Dr. Jekyll and Mr.

Hyde, RIASSUNTO
One day, while walking with a friend, lawyer Utterson hears an episode about an evil individual
named Edward Hyde. The thing that worries the lawyer most is that, apparently, Hyde has the
trust and protection of his friend Henry Jekyll, a well-known and good-looking doctor. Not
understanding what Jekyll may have in common with an ugly and brutal person like Hyde and
suspecting that Hyde is holding him in his hands with blackmail, Utterson decides to personally
investigate that matter thoroughly. After an interview with Dr. Layon, esteemed doctor and old
friend of both, it emerges that there had been a separation with Jekill, due to some strange
scientific theories of him. Utterson confronts his old friend by asking him if he was in trouble and
declaring himself willing to help him. Jekyll shows himself calm and states that he can get rid of
Hyde when he wants and reminding his lawyer friend to take care of his will that he has in custody
of Hyde because he was his only heir to him. Later, after a crime of which Hyde is found guilty, Dr.
Jekyll questioned about the disappearance of his protégé replies by saying that he will no longer
be seen and the matter is definitively closed. Subsequently, the doctor withdraws completely into
himself as if something were afflicting him, to the point that one evening his servant calls the
lawyer Utterson worriedly. The two, after repeated attempts to break down the door, enter and,
with supreme horror, find only a corpse in the room. It is Edward Hyde, dead, dressed in the
clothes of Dr. Henry Jekyll! A message written by Jekyll (and a letter from Dr. Lanion) clarifies the
whole story: the two were the same person, since the brilliant Dr.
Jekyll had discovered a serum capable of changing his physical appearance and his mentality,
transforming him into Hyde. Gradually Hyde's part was gaining power and would soon take away
from the good part of Dr. Jekyll, so Jekyll preferred to commit suicide, killing the evil part of him
with himself.
Personaggi
Utterson: narrator me, lawyer, he is the one who carries out the investigations. Curious and
friendly. Reader in the first instance.
Enfield: friend and neighbor of Utterson; Curious.
Hyde: Jekyll's evil side, which is ultimately about to take over the good side. Limp, ugly and bad-
looking. Antagonist.
Jekyll: Doctor / scientist with slightly eccentric ideas; he creates Hyde; Good, quirky and
personable. Taller than Hyde.
Lanyon: Doctor / scientist friend of Jekyll, but separates from Jekyll for his strange ideas.
Pole: Jekyll's butler, he calls Utterson when he sees that Jekyll is in his study a lot and looks
disheartened.
Luoghi
Closed places: the houses of the protagonists, in particular Jekyll's studio.
Open places: the streets of London.
Weather
The story takes place between 1860 and 1880 and the story, excluding the initial part that
introduces the flashback, I think lasts about 15 months. The events of the text take place mainly at
night.
Commento
I liked the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde enough because it is exciting. Before reading it I
thought it was a heavy and difficult book. Instead it is a light and easy to understand book.
Curiosity helped me a lot to finish it.
Tecniche narrative
Suspence: presence of apparently useless details. Omission of elements useful for understanding.
It disseminates the text of symptoms or indications. Many admissions from the characters.
Narrator: Utterson, omniscient, able to do prolixes and analpses. Implicit narrator, some letters
narrate the other events. Each character offers their own point of view of things. There is a
primary and a secondary story. The secondary is the opening of the thresholds. The threshold is
something closed that must be crossed in order to understand the story. Letters are also
thresholds.
Stile
Two styles alternate:
* a nominal style: nimble, fast, simple and short.
* a style rich in adjectives in the descriptions of the characters,
It is a style that builds a succession of rapid and impactful actions, the meaning of which however
eludes. The style is also based on the dialogues, the dialogue enlivens the situations, they are
fundamental elements of the text.
Temi
The loneliness of the characters in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dominates. This is
the theme of the novel. The theme of the double, linked to the theme of good and evil. Evil resides
in Hyde. The good is not known where it resides. The mirror theme is a reinforcement, the
characters are mirrored. The drives of evil are in each of the characters. The theme of drugs:
alludes to the idea that drugs are something that multiply a person's personalities.