The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson about a lawyer, Charles Utterson, who investigates to the strange link that the misanthropic man Edward Hyde has to his friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll.

This investigation begins as a matter of curiousity and concern despite Jekyll's assurances that Hyde is nothing to worry about. That changes when Hyde is seen committing a savage murder of a respected Member of Parliament. As Utterson assists in the investigation of the crime, Jekyll becomes more and more reclusive and sombre as Utterson comes to believe that the doctor is abetting Mr. Hyde.

Eventually, Jekyll isolates himself in his laboratory gripped with an emotional burden that no one can comprehend. Another friend of Utterson, Lanyon, is suddenly dying of a horrific emotional shock of which Jekyll seems to be connected. Eventually, Jekyll's butler comes to Utterson to ask for his help to deal with a stranger who has somehow entered the locked lab and killed Jekyll. Together, they discover that it is Hyde in the lab and they break in only to find the man dead from suicide and Jekyll nowhere to be found.

Eventually, Utterson reads letters from each of his now dead friends. The first one from Lanyon reveals that he witnessed first hand that Hyde is no other than Jekyll who is physically transformed into the other identity by means of a potion of Jekyll's design.

The other letter is a confession from Jekyll who tells his story about how he came up with the theory that each man has two aspects, good and evil, within him.. Acting on this theory, he created a potion that could change a human into an embodiedment of his dark side, who he called Edward Hyde. He soon began to undergo this change regularly and indulge in all the forbidden antisocial pleasures that Jekyll would never do. However, the Hyde aspect himself began to grow stronger and beyond Jekyll's ability to control it. After Hyde's murder, Jekyll decided to stop taking the potion, but eventually the addiction to his Hyde form proved too strong to resist and he took the potion again. Eventually, Jekyll began changing into Hyde without the potion and the counter remedy began to lose its effectiveness until he could only stay ask Jekyll while the potion was in his system. Eventually, he ran out of the unique components to the potion, leaving him as Hyde permanently until he commited sucide as Utterson and the butler entered the lab.

This novel has become a central concept in Western culture of the inner conflict of humanity sense of good and evil. It has also been noted as an insightful allegory about the Victorian Era tendancy for social hypocrisy. The story has been adopted in numerous stage and film productions.

The most famous modern version of this story is the comic book character, The Incredible Hulk which is the powerful and brutishly emotional alter ego of an emotionally repressed scientist who comes forth whenever he experiences extreme emotional stress like anger or terror.