About the author: Robert Louis Stephenson
Much shorter story than I had imagined, and filled with more narrative than I had expected. Considering its era and the good/evil inner battle that wages in men, it is a masterful story. As any literary piece, it is heavy on description and light on action and dialogue. Not tedious, so much, but for a person such as I who is used to modern fiction, I found it enjoyable but not particularly gripping.
Also, I have become somewhat numbed to violence and so the murder was less vivid than I had expected. Again, considering the time that this was written, it did break new ground. We have become desensitised to violence, to a lot of things, in fiction and in all entertainment media.
The idea that a draught could be taken to wholly separate the good and evil personas within is a captivating concept. There is no denying that we all possess both aspects, and the entire separation is where the problem lies. After reading this story I worked through some online class notes which had a lot of insight about what the story meant, what each chapter/scene achieved, including the particular lack of women characters. Those that were included were portrayed as exceptionally weak. Of more interest was the examination of what might now be considered multiple personality disorder.
That Hyde eventually overtook Jekyll also has meaning. Does that mean that evil is more powerful than good? In the long run, it will overcome. Afterall, evil had to have overcome good in order for Jekyll to have done this to begin with.
A good read, and I am glad that I now that this story under my belt. I have heard about this since I was a child, and even called my father and uncle by this without understanding what I was saying. I thought they were two people -- maybe even a frankenstein type situation created by a mad scientist who was then forced to live with the monster he had created. In fact, the reality is more complex than that, and pleasing.
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