Resumo de The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

This seminal novel is a much less horrific and sensational piece of
fiction than those familiar with any of the many film versions might
believe. Told in the form of letters and journal entries, from the
point of view of Dr. Jekyll's friend, Utterson, most of the events of
the plot are described after-the-fact. There are none of the familiar,
Hollywood-style elements here: there is no rich and pure fiancee and no
backstreet prostitute to be murdered by the ravenous Hyde. There is,
however, a fascinating mystery, pieced together with great skill by a
master writer. The Dr. Jekyll of the novel is an older man, not the
young iconoclast often portrayed on film. His explorations into
dividing the psyche are motivated by a fascination with the so-called
darker side of human nature and a desire to somehow reconcile it with
the needs of the stodgy Victorian world in which he lives. The
separation he achieves, splitting his so-called good and evil sides,
results in an ever-decreasing control over the actions of either. It is
interesting to note that Jekyll becomes more and more sickly, weak and
ineffective, eventually becoming a fragile recluse who evades company;
while Hyde becomes more and more vital, alive and present in the
outside world. The comparison of Jekyll's compulsive transformations,
his escapes into the Hyde persona, with the pattern of escalation seen
in drug addiction (particularly with stimulants such as cocaine or
methamphetamines) has been drawn many times, and no doubt was
intentional on the part of the novelist, as cocaine and opium use were
commonplace during the Victorian era (a fact often overlooked by modern
readers). Although the novel was intended, by Stevenson's own
admission, as a means of generating an income by capitalizing on the
public's interest in thrillers, it cannot be ignored that it contains a
strong statement about the hypocrisy of moralistic thinking; for in
separating his baser instincts from his socially acceptable ones,
Jekyll in essence becomes two unsustainable beings. Hyde, representing
the unleashed primal urge to self-centered fulfillment, overpowers and
dominates rather than being easily controlled; while Jekyll, though
maintaining his goodness and his moral convictions, lacks the power,
confidence or even the sanity to maintain the beneficial functions in
the world that he had previously performed. In the end, only death can
reunite the two halves of this splintered personality- and it comes in
the form of suicide (a bit less dramatic than the exciting
pursuit-to-the-finish climaxes seen in the film versions, it must be
admitted). Though Stevenson never (and would not have been able to, in
the moral climate of his time) voiced this intention, it seems clear
that his novel makes a statement about the impossibility of repressing
one side of human nature over another. When repressed or ignored, the
primitive urges felt by all of us will find a way of manifesting
themselves- often through violent or otherwise destructive channels-
and no matter how hard we try to pretend we are creatures of goodness,
the Mr. Hyde in us all will not go away. This archetypal truth is made
evident by the fact that, over a century later, the title character(s)
of this novel are still synonymous in everyday language with any person
who exhibits a dramatically split personality- even people who have
never read the book or seen any of the films are familiar with the
names and with the concept they imply. It is an interesting side note
that the idea for this novel came to Stevenson in a dream.

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