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If each, I told myself, could but be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil. It was the curse of mankind that these incongruous faggots were thus bound together - that in the agonised womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling. How, then, were they dissociated?

DON'T read this review if you do not know the "spoiler" of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I can't imagine anyone being spoiled, but I want to be fair and kind, so if you don't know what Jekyll Hyde is about, please skip this review.

The first time I read this book I was a child. At that time and in that place, we had no television set and so I and my siblings would entertain each other by reading books aloud to one another. We especially loved Jack London, The Call of the Wild and White Fang were enthralling.

We were so excited to get our hands on a copy of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We all knew the basic plot... well, the main concept, at least - and we were very eager to read the novel. How horrifying and adventurous would this renowned novel be?!!?!?

I can't describe to you how disappointed we were. The book was extremely boring and mainly about a lawyer. It was not exciting or thrilling at all.

Fast forward to now when I decided to pick it up again to see if it was as bad as I remembered it being.

THE BAD:

1.) The book starts out excruciatingly. It is no wonder so many people give up on it. Stevenson writes boring stuff. He starts out with a whimper instead of a bang.

2.) Stevenson couldn't have constructed this book in a worse way if he tried. It's HORRIBLE the way he structures this book and lays it out. Instead of an exciting story about a man experimenting with mad science and exploring the nuances of good and evil, and delving into the ideas of what makes up the nature of a human being... it's about a lawyer who is concerned about a client's will. Yeah. Not exactly interesting. Instead of Dr. Jekyll and/or Mr. Hyde being the MC, Stevenson instead insists on focusing on some random lawyer and structuring the novel around him.

Big mistake.

3.) For modern readers who ALREADY know the big twist of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the book hasn't much to offer. I mean, for people reading this in 1886 it must have been very shocking and revolutionary, but nowadays who cares? There has to be MORE to the story than this twist to draw in modern readers, and Stevenson regrettably doesn't offer any reasons for the modern reader to stick around. Unlike other classics such as Dracula, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, The Call of the Wild or White Fang this book simply isn't executed well. The plot is not gripping. The text goes on and on, often about nothing. Modern readers often struggle with old texts, but Stevenson is making things particularly difficult.

I'm not disrespecting books written in this time period, as I hope I'm making clear. But while Jack London, Brontë, Mary Shelley and Stoker were offering fascinating, well-crafted novels, it feels like Stevenson is phoning it in here.

I don't know if this is due to the fact that he burned his original version of this novel (which he considered a masterpiece) at the behest of his wife, or what, but it is poorly plotted and constructed.

4.) Stevenson tries to convince me that Jekyll can't find the 'good' or 'impure' or 'right batch' of salt anymore, and that is why the whole thing falls to pieces. Lame. I can't believe he's even saying this with a straight face. Do better, Stevenson.

5.) Only one woman in the novel, an unnamed maid who witnesses a murder. World almost completely populated by men.


THE GOOD:

I don't want to mislead you into thinking the book is horrible. It does have some great aspects.

1.) The very last chapter, "Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case" is fucking amazing. I mean... yes. Stevenson is actually exploring human nature in this novel... but you have to stick around until the last chapter to get to it. :(

2.) It's surprising. You may think you know what The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is about. Jekyll is a good man, a respected man, and a scientist. He takes a potion and it unlocks the ability to become Mr. Hyde, a being of pure evil, hate and rage. He switches back and forth between these two personalities, but starts losing control and turning into Mr. Hyde when he sleeps, even without taking the potion.

Yes, that is what it is about, isn't it?

No. I mean, yes, but it is so much more. The mindblowing thing here is that Stevenson reveals to us that (view spoiler)[Dr. Jekyll actually was a wild man in his youth, doing uncouth and improper things. He enjoys doing 'bad' things and behaving badly. But he is trapped by this 'good' reputation that he recognizes as valuable and an asset. He also enjoys helping people and being a good person.

But he also feels stifled because he can't let loose and go riproaring all over town anymore. He can't fuck and drink and party and be irresponsible as The Good Doctor. So this creation of Hyde is really for the reason of him being able to do 'bad' enjoyable stuff with zero consequences.

Men have before hired bravos to transact their crimes, while their own person and reputation sat under shelter. I was the first that ever did so for his pleasures. I was the first that could thus plod in the public eye with a load of genial respectability, and in a moment, like a schoolboy, strip off these lendings and spring headlong into the sea of liberty. But for me, in my impenetrable mantle, the safety was complete. Think of it - I did not even exist! Let me but escape into my laboratory door, give me but a second or two to mix and swallow the draught that I had always standing ready; and whatever he had done, Edward Hyde would pass away like the stain of breath upon a mirror; and there in his stead, quietly at home, trimming the midnight lamp in his study, a man who could afford to laugh at suspicion, would be Henry Jekyll.

The pleasures which I made haste to seek in my disguise were, as I have said, undignified; I would scarce use a harder term. But in the hands of Edward Hyde, they soon began to turn toward the monstrous. When I would come back from these excursions, I was often plunged into a kind of wonder at my vicarious depravity. This familiar that I called out of my own soul, and sent forth alone to do his good pleasure, was a being inherently malign and villainous; his every act and thought centered on self; drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture to another; relentless like a man of stone. Henry Jekyll stood at times aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde; but the situation was apart from ordinary laws, and insidiously relaxed the grasp of conscience. It was Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty. Jekyll was no worse; he woke again to his good qualities seemingly unimpaired; he would even make haste, where it was possible, to undo the evil done by Hyde. And thus his conscience slumbered.

So, I was very surprised that Jekyll retains full control and sense of self as Hyde. He wants to be Hyde. He deliberately turns into Hyde so that he can enjoy doing 'bad things' that Jekyll isn't 'allowed' to do. The book isn't really about a man blacking out and then coming to only to realize he's committed unspeakable acts. It's about a person who wants to commit unspeakable acts but not suffer any consequences for them and come home to his stellar reputation and perfect goodness. Jekyll LIKES being Hyde. He LIKES turning into Hyde and stomping people to death or whatever. He only starts to get worried when he loses control and his Hyde-side starts coming out unbidden. (hide spoiler)]

Super-surprising to me and well done on the part of Stevenson.

3.) Stevenson also makes a very interesting study of blackmail. I was so interested in what he had to say on this subject.

And the lawyer set out homeward with a very heavy heart. "Poor Harry Jekyll," he thought, "my mind misgives me he is in deep waters! He was wild when he was young; a long while ago to be sure; but in the law of God, there is no statute of limitations. Ay, it must be that; the ghost of some old sin, the cancer of some concealed disgrace: punishment coming, pede claudo, years after memory has forgotten and self-love condoned the fault." And the lawyer, scared by the thought, brooded awhile on his own past, groping in all corners of memory, lest by chance some Jack-in-the-Box of an old iniquity should leap to light there. His past was fairly blameless; few men could read the rolls of their life with less apprehension; yet he was humbled to the dust by the many ill things he had done, and raised up again into a sober and fearful gratitude by the many that he had come so near to doing yet avoided. And then by a return on his former subject, he conceived a spark of hope. "This Master Hyde, if he were studied," thought he, "must have secrets of his own; black secrets, by the look of him; secrets compared to which poor Jekyll's worst would be like sunshine. Things cannot continue as they are. It turns me cold to think of this creature stealing like a thief to Harry's bedside; poor Harry, what a wakening! And the danger of it; for if this Hyde suspects the existence of the will, he may grow impatient to inherit. Ay, I must put my shoulder to the wheel - if Jekyll will but let me," he added, "if Jekyll will only let me." For once more he saw before his mind's eye, as clear as a transparency, the strange clauses of the will.

I mean... how fucking amazing is that?!!? It would pair perfectly with So You've Been Publicly Shamed, that's for damn sure.

4.) Jekyll is like an alcoholic or drug addict, believing he can quit the addiction of becoming Hyde and going on sprees at any time. But like any addict, really he can't quit and this idea that he can quit is a delusion.

I do not suppose that, when a drunkard reasons with himself upon his vice, he is once out of five hundred times affected by the dangers that he runs through his brutish, physical insensibility; neither had I, long as I had considered my position, made enough allowance for the complete moral insensibility and insensate readiness to evil, which were the leading characters of Edward Hyde.

5.) Stevenson is not without humor. He breaks it out rarely, but it IS there, and helps lift the novel.

"If he be Mr. Hyde," he had thought, "I shall be Mr. Seek."

What about this?

"I suppose, Lanyon," said he, "you and I must be the two oldest friends that Henry Jekyll has?"

"I wish the friends were younger," chuckled Dr. Lanyon. "But I suppose we are. And what of that? I see little of him now."


TL;DR - Stevenson does himself no favors with the way he structures this novel. It's horrible. One of the most horribly structured novels I've ever read. He couldn't have picked a more boring or tedious way to tell this story. It could have been so exciting! Instead, he's chosen to tell this story in the most uninteresting way possible.

However, he isn't a bad writer. Once he warms up, once he starts talking about human nature, he actually is quite good. The problem is that you have to get through a lot of muck to reach those insightful and interesting parts. Whether it is worth it or not is up to the reader to decide. On the plus side, the novel is really quite short and if you are determined you can get right through it. The question is, do you want to?

Jekyll and Hyde are SO prevalent and entrenched in popular culture and just simply the consciousness of the Western world that it's not strictly necessary to read the book. But you may be interested in the source material. Like Dracula and Frankenstein, the book is NOT the story the media has trained you to believe.

Read at your own risk.