Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

Horror · Gothic

First published: 2002
Print length: 256 pagesRandom House UK, 2007

Description

Gabriel Utterson, a reserved lawyer in Victorian London, becomes troubled by an unusual clause in his friend Dr. Henry Jekyll’s will: if Jekyll disappears, his property will pass to Edward Hyde. Hyde’s disturbing manner and apparent hold over the respected doctor lead Utterson to suspect blackmail or some darker coercion. As Jekyll withdraws and Hyde’s behavior grows more alarming, the lawyer follows documents, testimony, and guarded conversations in search of the connection between them. Stevenson’s Gothic novella builds its mystery through fogbound streets, locked rooms, and the social discretion of respectable men. Beneath the investigation lies a study of divided identity, moral repression, and the danger of treating forbidden impulses as though they belong to someone else.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Atmospheric · Dense · Descriptive · Ornate

Pace

Measured

Tone

Dark · Eerie · Suspenseful · Unsettling

Structure

Anthology · Framed

Focus

Atmosphere · Ideas · Mystery

Emotional intensity

4 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 4 / 5
Ideas: 4 / 5
Structure: 3 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

GuiltIdentityKnowledge and truthMoralityObsession

About Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet, and travel writer whose work ranged across adventure, Gothic fiction, and childhood verse. His fiction often places questions of character inside stories of secrecy and danger, testing judgment against divided loyalties, concealed motives, and unstable identities. Treasure Island and Kidnapped give these concerns the outward form of voyages, conflict, and pursuit, while Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde turns them toward moral repression and the divided self. A Child’s Garden of Verses shows another side of his writing in its direct, lyrical attention to childhood imagination. After settling in Samoa in 1890, Stevenson became increasingly concerned by European and American influence in the South Seas, and his writing shifted from romance and adventure toward a darker realism. His critical standing declined during much of the twentieth century, but later reassessment restored attention to the breadth and seriousness of his work.

Treasure Island Apple Books

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Random House UK
Language: English
ISBN: 9780099511588

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