I just finished The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Does anyone else who has read it have thoughts or comments about it?
I just finished The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Does anyone else who has read it have thoughts or comments about it?
Like other “horror” stories of its era (Dracula, Frankenstein, Trilby, The Turn of the Screw) it seems to me to be a meditation on nineteenth century ideas about sexuality.
Okay, Freud!
I liked it, I have read several of his books, but I love classics. I don’t analyze them, I just enjoy being in another century, the sights and sounds of which I will never experience except through books.
I’m curious as to what specific sins or pleasures people think Jekyll wanted to indulge in when he created the drug that turned him into Hyde. The book is silent in that regard; Jekyll’s confession only states that they are “embarrassing” but not criminal. And the only scenes wherein Hyde acts out are when he runs over the little girl on the street and the murder of Carew.
Any thoughts?
I think Jekyll’s curiosity was the motivator, also Stevenson made an artistic choice to keep the readers curiosity by not giving details of the “embarrassment” probably Jekyll’s thoughts were shameful enough just as we would be mortified if others around us knew our thoughts. A good book, gives “two faces” a curious take. Wonderful that it was written around 1800 and though many haven’t read the book, they are aware of the split personality the names imply!!! Great questions @Lynne. Thanks
It clearly is Robert Louis Stevenson’s experience with his struggles with alcoholism
Our book club read it last year and we all loved it.
What I always think about when I hear that title is Robert Louis Stevenson’s last words, “What is this horror?!” which I assumed was a drug induced hallucination (the “horror” he saw) and/or feared might be demons coming for him, ala the Patrick Swayze movie, “Ghost.”