The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was first published in January of 1887. This novel was a well known one of Robert Louis Stevenson, who also wrote Treasure Island, Kidnapped and many more. This novel is told through the eyes of Mr Utterson, a middle-aged lawyer, who is at the beginning walking through a street in London with Mr Enfield (who is Mr Utterson’s cousin). On their walk they notice a door that reminds Mr Enfield of a past experience. The past experience happened late one night, while on the way home, he pasted a short, deformed man who trampled a girl in the street, who was on the way to get a doctor for a member of her family. Mr Enfield and the girl’s family find the man and they decide not to go to the police but instead they blackmail him and make him give the family money. So he goes into the same cellar and returned with a cheque in his hand but not with him his name on it, but instead it was the name of a well known doctor Dr Jekyll.
When Mr Utterson heard this story he returned home. Once he was home he got the will Dr Jekyll had written with him recently. Jekyll’s will had said that in any case of his death that he would give his entire estate to a Mr Hyde. He also realizes that the door that Mr Hyde came out of is connected up to Jekyll’s home in a L shape way. Utterson thinks that Jekyll is being blackmailed by Mr Hyde and goes out to try and find him to see why he is doing it. After finding him, Hyde turns angry when Utterson mentions about blackmailing Jekyll. One year later, Hyde murders Sir Danvers Carew with a cane. Sir Danvers Carew is a highly respected man, he is described as a “silver haired” and “gentle man.”
Even more time passes and we learn that Hyde has not been seen. Mean while Dr Jekyll becomes more and more social until Utterson attends a dinner party at Jekyll’s were Lanyon was present. Shortly after, Dr Lanyon fell ill and died. After his death it was found that Lanyon had left a letter that instructed that it was not to be read for ten years. Later on Enfield and Utterson walk past the door again and through a window see Jekyll having a seizure through the windows of the cellar. A week later Jekyll’s butler goes up to Utterson and tells him that Jekyll has locked himself in the basement and he only hears sounds, including crying coming from it. The only communication that the butler has is letters asking for a specific type of salt. Utterson goes to Jekyll’s were he breaks down a cabinet and find’s Hyde’s body. They also discover a large envelope addressed to Mr Utterson. The letter urges Utterson to read the package from Lanyon and if he wanted to find out more to read the further information in the envelope. Lanyon's letter began by describing a strange letter he received from Jekyll, the night after a dinner party at Jekyll's house. This letter urges Lanyon to go to Jekyll's house and get the contents of a drawer in the laboratory and then a strange caller will come to Lanyon’s house in Jekyll’s name and recover these same items, powder, a phial and a paper book. Mr Hyde appeared at the time. Lanyon gave Hyde the ingredients. Then Hyde mixed them into the potion and after drinking it transformed into Dr Jekyll. The shock of this, was what brought on Lanyon’s death. After reading Lanyon’s account, he read Jekyll’s account and Jekyll believed that the soul is made up of two separate distinctions: evil and the good. Slowly, Jekyll begins an experiment where he makes two potions and transforms himself into Edward Hyde. One night, while contemplating the deeds of Hyde, Jekyll was once again transformed into Hyde. Realizing that he could not return to his house, he sent the letter to Dr. Lanyon and went immediately to a hotel. He went home once again but every time he would fall asleep, he would revert to Mr Hyde. Soon, his potions began to fail to work and he ran out of the salt needed for the potion. Hyde launches a desperate search across London for this potion, but was unsuccessful. In the end, Hyde kills himself and therefore lets both Jekyll and Hyde free.
Mr. Utterson: Is the narrator of the book. He is a middle-age lawyer, he is a person that everyone approaches throughout the novel. As an old friend of Jekyll, he recognizes the changes and strange occurrences that center around both Jekyll and Hyde. He is perhaps the most respected, and rational character in the book.
Richard Enfield: Is Mr. Utterson’s cousin, a younger man who is assumed to be slightly more adventurous than his cousin. We initially think that Enfield will play a large part in this novel, he appears only twice. Both the times he is walking past the door with Mr Utterson.
Dr. Henry Jekyll: A middle-age doctor. Throughout the novel, he is physically described as both tall and handsome. He is also extremely wealthy, having a huge fortune. The doctor believed that within each human being there exists two countering forces, good and evil, this leads to his experiments that try to separate the two.
Edward Hyde: A small, deformed, disgusting young man (much younger than Dr. Jekyll) that does not have a job. Dr. Jekyll describes Hyde as "pure evil," and he menaces society at night, trampling a girl in the street and murdering Sir Danvers Carew.
Overall the book is about a man called Dr Jekyll who turns himself into his evil side with help with a potion he made and after a while he couldn’t change back to his good side because he ran out of one of the vital ingredients (a certain type of salt). So in the end Hyde (the evil side) goes and kills himself to let Jekyll free. I really enjoyed reading this horror book and I would recommend this book to people the same age as me or older and people who like reading books from a long time ago.
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