The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

One night over the Easter holidays I decided I would have to read a book before I started back at the academy. I don't really read much at all when I'm through in Glasgow so I decided the holidays would be a wasted opportunity if I didn't read something. So one night I decided to start the Robert Louis Stevenson classic The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I chose this for two reasons: it's fairly short so I would have to be quite rubbish if I didn't manage to get through it and two, I had read it before in school and had a weird craving to read it again.

It's a really good story I think and I enjoyed it a lot more this time. In fact when you read things in school I think you always miss loads of stuff. Most people know the basic plot of the story, even if you're not familliar with the book, the phrase Jekyll and Hyde is well known. Stevenson wrote the book in the late 19th century so at the time it would have caused a great deal of shock and controversy as the Victorian people of the time were very interested in the supernatural.

The story follows the well respected London lawyer, Mr Utterson who one day hears a nasty story from his friend about a man named Edward Hyde. This begins to trouble Utterson because he knows that one of his clients and also best friend Henry Jekyll has in his will a donation of all his money and possessions to Hyde. He sets about on a mission to uncover the secret to all the mysterious circumstances and events going on as he suspects there is some form of foul play going on with his friend and the murderous Mr Hyde.

Many critics of the book have tried to outline the many possible meanings that it could have. One of the main aspects of the narrative is obviously the dual nature of humans. However some people think it could represent alcoholism, sexual repression, lust, or the presence of evil within all people's lives. There are many more possibilities that the story could have been trying to sybmbolise. But that's the beauty of storytelling in that it is up to the reader alone to decide what the themes of the narrative are. You can also just enjoy it for the Victorian thriller it is, regardless of all its possible meanings. It's really not that long at all so go and read it, shouldn't take you too long.