Book Review: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Strange Tales by Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) wrote several “weird” stories as well as adventure tales like Treasure Island. This volume collects five of them.
“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” starts us off with the adventures of Mr. Utterson, attorney at law. A respectable lawyer, he’s concerned about the fact that his old friend Dr. Henry Jekyll has recently changed his will to name a Edward Hyde as his heir in case of the chemist’s death…or disappearance. Especially since all he hears of this Hyde fellow is disturbing, suggesting the man is evil.
Utterson and Jekyll’s mutual friend Dr. Lanyon may know something, but he’s not willing to discuss it, beyond that he and Jekyll have had a falling out.
Eventually, Mr. Hyde becomes a known murderer, and Dr. Jekyll claims to have cut ties with him, but it’s soon clear that things are worse than ever. Finally, Utterson forces the issue, and learns the hideous truth.
Of course, unless you have come to this blog by a very peculiar set of circumstances, you already know what’s up. There was both good and evil in Henry Jekyll, and he wanted to separate them out, starting with an all-evil version of himself, which became Edward Hyde. At first this was freeing, allowing Hyde to enjoy all his brutish impulses without affecting Jekyll’s tender conscience, but too late the scientist realizes that his “evil side” is a part of him that doesn’t go away so easily.
Content note: cruelty to children, suicide.
There have been many adaptations of this story which don’t bother with the mystery aspect, and the idea that you could separate out evil from good in a person’s personality remains a powerful fantasy/metaphor.
“The Body Snatcher” is the tale of Fettes and McFarlane, who were fellow medical students back in the day. At the time, custom and law made it difficult to legally obtain corpses to dissect. So part of their job is to purchase corpses from persons who present same, without asking questions about where they came from. Which is okay with Fettes, until he starts recognizing some of the bodies. Eventually, the two have to resort to their own grave robbery, but something horrific happens.
The story is told in retrospect, so we know Fettes survived, but he’s become a hard drinker. The ending is a bit of a shocker. This one became a Boris Karloff movie.
“The Bottle Imp” features the Hawaiian sailor the narrator calls Keawe (name changed to protect the innocent), who visits the exotic city of San Francisco. There he sees a very fine house, and is induced by the owner to purchase an item which will allow Keawe to have a nice house of his own. It is a bottle that contains an imp from Hell, that will grant your wishes.
As is customary with such items, it’s got a few drawbacks. The most concerning is that if you die while you still own the bottle, you will be damned to Hell. (Not dying is not one of the wishes available.) You cannot give the bottle away or have it stolen, and the next person must buy it for less than you paid, in coined money. If after you sell the bottle, you ever become discontented with what you have, you will suffer disaster and die.
Keawe uses the bottle as wisely as he can, but after he has obtained his fine house and sold the bottle, he falls in love with the beautiful and clever Kokua. This desire triggers a slow but inevitable disaster, forcing Keawe to seek out the bottle once more. This works, and he is free to marry Kokua, but the price of the bottle has fallen drastically; how are our lovers going to avoid one of them going to Hell?
One of the interesting things about this 1891 story is that it didn’t have to make the protagonists native Hawaiians. There’s nothing in the plotline that requires it, but Mr. Stevenson did so anyway. They’re not treated as stupid or savage, or less than white people (who are haole in this story.) This is, alas, far better treatment than was standard in British or American literature of the time.
Ethnic prejudice isn’t absent, though. What is apparently leprosy is referred to as “the Chinese Evil.”
This one hasn’t been turned into a major movie, which is perhaps a good thing as Hollywood would probably have whitewashed it.
“Markheim” is a Christmas story, in the great British tradition of spooky holiday tales. The title character murders a pawnbroker on Christmas morning in an effort to steal his money. While he’s looking for the cash, Markheim is confronted by a fellow who may be the Devil, who offers to help. They fall into a dialogue about good and evil, and whether it’s possible for humans to choose their fate. Perhaps it is impossible for Markheim to make a permanent reformation, but just maybe his will not to fall further evil will be enough.
This is my least favorite of the complete stories.
“Weir of Hermiston” is strange primarily because it’s only the first half of a novel, left unfinished at Stevenson’s death. There are hints that something eerie was about to occur, but the finished portion is a biography of Archie Weir, who becomes “laird” of Hermiston, an estate in the Border Counties of Scotland.
His father is a hanging judge, and Archie makes the mistake of coming out against capital punishment in public. This removes his chances of becoming a lawyer, and so he’s exiled to their country estate to do the best he can to manage it. Archie meets and falls for his cousin by marriage, Christina “Kirstie” Elliott, but their courtship is secret.
Archie’s classmate from law school, Frank Innes, runs into some financial difficulties and invites himself to a long stay at Hermiston. His loose tongue and prying nature precipitate a crisis in Archie and Christina’s relationship. From the prologue, it’s believed “Francie” became a ghost, but just how that might have happened we will never know.
This one is difficult to read, as there’s considerable use of Scots dialect, broadly in the dialogue, but some in the narration as well.
The pace is rather slow, with the various characters being developed as having both good and ill personality traits, which make navigating their relationships with others tricky. It touches on the marauding Borderers as being both criminals and yet a source of pride for their descendants.
It’s an interesting start, but not recommended for people who want satisfying conclusions.
Overall, this is a set of good stories that mostly can be found elsewhere–you might not otherwise find a good reprint of “Weir”. Recommended to Stevenson fans.
Let’s have that Karloff movie trailer!
