Gothic Novel: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The patients with dissociative identity disorder often feel like having “a few souls living in their body."

Can good and evil exist peacefully in human personalities? There is a mental illness discovered named dissociative identity disorder (DID), in which the patients would feel like having “a few souls living in their body." For a long time, many people, including psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, thought that dissociative identity disorder is a very rare illness. Actually, it is not. Because too many clinicians in the past lacked correct knowledge, there were a lot of misdiagnoses. Plus, most people thought it was just superstitions. As a result, many cases were under-reported.

Many DID cases were under-reported because of the lack of knowledge in the past.

Due to the fact that I really like to read books, both Chinese and English novels, I had an opportunity to get in touch with a story about DID. Recently, I have been reading a Gothic novella from the library about multiple personalities, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. The story was written by a Scottish novelist and travel writer, Robert Louis Stevenson.

Robert Louis Stevenson studied at the University of Edinburgh when he was young.

Robert Louis Stevenson has written many famous works during his hardest lifetime while he was finding a fresh place to recuperate and a climate suitable for his treatment of tuberculosis. These stories included Treasure Island, Kidnapped, A Child’s Garden of Verses, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the one I was reading.

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Kidnapped

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Robert Louis Stevenson also wrote Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and A Child’s Garden of Verses.

The story started as Mr. Utterson, a lawyer, received a strange will from his old friend, Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll was a successful scientist, but he has been locking himself at home for months and wanted to pass all his deportation to Mr. Hyde, who seemed to be a rude, evil, and devilish man from Mr. Utterson’s observation. The lawyer decided to visit Dr. Jekyll and ask about it. Unfortunately, when he arrived, Dr. Jekyll only wanted to stop him from asking questions and said that there was nothing wrong about the will.

Mr. Utterson is a middle-aged lawyer and the narrator of the book.

A few weeks later, Sir Danvers Carew was killed. Witnesses pointed out that Mr. Hyde was the murderer. The police searched his residence, but no evidence was found. Dr. Jekyll knew that the murderer was Mr. Hyde, so he made it clear to cut his relationship with Mr. Hyde. He also re-entered the social world and became a charitable person who everyone praised. However, he closed himself to the outside world again after two months. Mr. Utterson was very worried.

Sir Danvers Care was killed by Mr. Hyde in the story.

With the fact that Dr. Jekyll wouldn’t see him, he visited Dr. Lanyon, another friend of both Mr. Utterson and Dr.Jekyll. Mr. Utterson wanted to ask Dr. Lanyon for advice, but then he found out that Dr. Lanyon was in a bad state, as if he had been greatly stimulated. After two weeks, he passed away, leaving a letter to the lawyer.

Hastie Lanyon was an old friend of Mr. Utterson and Dr. Jekyll.

Finally, Mr. Utterson came to Dr. Jekyll’s butler, Poole, for help. Poole told Mr. Utterson that he thinks the person in Dr. Jekyll’s room was Mr. Hyde. The two forcibly entered Dr. Jekyll's room and found the corpse of Mr. Hyde. They didn’t find Dr. Jekyll. Instead, they found his letter of confession.

Poole was Dr. Jekyll's butler who helped Mr. Utterson break into the room.

The whole story was written in an interesting way, the author put the letter that Dr. Lanyon wrote and Dr. Jekyll’s confession letter at the end of the novella, explaining what happened to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

In Dr. Lanyon’s letter, he wrote to Mr. Utterson that Dr. Jekyll has asked him to hand in a potion to Mr. Hyde. As he watched Mr. Hyde drink that potion, the man turned into Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Lanyon was surprised and frightened about what he saw. The evil Mr. Hyde was actually his old friend Mr. Jekyll! His views soon collapse. That was why, not long after, he became mentally and physically ill, then died.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were actually the same person.

In Dr. Jekyll’s letter of confession, the doctor wrote about his life. He was originally a well-educated gentleman, who enjoyed excellent reviews among people and lived with four servants in his house. In a drug experiment, because of the absence of an experimental human body, he decided to test the drugs by himself. Accidentally, he dug out another character from the depth of his consciousness and began a series of bold behaviors. Edward Hyde was originally a patient in a mental hospital, who was sent to Dr. Jekyll’s home as a test subject but died before the experiment. So, his name was used by Dr. Jekyll for his dark- sided personality. From Dr. Jekyll’s constant use of his experiment, he foresees that his own personality will eventually lose to Hyde. Soon, he will no longer need the drugs to become Hyde. As a result, Jekyll decided to commit suicide with his last will, killing himself, and removing Hyde.

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is a detective novella that is full of suspense, with an exciting and twisted plot.

The setting of the book was written clearly so that the readers can feel like they’re actually in the story. The timeline was well-organized too. Also, the author described the events by different characters’ perspective. The main plot was from Mr. Utterson’s point of view. At the end of the story, the author changed the perspective to Dr. Lanyon’s and Dr. Jekyll’s, so that the readers can understand the truth and the real situation.

The author described the events by different characters’ perspective.

I think Dr. Jekyll in the story may be tired. He has been used to being a good person for too long. He wanted to try to live in a different world, the wicked one. However, the longer you contact the evil forces, the more you will get stuck in the personality. In the latter part of the story, Dr. Jekyll could only present in the face of Hyde. Is human nature good, or is human nature evil? Which one is right? In fact, real humanity seems to be both good and evil.

Can good and evil exist peacefully in human personalities?

The author may also use this theme to insinuate some of the "hypocrites" and "hypocrisy" in the society of his time, dressed well as a gentleman in the daytime, but act as a bestial at night. This book is not only a suspenseful mystery, but its content is introspective, making people face the contradictions and intricacies of soul and humanity.