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SETTING: 19th century London, England.
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SUMMARY: Confusion arises as the prominent and popular physician, Dr. Henry Jekyll, suddenly becomes reclusive and paranoid, leading his colleagues to surmise that something diabolical is amiss. The prime culprit suspected of causing this character change is Mr. Edward Hyde, Dr. Jekyll's strange and mysterious beneficiary to all his assets upon his death.
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FAVORITE QUOTE: "Rather, as there was something abnormal and misbegotten in the very essence of the creature that now faced me - something seizing, surprising, and revolting - this fresh disparity seemed but to fit in with and to reinforce it; so that to my interest in the man's nature and character, there was added a curiosity as to his origin, his life, his fortune and status in the world." - page 422-23.
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The League of Extraordinary Men is one of my favorite movies, primarily because it brings a group of my favorite literary figures together to tell an incredibly entertaining story (Dorian Gray from The Picture of Dorian Gray, Captain Nemo from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Mina Harker from Dracula, and Tom Sawyer from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer). Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde is another one of the main characters in this movie, so I was really excited when I saw this book was included in the three part Robert Louis Stevenson compilation I picked up at the undergraduate library on campus. I already knew the main story line, but I was interested to see how RLS presents it. After reading The Dynamiter, I went in with high hopes. Were my expectations met? READ ON!
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Things I liked about this book:
- IT'S AN AWESOME STORY. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Awesome.
- The motivation behind Dr. Jekyll's decision to create Mr. Hyde. Possibility this next part will ruin the story for those who haven't read it, so don't continue reading this paragraph if you're willing to give this story a read! OK, here we go: Dr. Jekyll is a very nice, well-mannered, all around good guy. After spending his entire life living as a straight edge, he decides he is tired of the do-good lifestyle and wants to bring out his evil side. However, he's determined to do so in a manner that will preserve the community's polished impression of him. In comes crazy experiments to create an elixir that literally bring out the evil, an entirely separate character he names "Edward Hyde." Although at first glance this seems like a totally mental idea, upon further reflection I realized that I can somewhat understand what drove Dr. Jekyll to become Mr. Hyde. We all have moments where we decide to not act on a certain notion or desire because our outward persona and the impression people have of us won't match the action. It sometimes takes a great deal of courage to let go of those inhibitions and just act without having to consider how the action will be perceived by the greater community. Dr. Jekyll's method of dealing with this is obviously based off of an extreme thought and goes horribly wrong, and his desire to bring out a totally evil side is crazy, but I get the core motivation that leads him to transform into Mr. Hyde.
- Organized really well. Again, RLS is fantastic at presenting his stories in a methodological manner.
- Hyde is a completely separate person. Jekyll can't influence Hyde's actions, and vice versa. This total separation of character is what causes both Jekyll's and Hyde's ultimate demise.
- Jekyll's account of how he could feel Hyde slowly taking over.
- An explanation wasn't given behind why/how Jekyll picked the name "Edward Hyde" for his alternative personality. I would have had fun reading about that.
I enjoyed this story very much! As you can see, there aren't many things I didn't like about this book. It's concise and to the point, without unnecessary embellishments that don't add to the overall story. I've also come away with what I consider to be an important point: don't change your personality based off of what others think or expect, otherwise there's a huge possibility you'll go super crazy later in life, doing irrational things to soothe your regrets regarding everything you didn't do. I can't assess if this is what RLS hoped the reader would take away after reading this story, but I think it's a good and useful point.
On a different point, I'm ready for a different genre now, so I won't be reading the third story in the compilation. I'm definitely glad I gave Robert Louis Stevenson's other works a try. I'm impressed with his writing style, and will definitely give his other pieces a read when I'm again in the 19th century British literature mood, which will likely be very soon.
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Recommend? YES!
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