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Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Title page of the first London edition (1886)
Author	Robert Louis Stevenson
Country	Scotland
Language	English
Publisher	Longmans, Green & co.
Publication date	January 1886

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde^[1] is a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886. It is about a London lawyer who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll^[2], and the misanthropic Edward Hyde. The work is known for its vivid portrayal of the psychopathology of a split personality; in mainstream culture the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" has come to signify wild or bipolar behavior.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was an immediate success and one of Stevenson's best-selling works. Stage adaptations began in Boston and London within a year of its publication and it has gone on to inspire scores of major film and stage performances.

In the early autumn of 1885 Stevenson's thoughts turned to the idea of the duality of human nature, and how to incorporate the interplay of good and evil into a story. One night he had a dream, and on wakening had the intuition for two or three scenes that would appear in the story. "In the small hours of one morning," says Mrs. Stevenson, "I was awakened by cries of horror from Louis. Thinking he had a nightmare, I awakened him. He said angrily, 'Why did you wake me? I was dreaming a fine bogey tale.' I had awakened him at the first transformation scene..."

Lloyd Osbourne, Stevenson's stepson, remembers, "I don't believe that there was ever such a literary feat before as the writing of Dr. Jekyll. I remember the first reading as if it were yesterday. Louis came downstairs in a fever; read nearly half the book aloud; and then, while we were still gasping, he was away again, and busy writing. I doubt if the first draft took so long as three days."

As was the custom, Mrs. Stevenson would read the draft and offer her criticisms in the margins. Louis was confined to bed at the time from a haemorrhage, and she left her comments with the manuscript and Louis in the bedroom. She said in effect the story was really an allegory, but Louis was writing it just as a story. After a while Louis called her back into the bedroom and pointed to a pile of ashes: he had burnt the manuscript in fear that he would try to salvage it, and in the process forcing himself to start over from scratch writing an allegorical story as she had suggested. Scholars debate if he really burnt his manuscript or not. Other scholars suggest her criticism was not about allegory, but about inappropriate sexual content. Whatever the case, there is no direct factual evidence for the burning of the manuscript, but it remains an integral part of the history of the novel.

Stevenson re-wrote the story again in three days. According to Osbourne, "The mere physical feat was tremendous; and instead of harming him, it roused and cheered him inexpressibly." He refined and continued to work on it for 4 to 6 weeks afterward.

"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" was initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA. Initially stores would not stock it until a review appeared in The Times, on 25 January 1886, giving it a favourable reception. Within the next six months close to forty thousand copies were sold. By 1901 it was estimated to have sold over 250,000 copies. Its success was probably due more to the "moral instincts of the public" than perception of its artistic merits, being widely read by those who never otherwise read fiction, quoted in pulpit sermons and in religious papers^{[citation needed]}.

Richard Mansfield was mostly known for his dual role depicted in this double exposure. The stage adaptation opened in London in 1887, a year after the publication of the novella. Picture 1895.

The story begins when the lawyer Gabriel John Utterson hears from his relation Richard Enfield of an ambiguous, solitary, violent man called Hyde. This Hyde is said to have walked over a girl who had fallen on the road, leaving her unharmed but terrified; whereupon Enfield ordered him, backed by several other people, to pay a fine to the girl's family. Hearing this tale, Utterson is perturbed; a friend of his, Dr. Jekyll, has made a will declaring that in the event of the doctor's death or "disappearance", Hyde should inherit all his property. Suspecting trouble, Utterson seeks to investigate Hyde.

This investigation begins as a matter of curiosity and concern despite Dr Jekyll's assurances that Hyde is nothing to worry about. That changes when Hyde is seen committing a savage murder of a respected Member of Parliament, Sir Danvers Carew. As Utterson assists in the investigation of the crime, Jekyll becomes more and more reclusive and sombre. This leads Utterson to believe that Hyde has some influence over Jekyll, which he is using to conceal himself.

Eventually, Jekyll isolates himself in his laboratory gripped with an emotional burden that no one can comprehend. Another friend of Utterson's, Dr. Hastie Lanyon, suddenly dies of a horrific emotional shock with which Jekyll seems to be connected. Suddenly one night, Jekyll's butler comes to Utterson to ask for his help to deal with a stranger who has somehow entered the locked lab and killed Jekyll. Together they discover that the stranger in the lab is Hyde, and they break in only to find Hyde dead and Jekyll nowhere to be found.

Afterwards, Utterson reads three letters left for him from his deceased friends. The first one is a new will of Dr. Jekyll made out to his name. The second is from Lanyon. The third is Jekyll's confession about the truth.

Lanyon's letter states that he received a letter one day from Jekyll asking him to retrieve a certain drawer from Jekyll's laboratory. Lanyon complies, and a man shows up at his house unrecognised. He makes a potion from the ingredients in the drawer and drinks it. He changes into Jekyll before Lanyon's astonished eyes. Lanyon realises the man who met him was Hyde and that Hyde himself was Jekyll transformed by the potion. Heartbroken by this shocking revelation, Lanyon wastes away and dies.

Jekyll's confession covers the story of how he came to make the potion to separate the good and evil present in all men. It goes on to state how once before the murder, Jekyll had transformed into Hyde in his sleep. This causes him to choose to remain as Jekyll but when he finally gives in to temptation and drinks the potion again, Hyde comes out roaring due to being locked up for so long and kills Carew. When Jekyll comes to himself, he knows he can never venture out as Hyde again for fear of recognition and arrest. He then tries to repent for it by going to church and giving charity. However, vainglorious thought triggers the transformation yet again in broad daylight in a park. He narrowly escapes by acquiring a hotel room and turning to Lanyon as stated above. Jekyll finds that the potion is now effective only for a short time and that he regularly transforms into Hyde without taking it. This causes him to lock himself up in his laboratory and shun company.

Over time, Jekyll runs out of one of the unique components to the potion, a "salt" of which he had initially acquired quite a large quantity. New supplies of this salt do not produce an effective potion, which he initially attributes to an impurity in the new supplies, but finally concludes that it was the initial order that was impure, and that an "unknown impurity" in it was vital to its effectiveness. As he had no way of acquiring any more of this impure salt, he was doomed to remain as Hyde permanently.

In the end, Jekyll decides to write the confession letter, and he finally "dies" as he transforms completely into Hyde. Hyde commits suicide, when Utterson and Jekyll's butler try to force their way into the laboratory.

This novel represents a concept in Western culture, that of the inner conflict of humanity's sense of good and evil ^[3]. It has also been noted as "one of the best guidebooks of the Victorian era because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust" as it had a tendency for social hypocrisy^[4].

Various direct influences have been suggested for Stevenson's interest in the mental condition that separates the sinful from moral self. Among them are the Biblical text of Romans (7:20 "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."); the split life in the 1780s of Edinburgh city councillor Deacon William Brodie, master craftsman by day, burglar by night; and James Hogg's novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824), in which a young man falls under the spell of the devil.

Literary genres which critics have applied as a framework for interpreting the novel include religious allegory, fable, detective story, sensation fiction, science fiction, doppelgänger literature, Scottish devil tales and gothic novel.

Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly forays, saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature; thus it is in the context of the times, abhorrent to Victorian religious morality. However scientists in the closing decades of the 19th century, within a post-Darwinian perspective, were also beginning to examine various biological influences on human morality, including drug and alcohol addiction, homosexuality, multiple personality disorder, and regressive animality.^[5]

Jekyll's inner division has been viewed by some critics as analogous to schisms existing in British society. Divisions include the social divisions of class, the internal divisions within the Scottish identity, the political divisions between Ireland and England, and the divisions between religious and secular forces.

The novel can be seen as an expression of the dualist tendency in Scottish culture, a forerunner to what G. Gregory Smith termed the 'Caledonian Antisyzygy' (the combination of opposites) which influenced the 20th Scottish cultural renaissance led by Hugh MacDiarmid. The London depicted in the novel resembles more closely the Old Town of Edinburgh which Stevenson frequented in his youth, itself a doppelganger to the city's respectable, classically ordered New Town. Scottish critics have also read it as a metaphor of the opposing forces of Scottish Presbyterianism and Scotland's atheistic Enlightenment.

Poster from the 1880's

There have been dozens of major stage and film adaptations, and countless references in popular culture. The very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" has become shorthand to mean wild or controversial and polar behaviour. Most adaptations of the work omit the reader-identification figure of Utterson, instead telling the story from Jekyll and Hyde's viewpoint, thus eliminating the mystery aspect of the tale about who Hyde is; indeed there have been no major adaptations to date that stay close to Stevenson's original work, almost all introducing some form of romantic element.

For a complete list of derivative works see "Derivative works of Robert Louis Stevenson (by Richard Dury). There have been over 123 film versions, not including stage, radio etc. This is not an inclusive list, but includes major and notable adaptations listed in chronological order:

• 1887, stage play, opened in Boston. Thomas Russell Sullivan's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This was the first serious theatrical rendering, it went on to tour Britain and ran for 20 years. It became forever linked with Richard Mansfield's performance, who continued playing the part up until his death in 1907. Sullivan re-worked the plot to center around a domestic love interest.
• 1912, movie USA, Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Thanhouser Company Directed by Lucius Henderson starring James Cruze amd Florence Labadie
• 1920, movie USA, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Directed by John S. Robertson. The most famous of the silent film versions, starring an inspired John Barrymore in a bravura performance. Plot follows the Sullivan version of 1887, with some elements from The Picture of Dorian Gray.

• 1920, movie USA, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Directed by J. Charles Haydon.

• 1920, movie Germany, Der Januskopf (literally, "The Janus-Head," Janus being a Roman God usually depicted with two faces). Directed by F.W. Murnau. An unauthorized version of Stevenson's story, disguised by changing the names to Dr Warren and Mr O'Connor. (Murnau more famously filmed an unauthorized version of Dracula in 1922's Nosferatu.) The dual roles were essayed by Conrad Veidt. The film is now lost.

• 1931, movie USA, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. Widely viewed as the classic film version, known for its skilled acting, powerful visual symbolism, and innovative special effects. Follows the Sullivan plot. Fredric March won the Academy Award for his deft portrayal and the technical secret of the amazing transformation scenes wasn't revealed until after the director's death decades later.

• 1941, movie USA, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Directed by Victor Fleming. Largely an imitation of the 1931 movie, it stars Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, and Lana Turner. "This is when JEEK-ull (IPA: /ˈdʒiːkəl/) became JEK-ull (/ˈdʒɛkəl/), the movie pronunciation."^[6]

• 1955, TV USA, Hyde and Hare. Directed by Friz Freleng. Bugs Bunny Meets Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde.

• 1960, movie UK, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (released in the US as House of Fright and Jekyll's Inferno). Directed by Terence Fisher. A lurid love triangle and explicit scenes of snakes, opium dens, rape, murder and bodies crashing through glass roofs. Notable in that an aged and ineffectual Dr Jekyll becomes handsome and virile (but evil) Mr Hyde.

• 1963, movie USA, The Nutty Professor. Directed by Jerry Lewis. This screwball comedy retains a thin plot connection to the original work. Its enduring popularity has given it a significant role in the cultural visibility of the Jekyll and Hyde motif. Lewis re-works the Victorian polarised identity theme to the mid-20th century American dilemma of masculinity.

• 1968, TV USA/Canada, "Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". Starring Jack Palance, directed by Charles Jarrott and produced by Dan Curtis of Dark Shadows fame. Shown in two-parts on CBC in Canada and as one two hour movie on ABC in the USA. Nominated for several Emmy awards, it follows Hyde on a series of sexual conquests and hack and slash murders, finally shot by "Devlin" (as Utterson is renamed).

• 1968, Music USA/England, The Who's John Entwistle released a song called Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The song followed a the plot of the story but also had a strange, dark sense of humor.

• 1971, movie UK, Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde. Directed by Roy Ward Baker, starring Ralph Bates as Jekyll and Martine Beswick as Hyde. The earliest work to show Jekyll transform into a woman. Recasts Jekyll as Jack the Ripper, who uses Sister Hyde as a convenient disguise to carry out his murders.

• 1971, movie UK, I, Monster. Directed by Stephen Weeks, starring Christopher Lee in the Jekyll/Hyde role and Peter Cushing as Utterson. Recasts Jekyll (with a name change to Dr Marlowe/Mr Blake) as a 1906 Freudian psychotherapist. Retains a fair amount of Stevenson's original plot and dialogue.

• 1972, movie Spain, Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo, a Paul Naschy film in his long-running series pits Dr. Jekyll against a werewolf.

• 1973, movie USA, directed by David Winters. A musical version made for television with original music by Lionel Bart starring Kirk Douglas as Jekyll/Hyde, with co-stars Michael Redgrave as Danvers, Stanley Holloway as Poole and Donald Pleasance as Fred Smudge. Nominated for Emmy award (Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction of a Variety, Musical or Dramatic Program - Irwin Kostal {music director})

• 1981, TV UK, with David Hemmings in the dual role and directed by Alastair Reid. This version gives a twist to the usual ending when Jekyll's body turns into Mr Hyde upon his death.

• 1985, Men At Work record a single known as Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive.

• 1989, movie USA, Edge Of Sanity, a low-budget remake with Anthony Perkins as a Jekyll whose experiments with synthetic cocaine transform him into Hyde, who is also Jack The Ripper.

• 1989, NES Video game published by Bandai.

• 1989, TV UK, with Laura Dern and Anthony Andrews in the dual role. This version, adapted by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, was similar to Hammer's 1960 version in that Mr Hyde is the more physically attractive of the two; Dr Jekyll is depicted as a shy, mousy asocial scientist & Hyde is a handsome sociopath.

• 1990, TV USA, Jekyll & Hyde, a four-hour, two-part, made-for-television film starring Michael Caine in the title roles, added a final twist by having Jekyll impregnate his sweetheart (played by Cheryl Ladd) with a baby that is revealed to look just like Hyde.

• 1991, Stage play, opened in London. Written by David Edgar for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The play is notable for its fidelity to the book's plot, though it invents a sister for Jekyll.

• 1994, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde make an appearance in the movie The Pagemaster. Both characters are voiced by Leonard Nimoy.

• 1996, movie USA, Mary Reilly. Directed by Stephen Frears. Starring Julia Roberts and John Malkovich and based on the 1990 novel Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin, a re-working of Stevenson's plot centered around a maid in Jekyll's household named Mary Reilly.

• 1997, Musical USA Jekyll & Hyde. Music by Frank Wildhorn, book and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. Originally conceived for the stage by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn. This musical features the song "This Is The Moment" and attracted a devoted cult following.

• 1999-2000, Mr Hyde is a primary character in Alan Moore's comic series, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He appears as a grotesquely huge humanoid displaying incredible strength. He is also brutally violent, often tearing his enemies apart with his bare hands and teeth, yet is unquestionably allied with his colleagues in the League. The disparity in size between his depiction in the novella and the League Universe is explained by Hyde himself. He started small, and grew over time. He reasons that without Hyde, Jekyll has no drives, and without Jekyll, Hyde has no limitations.

• 2003, Christian Rock Band Petra released their last studio album titled "Jekyll and Hyde".

• 2006, Movie CANADA "Jekyll + Hyde" Directed by Nick Stillwell. Starring Bryan Fisher as Henry "j" Jekyll and Bree Turner as Utterson. Two medical students set out to create a new drug derrived from ectacy that would enhance and change their personalities. Distributed in Canada by MAPLE PICTURES.

• 2007, TV serial UK, Jekyll. A 6 part BBC serial, aired from June 16th 2007, starring James Nesbitt as Tom Jackman, a modern Jekyll whose Hyde wreaks havoc amongst modern day London. Jackman's transformation into Hyde is triggered by an as yet unknown cause, but it is not from a potion as it is in the book. Hyde is also credited as a completely new personality rather than the dark side of Jackman, with Hyde calling Jackman 'daddy'. The serial is not an adaptation of Stevenson's book, but rather a continuation taking place in the present day: the original book and both Dr Jekyll and Stevenson are prominently featured within the story.

• Mr. Hyde appears in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Van Helsing, Mad Monster Party, Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf, The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Pagemaster.

• Richard Dury. The Robert Louis Stevenson website.
• Richard Dury, ed. (2005). The Annotated Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. ISBN 88-7544-030-1, over 80 pages of introduction material, extensive annotation notes, 40 pages of derivative works and extensive bibliography.
• Paul M. Gahlinger, M.D., Ph.D. (2001). Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to their History, Chemistry, Use, and Abuse. Sagebrush Medical Guide. Pg 41. ISBN 0-9703130-1-2.
• Kathrine Linehan, ed. (2003). Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Norton Critical Edition, contains extensive annotations, contextual essays and criticisms. ISBN 0-393-97465-0
• Warlock was Dr Jekyll prototype BBC News

• The Annotated 'Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde', an annotated version at Wikisource.
• Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde[1] from Internet Archive. Many antiquarian illustrated editions.
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, available at Project Gutenberg. ver.1
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, available at Project Gutenberg. ver.2
• Free audiobook download of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde from LibriVox.
• Noe, Denise (2007). "The Strange Case of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". Men's News Daily, 12 Feb. 2007.
• Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical. Official Website