The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion
WINTER CHALLENGE 2022
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Group Reads Discussion - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
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I have read a LOT of classics but never had read this one. I was familiar with the concept, as everyone is. But I thought it was more that the evil character took over the good one out of nowhere. But the narrative makes it clear that even the esteemed Dr. Jekyll had a dark side that he sometimes indulged. I thought it was a good analogy for how we all have antisocial or dangerous impulses. He also showed how addiction works, that Jekyll began to crave the experience and his willpower couldn't hold out. Then he needed his "fix" more often and eventually it took over completely, even when he didn't actively choose it. It's true that the style is form and of its time. It also has a Victorian quality of not just jumping into the story but having someone respectable hear part of it from another respectable person. This was a common method, to make the story seem more "real". You find this in Frankenstein for instance, where it takes a long time to get to the real story.
This is another classic that I've read a number of times, and each time I notice something new about the story. This time I was struck by the similarity between the dual nature of Jekyll/Hyde and that of Dorian Grey in Wilde's work as well as William Wilson in Poe's tale. All three stories focus on the self-destructiveness of evil as each character is responsible for their own downfall and death. As is so often the case, the true monster lies within.
As I read this, I wondered if the liquid was a commentary on alcohol use or other drugs. The change in personality and how it can change the person over time. Not to mention the belief that it changes people permanently (old stigma/stereotype). On another note, I love the constant human desire to improve on our natural capabilities, that tend to lead to unnatural consequences (e.g., becoming monsters, destroying lives, families, the environment, etc.).
My library copy was a small study book with so much biographical information in the author and time this was written. I had never read this book or anything by the author and I loved it! That it was written as a penny dreadful makes me happy and wanting to find more penny dreadfuls.Any suggestions?
Or best place to find more?
jill
I've read this a few times over the years, and enjoyed it every single one. This time was no different. A lovely, quick-moving tale that says a lot about human nature and seems very relevant even today. The perfect thing to read just after Christmas!
I first read this when I was about 10, and it was scary and creepy. I've reread it a few times over the years and found it powerful, but I've never been a fan of Gothic novels. So it was odd to find myself reading this and Dracula (for the first time) together. It interested me to see how Stevenson took elements of Gothics and twisted them to suit his story. Take confinement, for example. No one is locked up here, but Dr. Jekyll's world has become smaller socially. His old friends haven't seen him lately, and when he improves Stevenson says, "He came out of his seclusion..." Also "he was much in the open air". Then, after encountering Lanyon, he regresses and writes "I mean to lead a life of extreme seclusion". Eventually he ends up moving out of his lovely, large house into a small room in the dingy laboratory – a self-chosen confinement as he deteriorates.
I was also interested in the question of whether Jekyll and Hyde are distinct, like two sides of a coin; two divergent paths of one life; or if Hyde is meant to be a part of Jekyll all the time. The latter could explain why he's so much smaller than the Doctor. And his lodgings are decorated according to Jekyll's taste, not probably to Hyde's. What does that signify? That he depends on the Jekyll part for all activities that aren't cruel and base? I don't know but it's interesting to consider.
It's still not a favorite story of mine, but it does have power and gives the reader lots of questions to contemplate about being human, good and evil, etc. Well worth reading and rereading over the years.
Amy BI've read a couple of classics this past year that were written in the 1800's and this was the first that I thought was a bit easier going than the others. I found the language to be more approachable and perhaps because of the shorter length, it didn't feel like as much of a slog.
The one thing I noticed, and I think someone earlier might have commented on this earlier as typical of how books were written at this time, is that there was very little direct action. As the reader, you are not experiencing the story as it happens but being told it by means of letters written to other people or conversations between two characters who are not the main character. So, I felt a bit of distance to the story, which I didn't love, in spite of liking the book.
This classic makes for a great re-read because the message I get this time is quite different from that of the previous read. It's not only the duality of the good/evil identity that Jekyll and Hyde's dynamic embodies. Similar to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll tries to play god and ends up creating a monster that commits heinous acts against other human beings. It's interesting that Mr. Hyde is described to be smaller, shiftier, rather than the hulk-like figure often portrayed in later pop culture, because it seems that people are more threatened by his physical abnormality compared to the standard of the period than by his physical prowess. If Dr. Jekyll had successfully created a handsome monster, I wonder if Hyde would have been dealt with more mercifully.
I finally get to cross this one off my to-be-read list after decades. It's difficult to read a book when you are pretty sure you know the story (and I wasn't far off). It's been made into at least a dozen movies and even a musical, not to mention many, many takeoffs. That makes reading the book a bit of a letdown. It will be difficult for many modern readers to slog through the Victorian style of writing. But if you can, you can find what has entranced audiences for more than 130 years. It is the battle of good versus evil. Dr. Henry Jekyll is publicly an upstanding member of the community - but he has a darker side as well. Through experimentation, he develops a potion that separate the good and evil parts of himself, transforming him into Edward Hyde, whom we would now call a sociopath. Hyde does all manner of terrible things, including trampling a young girl and killing a member of Parliament in a fit of rage. We learn all of this through a series of letters at the end, after Jekyll loses the ability to control his transformation, suggesting that evil has triumphed over good.
Mod
Well, I listened to the audiobook and was quite surprised at how much I'd forgotten/misremembered about the story. It's always good to get back to the original & see how time, tv adaptations and similar have warped your memory of the actual storyline!
It was a pleasure to revisit this classic. I had read it years ago, and I enjoyed it as much this time as I did the first time. Good choice for the Gutenberg category.
The requirement for task 20.10: You must participate in the book's discussion thread below with at least one post about the contents of the book or your reaction to the book after you have read the book.