classes, occupations, and ways of life. ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ must have some sort of link with real Victorian life, just as much as the settings and ideas throughout the novel do.
Dr Jekyll, the dual personality’s good side, would be described as a gentleman in Victorian life; being honest and fair, keeping to common rules or morals in his daily life, inviting his friends for dinner (beginning of chapter titled: ‘Dr Jekyll was quite at ease’) and overall picturing a pleasant man. The front of his house, and his actions also contribute in showing the good side of Victorian society.
In contrast, Mr Hyde, his actions and the setting in which he is described by Stevenson show quite the opposite-a slum-like lifestyle of a street beggar or someone on the lower scale of the social classes. Examples would be the savage crime which he commits (the Carew murder case), his untidy appearance ‘…he was small, and very plainly dressed; and the look of him, even at the distance, went somehow strongly against the watcher’s inclination’ (observation made by Mr Utterson), and his discreet, weasel-worded way of conversing.
The story is narrated by Mr Utterson, mainly due to the fact that he could give the most accurate information on what is happening to probably his best friend, Dr Jekyll. His commitment (and worry) in trying to solve Jekyll’s undisclosed behaviour is shown effectively when he waits for Hyde to return to his door leading to the back of Jekyll’s laboratory: ‘…Mr Utterson began to haunt the door…’ and ‘…by all lights and at all hours of solitude or concourse, the lawyer was to be found on his chosen post’. This also shows that Utterson is particularly patient, and wants to know the truth. His worry for his friend is shown on the chapter entitled: ’Dr Jekyll was quite at ease’, when after the dinner social gathering which Jekyll hosted at his home, Utterson shows interest in Jekyll’s will:’ “I have been wanting to speak to you, Jekyll”, began the latter.”You know that will of yours?” Asking this sort of question can only be asked by someone who is one of Jekyll’s closer friends, and who cares about him. Later in the chapter, Jekyll says something that furthermore strengthens their relationship:’” ….I would trust you before any man alive”, so we can see that not only Utterson thinks of Jekyll as a close friend, but Jekyll pretty much thinks of Utterson as someone who he likes as well.
Through the whole of the story Jekyll sets out to achieve one goal: to try and separate his good and evil sides. He wants to prove that his friend, Dr Lanyon, and could be called his rival when forgetting their friendship, is wrong.
In the final chapter of the book, titled: Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case’, refers to his life and the creation of Hyde. He talks about Hyde as if he were another person, having nothing to do with himself at all: ‘…I saw for the first time the appearance of Edward Hyde’. The more important point to be made here is the idea that Jekyll wants to be famous. Examples would be the ways in which he refers to Hyde as being a discovery (‘had I approached my discovery in a more noble spirit’), and his over confident guess that others will follow in his footsteps: ‘Others will follow, others will outstrip me on the same lines’-if we look deeper into this sentence, it doesn’t just suggest Jekyll being first in a new branch of science, but also that he will be surpassed by cleverer and better thinking physicians than what he already is.
Jekyll also writes that he is quite sure that there is a duality in man, that man is not one, but two:’ It was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man’- proves that he has come to this conclusion by feeling that there is another evil side of him, hidden in his moral side (which will eventually become Hyde).
A little further into the chapter, Jekyll describes his first transformation into Hyde. He says that he felt ‘a grinding in the bones’ and ‘a horror in the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death’. He most probably explains it in this way as when something happens for the first time, it brings with it a new effect, and this new effect will always be the strongest, as it is unexpected and unpredicted. Jekyll then goes on to write that he crossed the yard (‘where in the constellations looked down upon me’), and comments that he was ‘…a stranger in my own house’. This is very cleverly written, as although he is himself, he is on his evil side of his dual personality, which hasn’t yet been shown and therefore is considered a ‘stranger’, possibly not just to his house, but the whole of London.
After stepping into his room, Jekyll sees himself as Hyde, and says in his statement that Hyde looked less ‘robust’ and ‘developed’ than his good side, which he had just disposed of for the time being. Jekyll also studies that Hyde was ‘so much smaller, slighter and younger than Henry Jekyll’; nonetheless the evil still held a strong presence in Hyde-‘…evil was written broadly and plainly on the face…’- the reader gets the idea that Hyde is very different from Jekyll and is on to a much worse future, that Hyde will gradually interfere with Jekyll’s life, and Jekyll will lose control (which in fact he does).
Nearing the very end of the book, Jekyll proves that Hyde has taken his ability to control his personalities, which has been washed away, thus brings an unhappy end to his life. ‘…Half an hour from now, when I shall again and forever reindue that hated personality…’ – Jekyll fears that not long after writing his statement, he will once again turn into his monstrous dark side and ‘pace up and down’ in his ‘last refuge’. These words of Jekyll show that he has already locked himself away from the world, and that his last place of safety is where he sits now, not wanting to show his face just in case of transforming unexpectedly, that his obsession and desire has been taken too far.
However, when Jekyll eventually changes into Hyde, Poole (Jekyll’s butler) and Utterson manage to break down the door to Jekyll’s laboratory, after hearing a voice they cannot identify (‘”Utterson”, said the voice, “for God’s sake, have mercy”’) they find Jekyll to be nowhere. Instead, they find Hyde twitching on the floor, various articles, chemicals, a cheval glass and a strange drug. Utterson also finds Jekyll’s latest will and learns that he has left the house in Utterson’s hands. All of the events in this chapter: ’The Last Night’, is somewhat confusing for the first time reader. There are so many things that need to be understood, and only then can it be grasped what has actually happened i.e. Hyde being found on the floor, Jekyll’s sudden disappearance, and Jekyll’s will. Poole comes to the conclusion that ‘…he must be buried here’, while Utterson believes that Jekyll ‘…may have fled’- both of these possibilities making the truth even more of a mystery to the reader.
I believe it is only until the later chapters (‘ Dr Lanyon’s Narrative’ and ‘Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case’), that the reader will if not fully, then partially understand what as happened, as he/she may or may not have grasped that chapter 8 is just a mirror image of chapter 10. Both of these chapters tell the same part of the story, only just from a different perspective, so it could be said there is duality to be found in the plot, ranging from Poole’s and Utterson’s understanding (chapter 8) to Jekyll’s (chapter 10).
Stevenson’s work throughout the novel is tremendously clever and well written, and I believe that he does meet his goal in portraying the duality of human nature. There are so many elements in the story that agree with the idea of a double i.e. both Jekyll and Hyde’s different appearances, their ways of life and how they are in fact, complete opposites. Stevenson shows this in exquisite detail by expressing himself in such a way that a clear picture is built up in the reader’s mind, which gradually builds up as more and more of the tale is revealed. There is perhaps one weakness in the novel that becomes present mainly in the second part i.e. from chapter 5 onwards. This is the confusing timeline of the story, as sometimes events don’t run chronologically, and has to be read carefully to understand the full message that is being brought across. It could be said however, that this only concerns the first-time reader, and when read a number of times, and only when read a number of times, will the novel will be fully valued to its full degree.
It is the sort of book that can be picked up and read many times, as the whole novel has brought with it a classic, timeless feel; an essence within itself. This is the reason why ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ will never grow old, and be respected just as much now as what it was nearly 150 years ago.
