The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

I read this novella a few days ago and I can't stop thinking about it. So far, I've recommended it to three friends and my mum! As an admirer of Gothic literature and mystery novels, I really don't know why it took me so long to start reading this book in the first place.

I think most people are familiar with the characters of Jekyll and Hyde because they are very present in pop culture (think Halloween costumes, horror movies, and the fact that we refer to two faced people as being "a real Jekyll and Hyde kinda guy"). Because of this though, the main crux of the story was spoilt for me.
At the beginning of the book, the reader isn't supposed to know that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are the same guy. But of course, I knew that already, and so the impact of the reveal wasn't as powerful as it should have been.

Saying that, I loved the novella! It's written from the point of view of John Utterson, a lawyer who is friends with Dr Jekyll. He soon meets Mr Hyde, an apparent acquaintance of Jekyll. Hyde is an ugly gentleman with a terrible personality, and Utterson doesn't understand why Jekyll is friends with this strange guy. At the end of the book, Utterson discovers that Jekyll and Hyde and one and the same, and the mystery surrounding the two distinct personalities is cleared up.

Even though I went into the story knowing the whole Jekyll and Hyde situation, I was still incredibly impressed with the narrative structure. Because the story is told from Utterson's point of view, the reader doesn't know the connection between the Jekyll and Hyde characters until Utterson does. This, I feel, was a brilliant technique because it maintained suspense and it keeps the reader guessing until the very end.

One of the most eye opening things for me was the reasons behind Jekyll's transformation and why he kept wanting to be Mr Hyde. Hyde enabled Jekyll to live out his evil fantasies and to indulge his vices without being detected. Jekyll is so sick of portraying himself in a certain way to the public, and in Hyde he is free to let loose and to enjoy being self-indulgent. In this way, I think both Jekyll and Hyde are incredibly relatable characters. We're all like Jekyll, keeping up appearances to the outside world and trying to be inherently good. But really, all we want to do is show our Hyde side and not give a damn about the rest of the world, because sometimes it's fun to be bad.

If you fancy a quick and highly entertaining read, give this one a go.