Classic Corner

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

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.

The story begins when the lawyer Gabriel John Utterson hears from his cousin Richard Enfield of an ambiguous, solitary, violent man called Hyde. This Hyde is said to have simply walked over a girl whom he met on the road, leaving her bruised and 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. Henry 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.

Eventually, Jekyll isolates himself in his laboratory gripped with an emotional burden that no one can comprehend. Another friend of Utterson's, Lanyon, suddenly dies of a horrific emotional shock with which Jekyll seems to be connected. Eventually, 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 by his own hand and Jekyll nowhere to be found.

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

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