The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

By Robert Louis Stevenson and knowledge house

discover or rediscover all the classics of literature.

Contains Active Table of Contents (HTML) and ​in the end of book include a bonus link to the free audiobook.

Dr. Henry Jekyll, fascinated by the dichotomy of good and evil, no longer wants to inhibit his dark side. He concocts a potion to create the alter ego of Mr. Edward Hyde. With the burden of evil placed on Hyde, Jekyll can now take pleasure in his immoral, nefarious fantasies—free of conscience and guilt. It's when Hyde turns to murder that Jekyll realizes how monstrous his impulses are and how hard they are to suppress.

Exploring the nature of shame, repression, desire, and control, Stevenson's story has so endured that "a Jekyll and Hyde personality" has become part of our lexicon in understanding our own—sometimes involuntary—duality.

• Language: English
• Publisher: knowledge house
• Release date: Sep 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9782380375435

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a Scottish poet, novelist, and travel writer. Born the son of a lighthouse engineer, Stevenson suffered from a lifelong lung ailment that forced him to travel constantly in search of warmer climates. Rather than follow his father’s footsteps, Stevenson pursued a love of literature and adventure that would inspire such works as Treasure Island (1883), Kidnapped (1886), Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879).

Book preview

Chapter 1

Story of the Door

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 and yet somehow lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which never found its way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these silent symbols of the after-dinner face, but more often and loudly in the acts of his life. He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theater, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove. I incline to Cain's heresy, he used to say quaintly: I let my brother go to the devil in his own way. In this character, it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of downgoing men. And to such as these, so long as they came about his chambers, he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour.

No doubt the feat was easy to Mr. Utterson; for he was undemonstrative at the best, and even his friendship seemed to be founded in a similar catholicity of good-nature. It is the mark of a modest man to accept his friendly circle ready-made from the hands of opportunity; and that was the lawyer's way. His friends were those of his own blood or those whom he had known the longest; his affections, like ivy, were the growth of time, they implied no aptness in the object. Hence, no doubt the bond that united him to Mr. Richard Enfield, his distant kinsman, the well-known man about town. It was a nut to crack for many, what these two could see in each other, or what subject they could find in common. It was reported by those who encountered them in their Sunday walks, that they said nothing, looked singularly dull and would hail with obvious relief the appearance of a friend. For all that, the two men put the greatest store by these excursions, counted them the chief jewel of each week, and not only set aside occasions of pleasure, but even resisted the calls of business, that they might enjoy them uninterrupted.

It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London. The street was small and what is called quiet, but it drove a thriving trade on the weekdays. The inhabitants were all doing well, it seemed and all emulously hoping to do better still, and laying out the surplus of their grains in coquetry; so that the shop fronts stood along that thoroughfare with an air of invitation, like rows of smiling saleswomen. Even on Sunday, when it veiled its more florid charms and lay comparatively empty of passage, the street shone out in contrast to its dingy neighbourhood, like a fire in a forest; and with its freshly painted shutters, well-polished brasses, and general cleanliness and gaiety of note, instantly caught and pleased the eye of the passenger.

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; and bore in every feature, the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence. The door, which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained. Tramps slouched into the recess and struck matches on the panels; children kept shop upon the steps; the schoolboy had tried his knife on the mouldings; and for close on a generation, no one had appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair their ravages.

Mr. Enfield and the lawyer were on the other side of the by-street; but when they came abreast of the entry, the former lifted up his cane and pointed.

Did you ever remark that door? he asked; and when his companion had replied in the affirmative. It is connected in my mind, added he, with a very odd story.

Indeed? said Mr. Utterson, with a slight change of voice, and what was that?

Well, it was this way, returned Mr. Enfield: "I was coming home from some place at the end of the world, about three o'clock of a black winter morning, and my way lay through a part of town where there was literally nothing to be seen but lamps. Street after street and all the folks asleep—street after street, all lighted up as if for a procession and all as empty as a church— till at last I got into that state of mind when a man listens and listens and begins to long for the sight of a policeman. All at once, I saw two figures: one a little man who was stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe eight or ten who was running as hard as she was able down a cross street. Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man trampled calmly over the child's body and left her screaming on the ground. It sounds nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see. It wasn't like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut. I gave a few halloa, took to my heels, collared my gentleman, and brought him back to where there was already quite a group about the screaming child. He was perfectly cool and made no resistance, but gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running. The people who had turned out were the girl's own family; and pretty soon, the doctor, for whom she had been sent put in his appearance. Well, the child was not much the worse, more frightened, according to the Sawbones; and there you might have supposed would be an end to it. But there was one curious circumstance. I had taken a loathing to my gentleman at first sight. So had the child's family, which was only natural. But the doctor's case was what struck me. He was the usual cut and dry apothecary, of no particular age and colour, with a strong Edinburgh accent and about as emotional as a bagpipe. Well, sir, he was like the rest of us; every time he looked at my prisoner, I saw that Sawbones turn sick and white with desire to kill him. I knew what was in his mind, just as he knew what was in mine; and killing being out of the question, we did the next best. We told the man we could and would make such a scandal out of this as should make his name stink from one end of London to the other. If he had any friends or any credit, we undertook that he should lose them. And all the time, as we were pitching it in red hot, we were keeping the women off him as best we could for they were as wild as harpies. I never saw a circle of such

Reviews for The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

[dste_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A strange, deformed man haunts the streets, trampling over fallen children and seemingly wresting money from the good Dr. Jekyll to escape the consequences of his misdeeds. Jekyll has even gone so far as to make this mysterious Mr. Hyde the sole benefactor of his will, against all advice from Mr. Utterson, his lawyer. Utterson suspects blackmail, and he's determined not to rest until he's helped his dear friend and client escape with his life. For surely, he thinks, Hyde must be tempted to murder Jekyll in order to usurp him. Utterson doesn't know how right he is, though not at all in the way that he suspects.The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a classic horror novel, and one that has been referenced so often in modern culture that I knew its biggest secret going in. For me, the surprises and the appeal were in discovering the way in which the story was told. Much of the plot involves watching Mr. Utterson and others slowly uncovering the mystery, and, for me, this resulted in a very interesting dramatic irony. I knew exactly what the characters were missing, but I didn't know all the twists and turns of the plot, how the characters would react to them, or how the story would reach its end. For me, this was enough to maintain interest, and I think other readers would have a similar experience if they have only a surface-level knowledge of the plot.This is a short book, certainly a quick read, and I found it to be a good example of British literature of the nineteenth century. Characters’ physical descriptions are meant to signify aspects of their personalities, houses and the weather are likewise described with obvious symbolism, the omniscient narrator tells you what the characters are like, and the characters have over-the-top reactions whenever anything remotely horrifying happens. Because of this, combined with how easy it is to read, I think it would make a great introductory book for anyone looking to get into British classics from the same time period without immediately jumping in the deep end.I also found it interesting as a window into the past, seeing how people lived and spoke and how they told their stories. I would recommend it if you have a similar interest, or if, somehow, you actually don't know the secret behind this particular mystery. If that's the case, I recommend you go out and read it right now. You're sure to have an experience worth talking about.

[electrascaife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A reread for me, but it had been long enough that I was ready to revisit it while Charlie read it for the first time for his ELA class. It's funny how so many of these kinds of classic stories, when appropriated for movies and TV, take on a completely different life and end up looking not much at all like their originals. But it's not at all surprising is that it's the stories with such potential for carrying higher truths that get this treatment - this is what myths do (function as vehicles for every new teller's message), and in that way stories like Jekyll and Hyde are very close to belonging to a kind of mythology. So, although I like Treasure Island loads more, I still appreciate the qualities inherent in this one.

[lara335 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What was going on in the 1880s to produce not only The Strange Case but also Dorian Gray? Victorian repression?This gets an extra * because it’s a Classic that has inspired lots of films, but it made for a dull read - because I knew the mystery, and largely because it is told rather than shown, and the characters are so sketchily drawn that I wasn’t engaged. The story is mostly related by a Mr Utterson, who is concerned about his friend Dr Jekyll. Off stage a child is attacked and a man murdered. Then eventually Utterson breaks into Jeykll’s laboratory & reads Jeykll’s own account of what he had been experimenting with. Jeykll made a potion that could separate his good character from his bad: he could plod with respectability then dive into a sea of freedom, conscience free.For me, the most moving part of the novel was a throwaway sentence, setting the scene, of ragged children huddling in doorways, so much for Victorian respectability.

[gpangel_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is an 1886 publication.What a strange case, indeed! This classic tale of horror is one that, of all the old movies, like Dracula, the Wolfman and Frankenstein and all their various incarnations, I watched repeatedly growing up, I just didn’t really care for all that much. I did, later in life, watch a movie version of this tale starring Spencer Tracey, and an all- star cast, which was petty good. Still, when it came to reading the book, unless it was a classroom assignment, I don’t think I ever volunteered read it, and if I did read it somewhere back there, I honestly couldn’t recall it, which is why I decided to select it for my classic horror Halloween read, this year. Everyone knows the setup for this short story. A scientist, Dr. Jekyll, is resentful of having to repress the darker side of his nature and happens across a solution- one that allows him to express this side of himself by becoming, through the aid of ‘medication’, Mr. Hyde. People who encounter this Mr. Hyde is put off by him, and do not understand his hold over the respectable and well-liked, Dr. Jekyll. As the good doctor proceeds with his experiments, he discovers he is almost addicted to his alter ego- who is gradually becoming the dominant personality and becoming more and more dangerous with each passing day. This is one horror/sci-fi story, one could find all manner of allegory, making it one of the more thought-provoking tales of this genre. My mind went to the duality of people who often present one face in public, hiding their baser inclinations, exposing false morality, and hypocrisy. Other themes are centered around the Victorian era itself, and some of the current political climate- a less obvious theme, in my opinion, but not to be dismissed. Naturally, one could also go with the classic good vs evil trope-or even a more profound nod at spiritual warfare- as the good side of ourselves continually does battle with the dark side, and the fear that our darker impulses will win out in the end. Bottom line- All these possible themes make sense, and they each give readers a great deal to chew on, so that the book is not just a horror novel, but a classic in many other ways as well. Overall, I’m pleased I chose this novella to read this year. I’d considered it many times in the past, but always vowed to read it ‘next’ year. Now, I wish I had not waited so long!! 5 stars

[tobinelliott · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I can't imagine why it's taken me until now to read this novel, but it has.

Obviously I'd been missing something wonderful.

Can't say what I'd expected before starting—likely a somewhat trashy pulp type novel. Instead, I got a gorgeously written introspective story of a highly tortured protagonist. Fantastic stuff.

As a side note, after reading this, it becomes very clear where Stan Lee came to borrow ideas for the Hulk character.

[michael5rimmer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This struck me as less about the conflict of good and evil in a person's soul, and more about Victorian bourgeois hypocrisy.Prior to Jekyll's transformation, he uses the shield of medical respectability to indulge his unnamed, and therefore probably sexual, vices (the other main vices of Victorian England, gambling and alcohol, not being unnameable), and had already been leading a double life.His potion, Jekyll says, has the potential to emphasise either the "good" or "evil" traits of the personality, in his Case unleashing Hyde due to his preexisting affinity for wickedness. Before the transformation, Jekyll had to hide this part of his life; as Hyde he is both more concealed and more visible to "polite society", which is more concerned with appearances than substance. Although we don't get to follow Jekyll or Hyde into the world of their indulgences, it is likely that the people of that echelon of society better knew the quality of Henry Jekyll, and were of old acquainted with the qualities, if not the figure, of Edward Hyde.

[nx74defiant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A short book. At first it does not reveal the connection between Jekyill & Hyde. It is only revealed near the end. Very well done classic.

[varwenea · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end."I think my first exposure of the story “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” might have been via Bugs Bunny. Look it up; it’s called “Hyde and Hare”. ^_^This novella is fairly straight forward and its tale well known. Even so, I had not known or considered several tidbits prior to reading it which buttoned up the story nicely. Some are:- The story is told in the third person, from the view point of a friend and lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who was initially puzzled by the strange occurrences and later actively investigated the strange occurrences associated with Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.- Becoming Hyde was a “high” for Jekyll. (I can’t tell if a pun is intended here by Stevenson.) Despite the disfigurement, Hyde was youthful. Hyde’s lack of restraints became a drug and turned Jekyll into an addict, an addiction of the physical and mental freedoms that Hyde represented and provided. Like any addiction, it’s difficult to quit. (The line “I wish I could quit you” entered my mind.)- The timeline is over many years though the focus is one to two years. Jekyll’s initial optimism led him to spend part of his time planning for Hyde replacing himself including updating his will, so he can extend his life in the new youthful form, that is until he realizes Hyde is violent as well as eventually losing control of his alternate self. - No one, absolutely no one connected Jekyll and Hyde as one. The revelation was thusly shocking! Many books used father and son as a relationship comparison. Stevenson did also. This passage explains well the relationship between the two using father and son terms. “…My two natures had memory in common, but all other faculties were most unequally shared between them. Jekyll (who was composite) now with the most sensitive apprehensions, now with a greedy gusto, projected and shared in the pleasures and adventures of Hyde; but Hyde was indifferent to Jekyll, or but remembered him as the mountain bandit remembers the cavern in which he conceals himself from pursuit. Jekyll had more than a father’s interest; Hyde had more than a son’s indifference…” One aspect that somewhat irked me (or perhaps to say it didn’t age well), is the stereotype that ‘good’ people are good looking, and evil people are grotesque. This physicality difference is part of Stevenson’s explanation on the duality of men and the irony that the good covets the pleasures of his dark side. I know, I know, it’s the evil within oneself, blah, blah. I thought it was heavy handed. “…it came about that Edward Hyde was so much smaller, slighter, and younger than Henry Jekyll. Even as good shone upon the countenance of the one, evil was written broadly and plainly on the face of the other. Evil besides (which I must still believe to be the lethal side of man) had left on that body an imprint of deformity and decay. And yet when I looked upon that ugly idol in the glass, I was conscious of no repugnance, rather of a leap of welcome. This, too was myself. It seemed natural and human. In my eyes it bore a livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express and single, than the imperfect and divided countenance I had been hitherto accustomed to call mine…” I object to it in the sense that society today still rewards those who are better looking, taller, muscular, sometimes over the talented or of lesser physicality, even though all are capable of evil.

[wickenden-285487 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this some time ago but can barely remember the text. I'm going to read it again.

[eurohackie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Talk about having one hell of a midlife crisis, LOL.This story is absolutely fantastic! I loved the structure of it, built as a mystery slowly unfolding, sucking all of our characters into the strange world of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the climax, and the denouement that explains all. It's interesting, suspenseful, and thought-provoking. I gobbed it up in one sitting.I've grown up with the pop culture variations on the theme so was well aware of the basic story, but I like all of the original elements - like how Mr. Hyde is a dwarfish, ugly little creature instead of a huge monster, and how the drug that Jekyll was taking was actually impure, and that was the magical ingredient, though he discovered it too late. Mr. Hyde was basically pure id let loose; too bad Dr. Jekyll's id was pure evil. He indulged it to the ultimate breaking point, to his detriment when he was suddenly turning into Mr. Hyde without the help of the drugs, and had to use the drugs to get back to his original self. Mr. Hyde murders a high-ranking MP, and when Dr. Jekyll can't return to his original form, he kills himself under the guise of Mr. Hyde.The questions of 'two selves' and the battle between good and evil, not to mention aging and regret, are all touched upon here. There's a lot packed into this little story and it is a lot of fun.

[baswood · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

[The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde] - Robert Louis StevensonFirst published in 1886 as a penny dreadful and subsequently filmed many times Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde will be familiar to many readers. The idea of a dual personality: one inherently good and one inherently evil inhabiting one body and the battle between the two certainly fired the publics imagination and it was an immediate success. I came to read as part of my progress through victorian novels that contain the seeds of science fiction. This book does more than contain the seeds it gave vent to a sub-genre all of its own; the crazy scientist working in secret on a potion that will enhance his life in some drastic faction, but has unfortunate side effects. Jules Verne's Doctor Ox published in 1872 had a comparable theme and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Doran Grey published in 1891 arguably developed the idea, but these both had elements of humour to lighten the reading: Stevenson's book has about as much humour as Scottish bagpipes. It is dark and gothic in a way that gives a nod to the literature of Edgar Allan Poe.It is a novella in length with the final third being epistolary in form and although it is Victorian and gothic there is a tightness to the writing. The mystery moves smartly forward with Stevensons characterisation's adding to the feeling of unease that the author generates. It is a story revelling in its maleness, the only female character in an unnamed maid who witnesses a murder. It is written as a mystery and so the insights into the characters of Jekyll and Hyde are only revealed in the fairly long denouement. Mr Utterson the protagonist is by his own admission dull, but trustworthy and he is aided by his cousin Richard Enfield said to be a man about town but gives little evidence of it. The focus of the story is on the mystery of Jekyll and Hyde and I think this is why it succeeds so well along with its exploration into the murky dualities of Victorian men.It is little more than an afternoons read and it might surprise people who have only seen the movie versions. I enjoyed it and so 4 stars.

[james_patrick_joyce · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I was not a fan of this book.

Dry, boring, focused on details that aren't directly relevant and... it was dull. Lifeless. When the main bad guy becomes hunted, he just disappears. Poof. No thrills, just... consternation. Yawn.

This isn't a bashing of classics. I've enjoyed many pre-20th century novels and stories. Some didn't work on me, while others did. This one didn't.

[fingerpost_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Everyone knows the outline of the story, so I'll bypass that. As with "Frankenstein" the novel is less horror and more philosophical than all the various film versions that have been made. Stevenson speculates that all people have both good and evil within them, and we all have a base nature that would secretly like to release the evil side, our more carnal desires, if only we could release that side with impunity, and without losing our good side. But, in releasing our baser instincts we automatically lose our more admirable traits, making it a slippery slope, when we give in to what we know is wrong, but desire all the same.The first two thirds of the book were moderately entertaining as a novel. The final third, the resolution, was pretty much pure philosophical pondering.

[comfypants · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A scientist is somehow connected with an unsavory man.2.5/4 (Okay).The last chapter, which is Jekyll's account of the story from beginning to end, is pretty good. The rest of the book is driven by suspense, which of course is nonexistent to a modern reader. "Gee, who could this Hyde fellow be? How ever could the good Dr. Jekyll have become associated with a monster like him, I wonder?"

[mike_b-645943 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde reference is so common in our culture that I thought I knew the story. The story is so much more than I expected.

[aehotchkiss · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Did not pick up this book until well in my 30s, despite its place in popular culture for over a century. A fantastic short read - took me a minute to connect the dots of who was who and how they knew each other but would highly recommend this classic to anyone looking for an interesting piece of sci-fi written before the 20th century.

[lydia1879 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this using my Serial reader app and I was really happy with it!

I knew it was a classic, and, much like classics, it was a book that I'd always meant to read, or intended to read but never actually read.

I loved the atmosphere that Stevenson created. His somehow empty, foggy, cacophonous London was brought to life. I didn't find the language too hard or difficult to follow at all, which surprised me. I liked the tension for the majority of the novel -- Stevenson crafted tension through letters, confessionals and those late-night walks around London where all sorts of horrors happen.

I didn't care too much for the characters, but I definitely admired the author's writing, his language and how accessible the book is after all this time.

Even though I knew the ending, I still found it readable and hope you do too. c:

[scottcholstad · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A classic later surpassed by many but at the time, very original and quite good.

[samantha100_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Elegantly told and suspenseful, this classic story certainly stands the test of time. I read the Keynotes Classics edition. I especially appreciated the introductory key written by Michelle M. White. She provides interesting information about the author and offers valuable suggestions about what to look for in the story. As a result, I believe I got much more from this reading than I did when I first read it. Highly recommended.

[shahnareads · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One of those 'classics' on everyones to be read lists.
It's alright.

[readingover50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I am watching the new season of Penny Dreadful and they are featuring Dr. Jekyll this year. I realized I have never read this book, so I decided to pick it up in preparation for the show.

The writing feels very dense, and the pacing is slow. The reader slowly gets a feeling of dread, rather than outright scares. This is common with many of the horror stories of the period that I have read.

The story is interesting, with much musing on the nature of good and evil. It was a bit slower paced than I like, but this is a short book and easy to read in a day.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Along with FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA, this short novel makes up the holy triumvirate of early horror. It asks the question: What is the nature of man's soul? The answer is that we all have a dark side, a side without a conscience, that lives only for its own pleasure without regard for anyone else. This is the Mr. Hyde that emerges when Jekyll drinks his magic potion, and he repulses everyone he meets. As Jekyll discovers, if we give free reign to the Hyde imprisoned within us, he grows stronger and asserts himself more and more, until he threatens to take over entirely. Despite being afflicted by the usual Victorian floridness of language (some skimming required), DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE is a highly readable, if rather circuitous, story. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the evolution of the horror genre.

[chirikosan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book was okay. Too bad at only 40 pages, that I finished reading it in less than an hour. Would have wanted it to have been longer and the plot more developed.

[sometimeunderwater · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Bet this was a blitz before everyone and their kid knew the secret twist. A fine gothic novella, proceeding on railroad towards the ending you already knew was coming.

[williemeikle-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's not called a classic without good reason. It's an almost perfectly plotted short novel, all the parts complementing each other, all serving to build tension and anticipation. The good doctor is suitably tragic, Hyde is suitably degenerate and, despite having seen the multitude of adaptations over the years, it still feels remarkably fresh and modern. All of Stevenson's stylistic flourishes are on show, as well as his rarely bettered storytelling ability. I'd give it six stars if I could.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

“... that man is not truly one, but truly two.”The idea that we all have a dark side? Well, certainly the main character of this story does! Dr. Henry Jekyll meets/creates/releases Edward Hyde, “The evil side of my nature,...”, and is not the same for it! It's a quick read, well except for the last chapter that draaaaags on, and an important story in the history of "horror" literature, so I'm glad I read it! Not scary by today's standards, but still a freaky idea and one that has been repeated often! I wonder which of my two halves would be the dominant one? Or do I have more than two? Hmm...

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a re-read of this classic 19th century novella which has been the inspiration behind so many spin-offs since. It is a taut and atmospheric piece of writing, and the conclusion that Jekyll and Hyde are one and the same, two sides of the same being, only becomes evident near the end - it is hard for us to understand how this would have shocked and thrilled the reader in 1886, so familiar has the Jekyll and Hyde motif become.

[starla_aurora · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

interesting... not what I remember from 15 yrs ago. that's what happens with memory and Hollywood influence.

[borrows0n0wants · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I love the story. However, since nearly 98% of the population is familiar with this story, it is kind of a drag to read this since you know how everything unfolds. I also didn't find the way in which the story was told very captivating. It is such a thin book, and I had a terrible time getting through it. I actually skipped parts in this book because they were so dreadfully boring.

[angelajmaher · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of those classic stories it would be almost impossible to not be aware of on some level. The basic concept of the book is deeply ingrained in pop culture, but a lot of people probably haven't read the origin of what has become a legend of sorts.Reading the classics isn't always easy; the writing style being of a previous era. But it gives a new and interesting perspective to read the original texts that have spawned so many echoes through to the modern day.This book is a good place to start if you're wanting to start dipping into the classics. The older style might take some getting used to, but it's short. It would be easy enough to read the whole thing in a single quiet afternoon, but if read in smaller doses, still wouldn't take a terribly long time to get through.As with other classic works I've read, such as Frankenstein, the nuances and details were not quite what I expected. It has a much deeper reflection on human nature, for one.This is well worth reading, if only to see how the tale was originally portrayed.