| Title : The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Author : Robert Louis Stevenson Reading Dates : 5 Jul - 7 Jul 2010 |   |
Book Summary and Review of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Like Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a tale of a good man who lets his ambitions lead him astray. But unlike Frankenstein, where one should not judge by looks alone, Mr. Hyde is exactly as he appears. To borrow a cliche, evil incarnate.
While most of Frankenstein is told from a first-person's perspective, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is narrated by several people who have either met Hyde or knows Jekyll. If I wasn't already aware of how the story played out, I imagine this would have been a great setup for the dramatic revelation at the end. As it is, there are times when I couldn't help but forget about the ending in my search for any tell-tale hints early on to clue in the reader. There are a few but I'm not sure I could have made the correct deduction on my own.
The battle between the personalities of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is supposed to reflect the duality of man, a battle of good versus evil. If so, the ending is a rather pessimistic outlook isn't it ? Mr. Hyde as the personification of evil may not have escaped just punishment but at least in his struggles with Dr. Jekyll, he gained the upper hand. However if the winner of their battle was Dr. Jekyll, the tale might not have been as memorable. That is my take at least.
An enjoyable read. Definitely should be read at least once. What about you ? Have you read the book ? Tell me what you think.
An interesting piece of tidbit about the story. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is supposed to be written by the author after he awakened from a nightmare. He then destroyed it after reading his wife's criticisms and rewrote it again in another 3 days.
Like Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a tale of a good man who lets his ambitions lead him astray. But unlike Frankenstein, where one should not judge by looks alone, Mr. Hyde is exactly as he appears. To borrow a cliche, evil incarnate.
While most of Frankenstein is told from a first-person's perspective, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is narrated by several people who have either met Hyde or knows Jekyll. If I wasn't already aware of how the story played out, I imagine this would have been a great setup for the dramatic revelation at the end. As it is, there are times when I couldn't help but forget about the ending in my search for any tell-tale hints early on to clue in the reader. There are a few but I'm not sure I could have made the correct deduction on my own.
The battle between the personalities of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is supposed to reflect the duality of man, a battle of good versus evil. If so, the ending is a rather pessimistic outlook isn't it ? Mr. Hyde as the personification of evil may not have escaped just punishment but at least in his struggles with Dr. Jekyll, he gained the upper hand. However if the winner of their battle was Dr. Jekyll, the tale might not have been as memorable. That is my take at least.
An enjoyable read. Definitely should be read at least once. What about you ? Have you read the book ? Tell me what you think.
An interesting piece of tidbit about the story. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is supposed to be written by the author after he awakened from a nightmare. He then destroyed it after reading his wife's criticisms and rewrote it again in another 3 days.
You can read or download The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for free.
I read this book online not long ago-I liked it a lot -I like the prose style of Stephenson a lot
ReplyDeleteAnother nice review! It'd be fantastic for students studying literature at school. I did this book at school a while back, and it wasn't completely to my taste. Interestingly enough, we did Frankenstein a while later.
ReplyDeleteYour observation that they're similar is so true, but why is the school making students study it? Probably trying to turn us all into crazy scientists. ><