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Summary: Psychology in Jekyll and Hyde
Review: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde challenges the strict social classes of the Victorian era and explores the duality of human nature. Reputation is a prevalent theme in this horror story from a different generation. Readers are taken on an adventure through the eyes of Mr. Utterson as he tries to discover the connection between the prestigious Dr. Jekyll and the curious Mr. Hyde.
Because of the language during the Victorian period, readers of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tend to be of a more mature audience. The language used in the book is not hard to understand for the more advanced readers. The book appeals to many audiences because those who have not read it know the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Movies and other books have been based on this novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. Though people of different ages may want to read the book, it is best for more advanced readers. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is appealing because of its many different objectives. For those who wish to learn of a different era, namely the Victorian period, this book is perfect. It shows the way reputation was exalted during that time. For those interested in horror stories, this book will appeal to them. If you are interested in the duality of human nature and other psychological type things, this book will interest you. For someone who just wants a good read this book is also a good choice. This book is a classic because of its appeal to many types of people. Even young children know the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Before reading the book, I knew the basic meaning behind it. I would recommend this book to anyone that has at least a high school reading level. For those younger, the books language may become a bit confusing and cause the overall story to be lost. The meanings behind the book may be hard to catch at the first glance. For those who wish to look deeper at the meaning of Stevenson's words, this book is perfect. Even if the reader doesn't want to read between the lines, the basic horror story in this book is entertaining enough. I would give this book a rating of 4 stars. It is interesting and informative. At times the book because a little boring because of the in depth information and the stiff language. There is little action in the book and the ending is a bit different than other books, but over all it is an interesting story and a good read.
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Summary: beautiful edition of classic story
Review: The University of Nebraska Press edition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is beautiful! The illustrations by Barry Moser, woodcuts that progress chronologically through Dr. Jekyll's life as it is described in hints throughout Robert Louis Stevenson's story, are atmospheric and evocative; a picture of a boy being guided by his father, for example, echoes Dr. Jekyll's comments that he has a "fatherly" interest in his alter-ego, Hyde, while Hyde has a son's "indifference" to the father; the cover illustration is a portrait of Dr. Jekyll's father destroyed by Mr. Hyde on a rampage. Joyce Carol Oates's introduction is worthwhile, especially for those readers who know the story, as most English-speaking people do, in its basic framework, but who have not yet actually traveled the dark road with Dr. Jekyll and his friends. It is a pleasure to read a classic book in such a carefully crafted edition. Too often books such as this are printed in cheap editions with narrow margins and lousy type; this one fits comfortably in the hand and is easy on the eye as the reader is drawn into this allegorical nightmare. This review refers to the University of Nebraska Press edition only.
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Summary: A Double Life
Review: The reason this bizarre novella has continued to remain so popular and to capture people's imagination is because the idea behind it is ingenious and SO true about human nature: even a good, respectable person like Dr. Jekyll has in him the potential for evil, in this case released in the form of Mr. Hyde, who commits crimes. Even really good people, pushed to an extreme or under the right circumstances, are capable of doing very bad things. That is the moral behind this story of the doctor who concocts and drinks a potion that totally changes his features and unleashes the wicked impulses in him which are otherwise suppressed by his moral conscience. David Rehak
author of "A Young Girl's Crimes"
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Summary: Hyde
Review: Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was a disappointing, unstimulating, and over-graphic story. At times it was too pictorial and at others they will change things up and no one will say or revealed a thing to save some rich man's secrete background from coming to the light. The entire plot of the book is revealed in the first twenty pages. Everyone has heard parts of the book. People know Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same man. They know he drinks a potion and changes. They know one is good and the other is evil. Everything is known before you even read the book. I half way expected Hyde to be huge and beast-like similarly to the way he is seen in comic books and even movies. That part was disappointing. The fact that the book jumps from one perspective to the next and the story is simply retold from another point of view. It is simply not a good book. There is a lesson in this. If your wife tells you a book is bad and you burn the original chances are the second is going to stink just as bad.
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Summary: The Classis Book Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde
Review: Robert Louis Stevenson writes a story that continues to disturb people around the world through the power of its narrative and its underlying psychological implications. Robert Louis Stevenson book, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, deserves a four-star rating, because it shows Stevenson is repetitive to show the true feelings and emotion of the characters in the story. This story has the split-personality of one man Dr. Jekyl who drinks a mixture of chemicals that turns him into another person, Mr. Hyde, who in the end Mr. Hyde tries to keep drinking this mixture so he can kill off Dr. Jekyl. Reading this book carefully makes this book easier to understand and more exciting to read, but read to fast and miss some details it can be hard to understand. Although this book can be strange at sometimes, Stevenson brings the reader deep into the book by evoking emotion from the characters, a plot filled with mystery, great suspense from a thrilling fiction book, yet sometimes hard to understand and follow.
Right from the beginning of the story, Stevenson brings out the emotion from the characters, so the reader can understand and feel what the character is really feeling. When the reader can feel exactly what the characters are feeling it makes the story exciting and fun to read. Stevenson does a superb job of this throughout the entire story, by explaining every detail, so the reader knows what exactly is going on. Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde exchange deep emotion between each other, which also has an affect on the rest of the people in the story. As in real life if something is done to a person it can affect him or her, which can also affect other people, Stevenson makes this book fiction as real as possible.
People in the world today get into all kinds of stories, but if some are into mystery book then this one is for them. Stevenson had all kinds of mystery built up into this book, and by having that all built up into the book it is going to be hard for a reader to put it down. Stevenson does a good job by giving little information about something and then adding details to the plot, which gives it great suspense to the story line. This can make it hard to understand sometimes, but if read carefully Stevenson shows the real mystery of this book. The mystery and horror that comes along with this book makes it a weird yet thrilling book to read.
Stevenson puts the reader into a stop where sometimes they will not know what is going on. This builds all up to suspense, which brings thrill and emotion to the book. This book is not at all predictable, when the reader thinks something is going to happen Stevenson turns it around the other way and make even more suspense come out of the story. Suspense makes a book thrilling and enjoyable to read, with Stevenson odd way of doing things this book can be a good one to read. The reader never knows what is going to happen next, which leads this story into a great suspenseful plot.
There is only one flaw with the story, it can sometimes be hard to understand, that can lead the reader in a confusing direction. It can be so hard at times that the reader will have to go back and reread what they read just to understand and get the full effect of the story. Sometimes the plot can be confusing to understand also, trying to picture the setting and atmosphere can be difficult at times. This can become frustrating at times, but once it is read the right way the story makes good sense. Stevenson makes this story a hard one to read, but one the reader gets past the difficulty, the story can be an awesome one to read.
Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde will be a story that will go down in history, because it is such an interesting book to read. The emotion from the story brings the book to real life even though it is a fiction book. Then the mystery come along and grabs a hold of the reader to bring them right into the story. The suspense and thrill from this book is something that the reader will remember for a long time to come. Even though this book can sometimes be hard to understand, it is still one that can go can be said as one of the best books ever wrote. I would recommend this book to anyone that is into mystery and horror; this is a book that no one will ever forget.
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Summary: Defenitly a classic
Review: This book is defenitly a classic. It probably could have been of longer. If it was at least the length of franenstein I am sure I would have given it 5 stars. The book does a great job of exploring man's dual nature. It is good for a quick read on a rainy day. Anyone who wants to say they've read the classics should read this book. Of course that is just my opnion, I could be wrong.
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Summary: An Enjoyable Classic
Review: Let me first echo the sentiments expressed by others and comment on what a beautiful edition the Univ of Nebraska Press has produced. The margins are indeed wide and the type very readable. This edition is easily held, the illustrations nicely complement the text and the binding is quite durable. The introduction by Joyce Carol Oates is helpful albeit pedantic. Also, those who've read the Univ of Calif Press edition of Frankenstein will notice some overlap between this introduction and the one that Ms. Oates wrote for that particular edition. Nonetheless, the introduction is valuable. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of those stories, like Frankenstein and Dracula, that seemingly everyone has heard of and believes they understand("mythopoetic " in the language of Joyce Carol Oates). Much like the aforementioned works, the actual details of the story may come as a surprise to those who assume they know the story based solely on the popular understanding. For that reason alone I think the book is worth reading. Dr. Jekyll is a respected if somewhat reclusive London doctor who has, through the course of years of experimentation, managed to create a solution which brings to the fore his evil alter-ego. Unlike many gothic literary villains, Hyde is not imbued with superhuman strength or exceptional gifts of any kind. In fact he is of a smaller and less imposing stature than most men. What he does possess however is a complete lack of compunction with regards to others. Hyde for example ruthlessly runs down a small child who gets in his way. As others have pointed out, this book is about, at least in part, moral restraint. Mr. Hyde is a part of Dr. Jekyll. This part was heretofore kept in check by the mores inculcated by society through child rearing practices, education, laws, et al. An elixir that eradicates moral restraint rips at the fabric of society and reverses in one fell swoop what it has taken hundreds of years to create.
As is the case with Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll creates something that he can't control and which eventually destroys its creator. Although not created by a potion, I think we see many sections in this and other societies that are are marked by anomie. The inhumanity that the fictional Hyde displays can, not surprisingly, be seen in the non-fictional world on a daily basis. As such, there is a realism to the story which is missing from many horror stories past and present. The fact that such a short and captivating work exists in an attractively packaged edition makes this one classic that will be a joy to read for all.
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Summary: Stevenson's psychological nightmare realized
Review: Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is arguably the single most famous metaphor that Western literature has bestowed upon the public conscience, and certainly the most ubiquitous metaphor for duality of personality. But what of the artistic quality of the novella itself? The outer plot -- involving the detection of Henry Jekyll's double identity by his friend and lawyer Gabriel Utterson -- is the least interesting facet of the story; Stevenson's concept, inspired by a nightmare, and the vivid language he uses to convey it, are what impress the most upon the reader. The respected London scientist Henry Jekyll seems normal enough, but he is fascinated by what he considers to be two distinct sides to his (or, he believes, anybody's) personality, which can be described crudely as good and evil. He furthermore believes these sides are physically separable, just as water can be separated into its constituent elements, hydrogen and oxygen, by electrolysis; and so he invents a potion that essentially splits his personality so that only one side will manifest itself while the other becomes latent. In this way, Jekyll reasons, the "good" side may be an agent of good works without being burdened by the disgrace of an inherent evil, and the "evil" side is free to do his damage without the pangs of remorse he would inherit from the conscience of his good twin. In Freudian terms, Jekyll is the ego, Hyde is the id, but unfortunately -- and this is the point that drives the story -- Jekyll has no superego to tell him that the potion is an irresponsibly bad idea in the first place. In society Jekyll retains his high esteem, but his mutation, the sinister, deformed Edward Hyde, whom he names as an heir as a further disguise of his own identity, is cursed to live in ostracism for his hideous appearance, cruel behavior, and disregard for the law. The fact that Hyde is physically smaller than Jekyll could be symbolic of his moral deficiency or merely reflect the notion that he is only a "part" of Jekyll; but the difference in size is convenient as a plot device because it prevents others from suspecting that Hyde and Jekyll are really the same person. One should not approach "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" as if it were just a primitive example of generic horror. Stevenson excels as a prose writer, suffusing his story with the kind of descriptive nuances that successfully evoke Victorian London at its darkest and most ominous contrasted with the civilized society of gentlemen and otherwise benevolent scientists. I was aware that Stevenson was an essayist, but I was unprepared to find that "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is really an illustrative essay at its base, dressed in monstrous fashion.
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Summary: Alex is the man
Review: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. hyde is a story that is told in weird scenario. This is a book that is told in a collection of letters. the letters compile to make a great scary story for people of all ages. The fact that this story is told the way it is gives it a real life feeling. When I was reading it I felt like it was a real case that happened in the streets of London. The letters that are made make it seem like that the case happened because it gives the tail of many people from the story. Even though the story is well known around Europe and the US the ending is still classic. The fact that the story is ended in a letter is quite original on Stevenson's part. It probably would have been more of a thriller if I had known the ending. The ending is probably the most well known in literature history and that kind of stinks. This book will actually make you touch a little on you evil side.
By: Alex Cruce
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Summary: Dr. J. and Mr. H.
Review: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was a great book. I thought it was strange that the author would kill Hyde/Jekyll off so early in the book, but he pulled it together nicely with the two narratives in the end. I also thought the wording in the book was very easy to understand, and it gave you a defiant sense of suspense throughout the book.
I did, however, feel that Hyde could have been more evil. I just always thought of Hyde as a horribly disfigured and large man. Therefore, when you see only two murders and a dwarf as the villain you are somewhat disappointed. Hollywood has played him up as a huge man , and that is one thing I realized by reading this novel. He is a small individual.
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