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“If he be Mr. Hyde, I shall be Mr. Seek”

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde might be one of those stories that you know but have never read. I cannot remember the first time I was introduced to the character Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; it seems as if I have always known the old creepy tale of the man whose dark side is a monstrous, separate personality.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is similar to Sherlock Holmes. I remember when I learned as a child that Sherlock Holmes was not a real person; and then I was equally shocked to learn that Sherlock Holmes was a character in a series of books written by a single author. The brilliant detective, in my mind, just always seemed to exist.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, like Sherlock Holmes, has so successfully captured my imagination (and our collective imagination) that it feels strange to conceptualize a world in which these characters did not exist. When you read through Robert Louis Stevenson’s book, it is difficult to imagine the utter disbelief early readers experienced when it is revealed that the hideous villain Mr. Hyde is actually Dr. Jekyll’s alter-ego.

And yet, the book is no less thrilling, mysterious, and strange.

An Invitation to Read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

There are a number of reasons why you should read this book:

First, it only takes about 3 hours, the same time commitment as watching a spooky movie and yet it is significantly better and more rewarding.

Second, the novella is thrilling, mysterious, and creepy all the while maintaining a levity to it. It is a work of horror that holds a mirror to reflect to us our own fears and darkness, but it does not revel in evil.

Third, Stevenson’s novella landed in a particularly fascinating moment in history. Much like Hamlet ��was a story of uncertainty during a time period of uncertainty (the dawn of the Enlightenment, the discovery of the New World, the Protestant Reformation, etc.) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde came about during the rise of psychology. Individuals began thinking of the self in a unique way., as fears about the other, and the uncanny were being named. And, while Stevenson’s novella became astoundingly popular in London, Jack the Ripper was active, haunting the very streets in reality that Mr. Hyde would haunt in fiction. (More on this in Part 2).

Fourth, and I think the best reason, is because it has already shaped our collective imagination. At the very least, reading something (especially for the first time) that has already shaped you is a profound practice in self-reflection. Books like these hold a mirror up to our culture and allow us to understand our cultural dogmas and why we believe them.

From my perspective, it seems that The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde provides keen insight into the historical shift in the Western characterization of evil. In other words, this book has already shaped how we characterize evil.

In Part Two of this essay, we will explore how the canon of Western Literature has traditionally imagined evil, and how that characterization has changed to what we maintain today. We will look at how The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a paradigmatic work to understand this shift.

So here is an invitation to the Full Table: read Stevenson’s fantastically eerie novella and join the conversation this Halloween season!

Read Part 2 here: Why You Should Read��The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Part 2)

Disclaimer: The above article solely represents the views of the author and does not represent any endorsement or statement by the �Ӱ���Ƶ. Read more here.