Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Title: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Author: Robert Louis Stevenson

Number of pages: 82

Started: 5 June 2008

Finished: 8 June 2008

Opening words:

“Mr. Utterson, the lawyer was a man of rugged countenance, that was never lighted by smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow loveable. He had an approved tolerance for others and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove.”

Plot summary:

Everyone has a dark side. Dr Jekyll has discovered the ultimate drug. A chemical that can turn him into something else. Suddenly, he can unleash his deepest cruelties in the guise of the sinister Hyde. Transforming himself at will, he roams the streets of fog-bound London as his monstrous alter-ego. It seems he is master of his fate. It seems he is in complete control. But soon he will discover that his double life comes at a hideous price ...

Synopsis taken from Amazon

What I thought:

Another dark book, albeit a very brief one. The story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is one that is probably well known, and just the very title of the book is sometimes used as a description of people. I wonder how many people have actually read the book though? It’s an interesting tale of what happens when someone finds the ability to experience life as a purely evil person and the ramifications of trying to play God with such things. A story that raises such questions as whether people are primarily good or evil - or somewhere in between.