The Anatomy of DR Jekyll and MR Hyde Done

Rice University
The Anatomy of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Author(s): Irving S. Saposnik
Source: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 11, No. 4, Nineteenth Century (Autumn,
1971), pp. 715-731
Published by: Rice University
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and Mr.Hyde
ofDr.Jekyll
TheAnatomy
IRVING S. SAPOSNIK
Although Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekylland Mr. Hyde

is the most popular of his stories,it has paid the price of its popularity.
Originallywrittenas a fable of Victorian anxieties,it has been distorted
into a mythof good-evil antithesis,a simplisticdichotomyrather than
an imaginativeexploration of social and moral dualism. The story is
actually the most sophisticatedof Stevenson'snarratives. London is the
geographicallocation because it best representsthe center of the norma-
tive Victorian world. The major characters are all professionalgentle-
men because their respectabilityprovides the fagade behind which their
essential selves are allowed to masquerade. The centralissue is the neces-
sity for moral and social flexibilityin a societywhich dictates rigidity.
Henry Jekyll's experimentto free himself from the burden of duality
results in failure because of his moral myopia, because he is a victim
of society's standards even while he would be free of them. Jekyll
attempts to unleash the Hyde in him not because he wishes to give
all of himself free expression, but because he wishes to live more
comfortablywith his peccadilloes. By carefully juggling the literal
and the symbolic,Stevenson details the emerging influence of Hyde,
the amoral abstractionwho takes possession not only of Jekyll'sbeing
but of many a reader's imagination.Hyde so dominatesthe popular mind
that Jekyll'srole has been all but obscured. In order for the story to
become fully meaningfulagain, their true identitiesmust be restored.
No WORK OF STEVENSON'S has been so

popular or so harmedby its popularityas (to give it its full
name) The StrangeCase of Dr. Jekylland Mr. Hyde (1886).
As pulpitoratory,as starringvehicleon stage and screen,as
colloquialmetaphorfor the good-evilantithesisthat lurks in
all men,it has becomethe victimof its own success,allowing
subsequentgenerationsto takethetranslationforthe original,
to see Jekyllor Hyde where one should see Jekyll-Hyde.A
photographof Richard Mansfieldas he played the dual role
in T. R. Sullivan's play illustratesthe conventionalattitude:
Jekyllappears as the epitomeof goodness-eyes upraised to
heavenand one arm liftedin allegianceto heaven'sdirection-
lacking only a halo to completehis beatitude,while Hyde
crouchesmenacingly-hairy,grimacing,unkempt-eager to
pounce from within his Jekyllianconfinesand spread the
fouljuices ofhis subversiveglands.'
'In Paul Willstach,Richard Mansfield: The Man and the Actor (New
York, 1909), facing p. 146. Mansfield played Hyde as a manifestation
716 DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
Whilesuch a view is clearlyoversimplified, it is annoyingly

persistent(muchas the mispronunciation of Jekyll'sname).2
Only a carefulreading of the storyreveals its formalcom-
plexityand moral depth.As a narrative,it is the most intri-
catelystructuredof Stevenson'sstories; as a fable, it repre-
sentsa classictouchstoneof Victoriansensibilities.It is clearly
difficulttoday to detail each of the responsivechordswhich
the storystruckin the Victorianmind,but its use of duality
as both a structuraland thematicdevice suggests that its
applicationgoes beyonda simpleantithesisof moralopposites
or physicalcomponents.Presentevidenceindicatesthat Vic-
torian man was haunted constantlyby an inescapable sense
of division.3As rational and sensual being, as public and
privateman,as civilizedand bestialcreature,he foundhimself
necessarilyan actor,playingonlythatpart of himselfsuitable
to the occasion.As bothvariables grew more predictable,his
of Jekyll's lust, a creature of infinite sexual drive who "unable by

reason of his hideous shape to indulge the dreams of his hideous
imagination,"proceedsto satisfyhis cravings in violence (quoted from
Mansfield'snotes in the HuntingtonLibrary). The transferfromstage
to screen only confirmedMansfield's interpretation.John Barrymore
(1920) played Hyde as the essence of a lust-riddenfiend, eyeing his
victimswith rapacious lubricity.A latter-dayDorian Gray, he is more
Wilde's man than Stevenson's and his pleasure-seekingforays into the
shadowyworld of Soho are clearly echoes fromWilde's novel. Rouben
Mamoulian's 1932 version with Frederic March in the dual role in-
creased the sexual overtones. Not content with suggestive pleasure
haunts, Mamoulian inserted the character of Ivy, the attractive bar-
maid whose charms so affectthe pent-upJekyllthat he must indulge
in sexual atrocitiesin order to satisfy his cravings. Later versions-
1941, 1968-with Spencer Tracy and Jack Palance in the respective
title roles followed the standard pattern with little ingenuity.What
emerges from all this is a portrait of Hyde with a decidedlymodern
veneer: released by the intemperatetastes of Jekyllhe exists in order
to allow his double to gratify his wanton lusts. As Edwin Eigner
remarks: "It is perhaps unfortunate . . . that all four of the important
stage and screenproductionsof Jekylland Hyde were made in America,
where the popular mind is especially apt to regard sex and evil as
synonymousterms," [Robert Louis Stevenson and Romantic Tradition,
(Princeton,1966), p. 150].
'Stevenson's attemptto convincepeople that Jekyllis pronouncedwith
a long "e" [see J. C. Furnas, Voyage to Windward, (New York, 1951),
p. 304] may be rankedwithhis unsuccessfuleffortsto withstandHyde's
equationwith sexuality.
'See Masao Miyoshi, The Divided Self (New York, 1969). I am also
indebted to Mr. Miyosbi for some suggestive ideas contained in his
article "Dr. Jekylland the Emergence of Mr. Hyde," College English,
XXVII, 470-480.
IRVING S. SAPOSNIK 717
rolebecamemorestylizedand what was initiallyan occasional

practice became a way of life. By 1886 the English could
already be describedas "Masqueraders" (as Henry Arthur
Joneswas to call themeightyearslater), and it is to all aspects
of this existentialcharade that Jekylland Hyde addresses
itself.With characteristichaste, it plungesimmediatelyinto
the centerof Victoriansocietyto dredge up a creatureever
presentbut submerged;notthe evil opponentof a contentious
goodbuttheshadowselfof a half-man.
Because its moralitylies at the center of the Victorian

world,no detail in the storyis as vital as its location.Critics,
especiallyG. K. Chesterton,4have been quickto pointout that
the moralityis actuallymore Scottishthan English and that
the more proper setting would have been Edinburgh. Yet
althoughChestertonand others are right in thinkingthat
Stevensoncan no more put aside his Scottishheritagehere
than he can in otherstories,theyfail to recognizethat only
Londoncouldserveas thelocusclassicusof Victorianbehavior.
An enigmacomposedof multiplelayers of being,its confines
held virtuallyall classes of society conductingwhat were
essentiallyindependentlives. In the '80's it could not have
been muchdifferentfromMichael Sadleir's descriptionsome
twentyyearsbefore:
Londonin theearly'sixtieswas stillthreepartsjungle.

Except for the residentialand shoppingareas . . .
hardlya districtwas really 'public' in the sense that
ordinaryfolkwentto and fro... . Therewas no know-
ing what kind of a queer patch you mightstrike,in
what blind alley you might find yourself,to what
embarrassment, insult,or even molestationyou might
be exposed. So the conventionalmiddle-classkept to
the big thoroughfares, consciousthat just behindthe
house-fronts to eitherside murmureda millionhidden
lives,but incuriousas to theirkind,and hardlyaware
that those who lived therewere also London citizens.
(ForlornSunset,London,1947,p. 21)
4Few critics have written so well-with both wit and clarity-about
Stevensonas Chesterton.Yet here he tries too hard to make one point
and therebymisses another. G. K. Chesterton,Robert Loui" Stevenson
(London,n.d.), pp. 68-69.
London was muchlike its inhabitants,a macrocosmof the

necessaryfragmentation that Victorian man found inescap-
able. Unlike Edinburghwith its stark divisionof Old Town
and New, London representedthat division-within-essential-
unitywhichis the verymeaningof Jekylland Hyde. As both
geographicand symboliccenterit exemplifiedwhat Stevenson
called it in New Arabian Nights, "the great battlefieldof
mankind."
The appropriatenessof the London settingmay be seen
furtherfroma revealingVictoriandocument,Rev. William
Tuckniss's introductionto the fourthvolume of Mayhew's
London Labour and the London Poor (Dover reprint,New
York, 1968). Intendedas a guide to the several reformative
agenciesat workto amelioratethe lot of the poor,Tuckniss's
introduction has much to say about the city in which those
poor eke out their lives. In many ways a moral Baedeker,
Tuckniss describes a London teemingwith vice while con-
currentlyresponsiveto religiouspersuasion.Indeed he rises
to such rhapsodyabout its mixed nature that one cannot
help seeing this mix as a necessary ingredientfor moral
reformer and artisticcreatoralike:
It is in the crowdedcity,however,that the seeds of

good and evil are broughtto the higheststate of ma-
turity,and virtue and vice most rapidly developed,
underthe forcinginfluencesthat everywhereabound.
. . . Londonthenmay be consideredas the grand cen-
tralfocusof operations,at oncethe emporiumof crime
and the palladium of Christianity.It is, in fact, the
great arena of conflictbetweenthe powersof darkness
and the ministryof heaven. . It is here that they
join issue in the most deadly proximity,and struggle
forthevantage-ground. (xiv, xv)
Tuckniss'sdescriptivelanguageis strikingly similarto Steven-
son's: in both,Londonis the essentialmetaphor,and as "the
great battlefieldof mankind"or "the great arena of [moral]
conflict,"it is the vital centerof the Victorianworld.
Of equal importanceto a considerationof Jekylland Hyde
are the people who inhabit that world and the manner in
whichtheyare presented.Criticshave oftencomplainedthat
the London of the story is singularly devoid of women
(Stephen Gwynnlikens the atmosphereto "a communityof
monks," [Robert Louis Stevenson (London, 1939), p. 130].
For once it is easy to accountforthis omissionwithoutrefer-

ence to the bogeymanof Victorian prudery.For better or
worse,Victoria'sage, despiteits monarch,was male-centered
and a storyso directedat the essence of its moral behavior
is best seen froma male perspective.In addition,and here is
where Gwynn'sfigure is so apt, an air of fierce austerity
pervadesthe story,a peculiarlymasculinebreed of asceticism
which,like the London fog,colorsthe entiresurface.It is as
if the atmosphericcolor were itself a symbolof normative
rigidity.The men of the story are representativeVictorian
types,exemplarsof a harshlifebestseen in thesombercontext
oftheirprofessionaland social conduct.
The fourprominentmenin the storyare gentlemenand, as
such,are variationsof standardgentlemanlybehavior.Three
are professionalmen-two doctors,one lawyer-and the only
non-professional, Richard Enfield,is so locked into his role
that his descriptionas "the well-knownman about town"
mightas wellbe a professionaldesignation.The firstto be in-
troduced,"Mr. Uttersonthe lawyer,"is characterizedimmedi-
atelyby his professionas well as by a somewhatbitter-sweet
compoundof surfaceharshnessand internalsympathy.Given
to self-mortification he nonethe-
in orderto stifletemptation,
less confineshis rigorousstandard to With
himself. othershe
is notonlytolerantbutcharitable,as he translates compassion
into action. Feigning unconcern,he oftenremains "the last
good influencein the lives of down-goingmen." Clearly the
moralnormof thestory,he is introducedfirstnotonlybecause
he is Jekyll'sconfidant(the onlyone remaining),but because
by personand professionhe representsthe best and worstof
Victoria'ssocial beings.Pledgedto a code harshin its applica-
tion, he has not allowed its pressures to mar his sense of
humanneed.For himselfhe has chosenand he mustmake his
lifeon thatchoice,yethe judges otherswiththe understanding
necessaryto humanweakness.
As lawyerhe representsthat legalitywhichidentifiessocial
behavioras establishedlaw, unwrittenbut binding;as judge,
however,he is a combinationof justice and mercy (as his
names Gabriel Johnsuggest), temperingrigiditywith kind-
ness, self-denialwithcompassion.His reactionto Hyde must
be seen in this context.WhileHyde's grimvisage seems suffi-
cientto alarm even the most objectiveobserver (witness the
Edinburghapothecary),his threatto Jekyll'sreputation,and

possibly his person, makes him even more frighteningto
Utterson,a partisan in the best sense of the term,loyal to
his friendsespeciallyin their adversity.He is the essence
of what Stevensonmeantwhenhe said: "It is the businessof
this life to make excuses for others. . . . Even justice is
no right of a man's own, but a thing . . . which he should
striveto see renderedto another" ("Reflectionsand Remarks
on Human Life," South Seas edition,XIV, 213).-'
Utterson'swalkingcompanion,and the narratorof Hyde's
first "crime," Richard Enfield, appears as a strange, yet
appropriate,complementto his distant kinsman. Described
as ''a well-knownman about town," his haunts and habits
("I was cominghomefromsomeplace at the end of the world,
about three o'clock of a black winter morning") seem the
"otherVictorian"side of Utterson'ssobriety.Yet even their
casual friendshipsuggests a combinationevidentlynot im-
possiblein the Victoriansocial world.Their dull but necessary
weeklystrollrepresentsa publicacknowledgement of a possi-
bilitythat HenryJekyll,for one,was unwillingto admit,and
it reinforcesthe beliefthat the "other Victorians"are very
muchthe Victorianswe have always knownbut onlyrecently
grownto understand.As distantas Uttersonappears to be,
Enfield is the model of detachedexperienceinured to much
of life's ugliness (Utterson calls him "unimpressionable").
Thus when he describesHyde as "displeasing" and "detest-
able," his verdictmay be seen as more objective and more
knowledgeablethan his kinsman's.
WhileUttersonand Enfieldcomplement each other'slimita-
tions, Lanyon and Jekyll reveal one another's emptiness.
Eminentmedicalmenwithan initial"bond of commoninter-
est," theyhave severedtheirbond over what seems a profes-
sional quarrel,Jekyll'smetaphysicalspeculationswhich Lan-
yon admitswere "too fanciful."Lanyon, however,has made
not so much a professionaljudgmentas a personal one; he
has refrainedfromfollowingJekyllout of cowardicerather
than conviction.If Jekyll'sinquirieswere "too fanciful,"they
were so because Lanyon lacked the courage,thoughnot the
curiosity,to followhim,and his horrorat the discoverythat
"All quotedreferencesto Stevenson'sworksare to the South Seas edition,

32 vols.,New York, 1925.
Hyde and Jekyllare actuallyone is as mucha self-realization

as it is a condemnationof his formerfriend.Lanyon aban-
donedJekyllbecausehe was afraidof the temptationto which
he finally succumbed,the offer made so perfectlyby the
serpentineHyde coaxing the more-than-willing Lanyon to
discover"a new provinceof knowledgeand new avenues to
fame and power." A friendin name only,his envyof Jekyll
works in directcontrastto that which promptsUttersonto
loyalty.Like Jekyll,Lanyon'soutwardmannerbelies his inner
compulsions,but unlikehis colleaguehe cannotstrugglewith
theiremergence.
Henry Jekyll,however, is nobody's hero. Although his
actionsare promptedby no singlemotive,his primaryimpulse
is fear. If Lanyon is afraid to admit vital truthsabout him-
self, Jekyllfears these same truthsonce he discoversthem.
Dedicated to an ethicalrigiditymore severe than Utterson's,
because solelyself-centered, he cannotface the necessarycon-
tainmentof his dual being. Howeverhe may attemptto dis-
guise his experimentsunder scientificobjectivity,and his
actions under a macabre alter-ego,he is unable to mask his
basic selfishness.As he reveals in his final statement(the
bare legal term is better than the more sentimental"con-
fession"), he has thrivedupon duplicityand his reputation
has been maintainedlargely upon his successfulability to
deceive.Yet he is no ordinaryhypocrite,a simple analogue
of such other Stevenson characters as Deacon Brodie.
Only briefly does he pretend to be someone other than
himself.Having recognized his duality, he attempts to
isolate his two selves into individualbeings and allow each
to go his separate way. Mere disguise is never sufficientfor
his ambitionand his failuregoes beyondhypocrisy, a violation
of social honesty,untilit touchesupon moraltransgression,a
violation of the physical and metaphysicalfoundationsof
human existence.Henry Jekyllis a complexexample of his
age of anxiety: woefullyweighed down by self-deception,
cruellya slave to his own weakness, sadly a disciple of a
severediscipline,his is a voiceout of "De Profundis,"a cryof
Victorian man from the depths of his self-imposedunder-
ground.
HenryJekyll'sfictionis to identifythat undergroundman
as Edward Hyde. The fictionof the story,however,confirms
the insoluable duality of his being. Each of the successive

narratives strengthensthat inherentunion of antagonistic
forces which Jekyllattemptsto deny. In each, the reader
learns moreabout bothJekylland Hyde. Unlikeconventional
narrativeswhere the action usuallydevelopswith a continu-
ous depictionof incident,the matterof Jekylland Hyde ends
only after the several incidentshave been illuminatedby
subjectivecomment.(For example: the cold objectivehorror
of themaid's descriptionas Hyde pouncesuponthe unsuspect-
ing Sir Danvers Carew is balanced by the tormentednarra-
tives of a pitiful Lanyon and a compulsiveJekyll.) The
measureof thisstoryis thusnotonlyin its characters'actions
but in theirnarrationsof those actions.Nothingin the story
is as singlyfrightening as HenryJekyll'sfinal narrative,for
it is there that the reader learns most about the distorted
mind which released an unwillingHyde.
II
The three separable narrative voices-Enfield, Lanyon,
Jekyll-are placed in successive order so that they add in-
creasingrhetoricaland psychologicaldimensionto the events
theydescribe.In contrastto othermultiplenarrativeswhose
several perspectivesoftenraise questionsof subjectivetruth
and moral ambiguity,the individualnarrativesin Jekylland
Hyde provide a linear regularityof information,an incre-
mental catalogue of attitudes toward Hyde's repulsiveness
and Jekyll'sdecline.,Enfield's narrativeis the briefestas it
describesHyde tramplinga littlegirl. The salient itemshere
are Enfield's unsuccessfulattemptsat objectivityand the
horrifiedreactionsof the other spectators.To Enfield it is
not the collisionitself which is of primaryimportancebut
Hyde's casual indifferenceto the screamingagonies of his
victim.Hyde violatesa normof respectablebehaviorand his
'The narrative techniquerecalls Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Con-

fessions of a JustifiedSinner, with its opening "Editor's Narrative,"
and its subsequentconfessionby the Jekyll-likeyoungerbrother.Yet, as
Lionel Stevenson suggests in a note, an eclectic writer like Stevenson
mightalso have foundhis model in the novels of Wilkie Collins. Edwin
Eigner, for example, discusses his indebtednessto Frankenstein (pp.
161-164), while the necessary integrationof natural and social is of
central concernin Meredith.Whatever his sources, Stevensonwas able
to use themwell.
subsequentoffer of monetaryretributionis nothing more

than automatic.Enfield's description,therefore,accentuates
Hyde's mechanicalregularityin contrastto the human con-
cern which a gentlemanshould display (does Enfield recog-
nize the artificialityof convention?). Thus as objective as
he would be by firstdescribingHyde as a littleman with a
stumpinggait, his rising gorge forces his language toward
the metaphors of "hellish," "damned Juggernaut," and
"Satan."
Enfield,however,is reactingto an action which he wit-
nessed directly.More surprisingis the reactionof the hate-
filled crowd that gathers around the corneredHyde. They
are respondingnot to the tramplingbut to Hyde's physical
repulsiveness.Of these none is more representativethan the
doctorwhocomesto attendthechild.A cut-and-dry Edinburgh
apothecary,the mostgeneralof generalpractitioners, "about
as emotionalas a bagpipe,"he cannotmask a fiercedesire to
kill Hyde even as he looks at him. The first of the story's
threedoctors,he representswhat mightbe termedthe norma-
tive medical mind. Placed here as an effectivecontrastto
his moreambitiouscolleaguesLanyonand Jekyll,his immedi-
ate, physicalloathingforeshadowsthe later revelationthat
Hyde is more than a stuntedfigureof a man, that he is in
truthan amoralabstraction.
Lanyon's and Jekyll'snarrativesfollow immediatelyupon
each other. Both are voices from the grave. As Enfield's
narrativewas meantas an introduction to the dual existence
of Jekyll-Hyde, the doctors' narratives occur appropriately
afterthat doubleexistenceis deduced.But beforeeithermay
comment,Hyde must emergewith uncontrollablesuddenness
and commita murderfrom which there is no escape but
death. By the time of Lanyon's narrativethe reader knows
thattheHydewhosemisdeedshe has beenfollowinghas killed
himself,while he only suspects that Henry Jekyllhas died
by the same hand. Lanyon's narrative is the first to reveal
the truthabout the Jekyll-Hyde relationshipat the same time
thatit confirmsthegrimdominanceof Hyde and his magnetic
"4glitteringeye." The whole substance of his narrative is
meant to carry Hyde beyondthe automaticand ratherinno-
cent actions of the Enfield narrativeso that he may now be
seen as trulydiabolical.If Enfield's Hyde was a Juggernaut,
Lanyon'sis a cunningtempterruthlesslyproudof his ability.

Only after the reader has experiencedthe revelationof
Lanyon's narrativedoes Stevensonpermithim Jekyll's"Full
Statement."That statementshouldbe read not simplyas an
appropriate conclusionto the narrative action but as the
culminationof the multiple-narrative technique.More than
the othernarrativesit attemptsto presentsome insightinto
the narrator'spsychologyat the same time that it chronicles
the processof his destruction.It thusproceedsin two comple-
mentarydirections:a progressiveexpositionof eventsverifi-
able by theirpreviousoccurrence,and an explanationof those
events necessarilyambiguous,since they are offeredby a
man incapable of self-judgment.Indeed, the structureof
Jekyll'sstatementis directedtoward an often inadvertent
self-revelationwhichproves conclusivelythat his selfishness
and moral cowardicereleased the horriblepersonificationof
his hiddendrives.This is not to say that Jekyllis a fiend,no
morethanHyde.Yet withincreasingevidence,he incriminates
himselfas the guiltyparty in an indivisiblerelationship.
He also details the legitimate scientificconcerns which
promptedhis experiment.His error,however,is that he uses
these as excuses, while the reader can view them only as
explanations.Because of his self-delusion,Jekyllremainsun-
aware of the true resultsof his experiment;untilthe end he
believes that Hyde "concernsanother than myself." Never
able to see beyondhis initial deception,he learns littleabout
himselfor about the essentialfailure of his experiment,and
remainsconvincedthatthe incompatible parts of his beingcan
be separated.This,as muchas anythingelse,is HenryJekyll's
tragedy.He is so enmeshedin his self-wovennet of duplicity
that he cannotidentifythe two entitieswhose separationhe
hopesto achieve.By seeingHyde as anotherbeingratherthan
as part of himself,he is forcedto deny the most significant
result of his experimentand indeed of his entirestory,the
inescapableconclusionthat man must dwell in uncomfortable
but necessaryharmonywith his multipleselves. The final
suicide is thus fittinglya dual effort:thoughthe hand that
administersthe poison is Edward Hyde's, it is Henry Jekyll
who forcesthe action. Never beforehave theybeen so much
one as when Hyde insures the realizationof Jekyll'sdeath-
wish.
III
Stevenson'sfictionalabilities are furtherevidencedby his

successfulinsertionof thematiccontrastsinto the narrative
structureitself.The topographyof Jekylland Hyde may be
seen as a studyin symboliclocation,a carefullyworkedout
series of contrastsbetweenexteriormodes and interiorreali-
ties. Like much of Victorian life and letters,most of the
story's action is physicallyinternalizedbehind four walls.7
Utterson'sruminations, Lanyon'sseduction,and Jekyll-Hyde's
deathall occurwithinthe protectiveconfinesof what Steven-
son in an essay termed "The Ideal House." Although,as
WalterHoughtonhas observed,8theVictorianhomewas often
a templeof domesticvirtues,it also served as a shelter,a
screennot only fromthe threateningforces of the new age
but fromthe all-seeing eye of Mrs. Grundy.In an age of
increasingprivatizationit could not be otherwise.9
While the structureof Jekylland Hyde is predicatedupon
a contrastbetweenexteriorand interior,the contrastis never
allowedto remainstatic.The actionsthat occurin each repre-
sent an intriguingparadox: in the exterior,social ambles
and foul crimes; in the interior,elegant drawingrooms and
secreted laboratories.Each division contains two opposing
7Althoughtentative,my impressionof Victorian literature is that it

grows increasinglyinternal. Not only are more novels set in cities but
the action of those novels takes place within interior settings. The
parallel phenomenonhere is the increasing regularity of the box set
and the simultaneousloss of the stage apron. The retreat behind a
frame becomes a physical symbolfor a social condition; the domestic
melodramabecomesat once the popular vehicle and the cardinal meta-
phor,a synthesisof fantasyand reality.
'Walter Houghton,The VictorianFrame of Mind (New Haven, 1957),
p. 343.
'Both Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel (Berkeley, 1959), pp. 174-207,
and Steven Marcus, The Other Victori-ans(New York, 1967), p. 250,
providediscussionsof privatizationand its relation to literature.Watt
is particularlycogenton the course of modernliterature,while Marcus
draws special attentionto pornography.What Marcus indicates is that
the reading habits (not to speak of other practices) of underground
man were often extensionsof social behavior. As his reading habits
represent"a furtherwithdrawal into the arcane," so too the locations
of the novels he read representan increasing internalization.It is not
surprising,for example,that so much of Victorian undergroundlitera-
ture takes place indoors.The narrator of A Man With A Maid wishes
to build a mechanicalsexual paradise withinthe confinesof his rented
flat,while Walter,in My Secret Life, has intercoursewith a workman's
wife in the uninhabitedbuilding her husband just completed.
elementswhichcombineto characterizethe individuallocale,

while both locationsin their necessary union representthe
social cosmos.The resultis a social bond no less indivisible
than the moralbond whichJekyllattemptsunsuccessfully to
sever. The centralmetaphorhere is Jekyll'shouse, with its
sinister rear entrancethroughwhich Hyde passes and its
handsomefront"whichwore a great air of wealth and com-
fort": the two faces of Jekyllcontainedin one inseparable
dwelling.
The paradox is continuedas the action of Jekylland Hyde
becomesinternalized.The two finalsubjectiveaccountssolidi-
fythis processon a psychologicallevel,while the action itself
leads furtherand furtherinto the interiorof Jekyll'shouse.
Althoughthe reader's firstviews of the house are external,
the actionsoon directshim to the hall, thento the study,and
finallyto the ominous experimentsbehind the closed door
of the formerdissectionlaboratory.As Poole and Utterson
break down the last barrier to Jekyll'ssecret,they literally
and metaphoricallydestroyhis one remaining refuge; by
invadinghis physicalsanctuarytheyforcehim into a psycho-
logical admissionwhose onlypossibilityis death. Stevenson's
skillfuljugglingof literaland metaphoric-his abilityto sug-
gest the symbolicsignificanceof commonplacereality-is
undoubtedlythe chief differencebetweenthe original bogey
storyto whichhis wife,Fanny,objectedand the classic fable
whichJekylland Hyde has become.10Clearlythe most telling
evidenceof this skill is his abilityto select highlysuggestive
scenery and to allow its multiplesuggestionsto form the
several layers of his narrative.
IV
For readerand non-readeralike,thecrucialitemof thematic
significancehas been Edward Hyde. Unquestionablythe domi-
nant character,his role in the narrativeis oftenconsidered
the fictionalmechanismby whichthe moral truthsare driven
home.Surelysuch a readingis partial,for it fails to approach
"Despite some differencein details, all accounts of the writing of

Jekylland Hyde indicate that Fanny objected to its initial sensational-
ism and suggested that it be rewrittenas an allegory. Though Isobel
Field (Fanny's daughter) indicates in an unpublished letter that
Fanny actually helped with the revision,her suggestionsalone clearly
pointedthe storyin its successfuldirection.
the storyas a total constructand thus commitsthe sin of

facile separationonlya trifleless grievousthan Jekyll's.Yet
Hyde's identity,both physical and moral, is the pervasive
mysterywhose elusivenessand final revelationunitesthe fic-
tional and moral concerns.WithoutJekyllthere could never
have beena Hyde,and withoutHydeone can neverfullyknow
Jekyll.Thus an abilityto understandtheirrelationshiprests
on an abilityto identifywhat Hyde represents.To beginnega-
tively: he is not the antitheticalevil to Jekyll'sgood nor is
he evil at all. His crueltyderives fromhis association with
Jekyll,not fromany inherentmotivationtowarddestruction.
True he is compulsive(as is Jekyll),a veritableJuggernaut
proceedingon his mechanicalway, but this is characteristic
primarilyof his initialmovementswhen Jekyll'sdesires first
springhimfromhis lair. One of themorefascinatingdevelop-
ments in the storyis Hyde's growingmalice, his increasing
premeditation as he becomesmore and more a mortal.
Further,he is not the physical manifestationof Jekyll's
id too longrepressedby a leeringego. This sexual readinghas
contributedperhapsmorethan any otherto the vulgarization
of Stevenson'sintentions,and as early as 1887 he recognized
its threat.Respondingto a letterfromJohnPaul Bocock,then
editorof the New York Sun, he attemptedto counterMans-
field'sdistortions:
You are rightas to Mansfield:Hyde was the younger
ofthetwo.He was not . .. GreatGods! a merevoluptu-
ary. Thereis no harmin a voluptuary;and none,with
my hand on my heart and in the sightof God none-
no harm whateverin what prurientfools call "im-
morality."The harm was in Jekyll,because he was a
hypocrlite-notbecause he was fond of women; he
says so himself,but people are so filled full of folly
and invertedlust. that theycan thinkof nothingbut
sexuality.1
Stevenson'sletter is a necessary antidoteto a spreading
malignancybut its effecthas been relativelynugatory.The
legendaryHyde is obviouslya difficultopponent.There is
clearly somethingconsolatoryabout equating Hyde with
illicitsex; it localizes one's impulsesand allows indulgences
11Quoted by George S. Hellman, The True Stevenson (Boston, 1925),

p. 129.
withinthe proprieties.Stevenson'sHyde, on the other hand,

thoughless formidableis moresubstantial.His substantiality
increases,in fact,in directproportionto his recognitionas the
essenceof man's naturalvitality.The keywordis natural,for
it governsthe entireamoralworldfromwhichHyde emerges.
As themirrorof Jekyll'sinnercompulsionshe representsthat
shadowside of man whichcivilizationhas strivento submerge.
He is a creatureof primitivesensibilitiesloosed upon a world
bent on denyinghim. A reminderof the barbarism which
underliescivilization,he is a necessarycomponentof human
psychologywhich most would preferto leave unrealized.As
an essentiallifeforce,Hyde's properrole is to act in harmony
withthe otherparts of man's being.The ideal is expressedin
Stevenson'sessay,"Lay Morals":
[The soul] demandsthatwe shouldnotlive alternately

with our opposingtendenciesin continualsee-saw of
passion and disgust,but seek some path on whichthe
tendenciesshall no longeroppose,but serve each other
to common end. . . . The soul demands unity of pur-
pose, not dismemberment of man; it seeks to roll up
all his strengthand sweetness,all his passion and
wisdom,into one, and make of him a perfectman
exultingin perfection.(II, 179)
Yet Stevenson,like Arnold before him, recognizedthat the
ideal of "one aim, one business,one desire" is an El Dorado
of thesoul's pursuit.
Throughouthis writings Stevenson dwells upon the in-
escapableburdenwhichany relationshipbetweenthe barbaric
and the civilizedproduces.Painfullyaware of the difficulties
theirconjunctionnecessitates,he continuesto affirmtheirvi-
tal correspondence.In the essays the expressionis oftena cos-
mic groan: "For nowadaystheprideof man deniesin vain his
kinship with the original dust. . . . The whole creation groan-
ethand travailethtogether"("Pulvis Et Umbra,"XIII, 205);
in the lettersan involuntarygasp: "Jekyllis a dreadfulthing
I own; but the onlythingI feel dreadfulabout is that damned
old businessof thewar in themembers.This timeit came out;
I hopeit willstayin, in thefuture"(Letterto JohnAddington
Symonds,II, 292); in the fictionan unavoidableadmission:
"I have been made to learn that the doom and burthenof
our life is boundfor ever on man's shoulders,and when the
attemptis made to cast it off,it but returnsupon us with

moreunfamiliarand moreawfulpressure" (Jekylland Hyde,
X, 71). Althoughthe last statementis Jekyll's,the sentiments
are Stevenson's;they could have been spoken by several of
his fictionalcharacterswho are muchlike Jekyll-Markheim,
Brodie,Herrick,HenryDurie-for theyindicatean essential
conclusiontowardwhichmuchof the fictionis directed.It is
in his fictionparticularlythat Stevensondevelopsthis double
strain of being; there he illustratesthe inevitable conflict
betweennatural urges and societal pressures,and there he
presentsthe tragedyof those who surrenderthemselvesto
either.
Jekyllsurrendersto his society."The harm [that] was in
Jekyll"was in large part the harm of Victoria'sEngland and
his unwillingnessto acknowledgehis kinship with Edward
Hyde may be likenedto everyoneelse's intensehatred of his
moral twin. The universalhatred directedat Hyde both in
and out of the storyis a strikingverificationof the extent
to which Victorian England feared what he represented.
Jekyll'srepugnanceis scarcelyhis alone and his actions are
predicated upon a social ethic only slightlyless distorted
thanhis moralmyopia.Victoriananxietiescontributed greatly
to Jekylland Hyde's success. The fictionalparadox revealed
the social paradox; Jekyll'sdilemmaspoke for more of his
countrymen than many were willingto admit.
If Jekyll'sfears are taken as a barometerof Victorian
anxieties,then his relationshipto Hyde becomes apparent.
WhileJekyllrepresentsa man "in thepinkof theproprieties,"
Hyde is the brutalembodiment of the moral,social, political,
and economicthreats which shook the uncertainVictorian
world. In his moral role he exemplifiesthe impossibilityof
any successfulseparation of man's natural being. A meta-
physical impulse in a postlapsarian world, any attempted
returnto Eden (he proves) must be made at the cost of
one's life.Likewise,his social identitycautionsthe attempted
impositionof a new Manicheanismbased upon a dichotomy
betweenexternaland internalbehavior.As Chestertonrecog-
nized: "The real stab of the storyis not in the discoverythat
the one man is two men; but in the discoverythat the two
men are one man. The point of the story is not that
a man can cut himselfoff fromhis conscience,but that he

cannot" (p. 72).
As politicaland economicman, Hyde's role is more subtle.
The inevitabilityof his brutepower,his unceasingenergy,no
doubtrecalledto manythethreatening forceswhichwere beat-
ing upon the solid doors of theircomfortablehomes.Hide in
themas he would,Victorianman could not for long confine
himselfbeneaththe domesticcovers.'2He feared "the armies
of the night,"the troops of the new politics and the new
economicsthatweremassingforthe onslaught.Two examples
clarifythis context.The first is Dickens's Wemmick,who,
besetbytherequisitesof thenew economics,findsit necessary
to becomea doubleman, a public and a private personality.
His fortress-likehouse is a singularlyapt metaphorfor the
fearfulmannerin which Victorianman attemptedto with-
draw behindhis solid wall of comfort.Wemmickis a comic
variant of Jekyll-Hyde, for he finds a solution which, if
limited,is nonethelesssalutary.The secondis a commentfrom
H. V. Routh's Money,Morals, and Manners as Revealed in
ModernLiterature (London, 1935): "the typicalupper class
Victorianwas hauntedby a ghost,a dry-featured dwarfish
caricature of himselfunpleasantlylike the economicman"
(p. 141). Few descriptionsof Hyde have been better.
The story contains no descriptionmore precise. Hyde is
usually described in metaphorsbecause essentiallythat is
what he is: a metaphorof uncontrolled appetites,an amoral
abstractiondrivenby a compellingwill unrestrainedby any
moralhalter.Such a creatureis, of necessity,onlyfiguratively
describable,for his deformity is moral ratherthan physical.
"Stevenson's symbolicstructurehas led to speculationon the significance

of Jekyll'sand Hyde's name. A recent suggestionby Joseph J. Egan
("The Relationship of Theme and Art in The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekylland Mr. Hyde," English Literatutrein Transitiont, IX, 28-32), is
that Jekyll is from the French Je self, and kyll- kill; in other
words a designated self-destroyer.The speculation on Hyde's name
has been less imaginative.Stevensonhimselfhints at a possible reading
whenhe has Uttersonsay, "If he be Mr. Hyde,I shall be Mr. Seek." The
referenceis both to the children'sgame of pursuit and to the hidden
beingof that quest whose secretrefugemustbe discoveredand revealed.
In short,Mr. Hyde is very much "it." In addition,his name may be
suggestiveof anothermeaning of hide, one's external animalitywhich
serves as both assertion and protection.Yet, the multipleshadings in
his name remain uncertain.In this regard, as in others,the richness
of the storyis a qualityof its indefiniteconnotations.
Purposelyleftvague,he is bestdescribedas Jekyll-deformed-

dwarfish,stumping,apelike-a frightening parody of a man
unable to exist on the surface.He and Jekyllare inextricably
joined because one without the other cannot functionin
society.As Hyde is Jekyll'sinitialdisguise,so Jekyllis Hyde's
refuge after the Carew murder.If Jekyllreflectsrespect-
ability,then Hyde is his image "throughthe lookingglass."
Hyde'sliteralpowerendswithhis suicide,buthis metaphori-
cal poweris seeminglyinfinite.Many thingsto his contempo-
raries, he has grownbeyondStevenson'sstoryin an age of
automaticFreudian response.13As Hyde has grown,Jekyll
has beenovershadowedso thathis rolehas shiftedfromculprit
to victim.Accordingly, the originalfablehas assumeda mean-
ing neithersignificantforthenineteenth centurynor substan-
tial forthe twentieth.The timehas comeforJekylland Hyde
to be putbacktogetheragain.
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN,
MADISON
"An importantindicationthat pre-Freudiananalysis had already begun

to distortthe storymay be taken fromF. W. Myers's lettersto Steven-
son on Jekylland Hyde. Myers was one of the foundersof the Society
for Psychical Research and, with the recommendationof Symonds,
wrote to Stevenson shortly after the story's publication. Mistaking
Stevenson's politeness for genuine interest (see letter to Myers,
II, 294), he sent offfive large sheets of commentsupon specificdetails,
many of which he wished corrected.A survey of these notes (now in
the Beinecke Library) indicates that Myers chose to read the story
as a realistic portrayalof specialized psychicphenomena.Accordingly,
Myers asked that Jekyll's goodness be more apparent, that Hyde's
crimesbe more overtlysexual, and that all else be in keeping with the
verities of psychologicalexperimentation.Many of his readings are
ingenious, yet he expends "much spirit in a waste of shame." In
attemptingto turnthe storyinto a case studyof psychicaltransference,
he tramples upon its broader moral significance.

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Rice University

The Anatomy of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Although Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekylland Mr. Hyde

No WORK OF STEVENSON'S has been so

Whilesuch a view is clearlyoversimplified, it is annoyingly

of Jekyll's lust, a creature of infinite sexual drive who "unable by

rolebecamemorestylizedand what was initiallyan occasional

Because its moralitylies at the center of the Victorian

Londonin theearly'sixtieswas stillthreepartsjungle.

London was muchlike its inhabitants,a macrocosmof the

It is in the crowdedcity,however,that the seeds of

For once it is easy to accountforthis omissionwithoutrefer-

Edinburghapothecary),his threatto Jekyll'sreputation,and

"All quotedreferencesto Stevenson'sworksare to the South Seas edition,

Hyde and Jekyllare actuallyone is as mucha self-realization

the insoluable duality of his being. Each of the successive

'The narrative techniquerecalls Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Con-

subsequentoffer of monetaryretributionis nothing more

Lanyon'sis a cunningtempterruthlesslyproudof his ability.

Stevenson'sfictionalabilities are furtherevidencedby his

7Althoughtentative,my impressionof Victorian literature is that it

elementswhichcombineto characterizethe individuallocale,

"Despite some differencein details, all accounts of the writing of

the storyas a total constructand thus commitsthe sin of

11Quoted by George S. Hellman, The True Stevenson (Boston, 1925),

withinthe proprieties.Stevenson'sHyde, on the other hand,

[The soul] demandsthatwe shouldnotlive alternately

attemptis made to cast it off,it but returnsupon us with

a man can cut himselfoff fromhis conscience,but that he

"Stevenson's symbolicstructurehas led to speculationon the significance

Purposelyleftvague,he is bestdescribedas Jekyll-deformed-

"An importantindicationthat pre-Freudiananalysis had already begun

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