Doctor Jekyll and Mr.Hyde (Dover Thrift)

Clearly this is a classic masterpiece and I won't go into the details of the story, however my review is more based around the practical aspects of this particular edition. It is one of the only books that I purchase every year and am able to sell on to my students. My students have to study this text and because of the low cost version even my poorest students are able to purchase a copy for themselves because of this edition. This is an excellent educational tool as it allows the students to annotate their copy which is extremely useful when they sit to do their coursework. Thank you Dover Thrift for making it possible for my students to succeed.

A psychological drama of the dual nature of man (9/10 people found this helpful)

The tale of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde has been quite familiar to me for as long as I can remember, but only now have I read the original short novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. It is unfortunate that familiarity has robbed modern readers of the suspense that almost certainly was engendered in Stevenson's contemporary audience. Nor can I attribute a strong hint of terror in these pages, partly because of the plot structure. This is not a straightforward story; we don't follow Dr. Jeckyll in his experimentation. Rather, we are introduced to Jeckyll and Hyde through Jeckyll's lawyer Mr. Utterson. Having drawn up Jeckyll's will to leave everything to Hyde should he disappear, he is most concerned for his client and friend upon learning that Mr. Hyde is a misshapen monster of a man responsible for trampling a young girl in the street. The first half of the book follows Utterson's attempts to discover this Mr. Hyde for himself. The final half of the book contains the story of Jeckyll and Hide, told first in the words of a mutual friend and doctor and ultimately in an account of events penned by the unfortunate Dr. Jeckyll.

It goes without saying that the heart of the story revolves around the duality of the human mind. Each of us has a dark side as well as a good side, and the majority of individuals attempt to disguise any bad, uncontrollable aspects of their natures from the public. Dr. Jeckyll had a predilection for thoughts and acts which he and society frowned upon (although what these acts were is never revealed); as he neared middle age, his life became defined by a continuous inner struggle to keep on the straight and narrow path. He often failed, so he came up with the idea of totally separating his evil nature from his good one. Through the use of chemistry, he developed a solution that, when ingested, transformed him into a different persona in both body and mind, one which had free reign to indulge anonymously in those worldly delights Dr. Jeckyll secretly lusted after. He thought that his original persona would then be freed of the guilt of his desires, while his Mr. Hyde persona could satiate himself in performing guilty actions without any moral restraint. As is only natural, the dark side grew stronger as time passed, and the person of Dr. Jeckyll found himself in more of a quandary than he ever dreamed of before giving birth to Mr. Hyde.

Inner conflict between the good and bad in ourselves is something every reader can easily understand, and it is this psychological aspect of Stevenson's famous short novel that accounts for the tale's continuing popularity. It is a quick and absorbing read, but the method of the tale's presentation is a slight weakness in my opinion. We can only watch the human drama from a third person perspective, and I would like to have gotten more deeply inside the mind of Jeckyll and Hyde. Still, this is a classic of literature that will retain its place in popular culture for untold years to come. As for the afterword by Jerome Charyn in the Bantam edition of the book, I must say I could have done without it. It does provide some interesting background on Stevenson, but its psychological assumptions and surmises struck me as overdramatic and groundless. The story of Jeckyll and Hyde stands strongly on its own merits and does not need to be accompanied by psychobabble.

A story of the struggle between good and evil. (1/1 people found this helpful)

I loved this book, it was very well written and is a thought provoking story. Most people seem to think that Dr. Jekyll was a good person and that the horrible Mr. Hyde a whole different person. But you should consider how the doctor handles all of this.

Doctor Jekyll and Mr.Hyde (Dover Thrift)

Robert Louis Stevenson

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Useful Classroom Tool (0/0 people found this helpful)

A psychological drama of the dual nature of man (9/10 people found this helpful)

A story of the struggle between good and evil. (1/1 people found this helpful)

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