Jekyll and Hyde represent two of the most often used characters in literary history. Most people know the premise of the story, but few have actually taken the time to sit down and read the hundred pages written by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Most people know Stevenson because of Treasure Island rather than The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The story involves a middle-aged scientist who experiments with different potions till he transforms into a completely different person: a situation resembling multiple personality disorder. The story has become popular since we all relate to it. The simple thought of having an alter ego you have no control over appeals to our human nature. "For there before my eyes -- pale and shaken, and half fainting, and groping before him with his hands, like a man restored from death - there stood Henry Jekyll." The horror is that of someone transforming before your eyes. The tale makes Mr. Utterson decide between turning in a friend for murder, or helping him overcome being Hyde. Utterson is the lawyer stuck in the middle always pushing to know a little more, but never telling anyone else in fear of incriminating his friend Dr. Jekyll.
As Hyde takes more and more control over Jekyll, "All things
therefore seemed to point to this: that I was slowly losing hold
of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated
with my second and worse." All efforts to help Jekyll end
in failure as Hyde continues his life of crime, allowing authorities
to close in. Jekyll pulls in a short list of friends forced to
confidentiality. Living in fear of Hyde, they all try and help
out their friend Dr. Jekyll. It's a tale of self-deceit, friendship,
paranoia, addiction, and personality disorder. The story's popularity
plays on our fear of the uncontrollable -- worse, our lack of
self-control. What would it be like if we lost control of our
morals and values? These anxieties make the story of Jekyll and
Hyde rival the success of vampires and werewolves in the annals
of horror.
Patrick Nelson