Dr Henry Jekyll, along with his alter ego Mr Edward Hyde, is the central character of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In the story, Dr Jekyll is a good friend of main protagonist Gabriel John Utterson. Living in Leicester Square, in London, west of Covent Garden, Jekyll is a kind and respected English doctor struggling with repressed evil urges. As a potential solution, he develops a serum that he believes will effectively remove his more twisted traits. Instead, Jekyll transforms into Edward Hyde, the physical and mental manifestation of his own misdeeds. This process happens more regularly until Jekyll becomes unable to control when the transformations occur. Dr Jekyll roams Soho as Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll inhabits Leicester Square as himself.
Contents
Fictional character biography
Dr Henry Jekyll, M.D., D.C.L, LL.D., F.R.S., etc. is a doctor based in the fashionable Soho district of London who feels that he is battling between the benevolence and malevolence within himself. He spends his life trying to repress evil urges that are not fitting for a man of his profession. Jekyll develops a potion in an attempt to mask this hidden evil. However, in doing so, Jekyll transforms into a younger and more hideous humanoid. Jekyll decides to take advantage of this, naming this transformation of his "Edward Hyde" and uses his new persona to act out his hidden desires free of consequences while keeping his social status as Jekyll. As Jekyll continues taking the potion, Hyde grows in power and eventually manifests whenever Henry Jekyll shows signs of physical or moral weakness, no longer needing the potion to transform.
Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde does, generally saying that it is something of an evil and lustful nature. Thus, in the context of the times, it is abhorrent to Victorian religious morality, potentially including engaging with prostitutes or buggery. However, it is Hyde's violent activities that seem to give him the most thrills, driving him to attack and murder Sir Danvers Carew without apparent reason, making him a hunted outlaw throughout England. Carew was a client of Gabriel Utterson, Jekyll's lawyer and friend, who is concerned by Hyde's history of violence and the fact that Jekyll changed his will, leaving everything to Hyde. Dr Hastie Lanyon, a mutual acquaintance of Jekyll and Utterson, dies of shock after receiving information relating to Jekyll. Before his death, Lanyon gives Utterson a letter to be opened only after Jekyll's death or disappearance.
When Jekyll refuses to leave his lab for weeks, Utterson and Jekyll's butler Mr Poole break into the lab. Inside, they find the body of Hyde wearing Jekyll's clothes and apparently dead from suicide. They find also a letter from Jekyll to Utterson promising to explain the entire mystery. Utterson takes the document home where he first reads Lanyon's letter and then Jekyll's.
The first reveals that Lanyon's deterioration and eventual death resulted from seeing Jekyll drinking a serum or potion and subsequently turning into Hyde. The second letter explains that Jekyll, having previously indulged unstated vices (and with it the fear that discovery would lead to his losing his social position), found a way to transform himself and thereby indulge his vices without fear of detection. But as Jekyll used Hyde to act out his desires more and more, he effectively became a sociopath — evil, violent, self-indulgent, and utterly uncaring to anyone but himself. Initially, Jekyll was able to control the transformations, but later, he became Hyde involuntarily in his sleep.
At this point, Jekyll resolved to cease becoming Hyde. One night however, the urge gripped him too strongly. After the transformation, he immediately rushed out and violently killed Carew. Horrified, Jekyll tried more adamantly to stop the transformations as now his scapegoat was no longer safe. For a time, he proved successful by engaging in philanthropic work. One day at a park, he considered how good a person he had become as a result of his deeds (in comparison to others), believing himself redeemed. However, before he completed his line of thought, he looked down at his hands and realized that he had suddenly transformed once again into Hyde. This was the first time that an involuntary metamorphosis had happened in waking hours.
Far from his laboratory and hunted by the police as a murderer, Hyde needed help to avoid being caught. He wrote to Lanyon (in Jekyll's hand) asking his friend to retrieve the contents of a cabinet in his laboratory and to meet him at midnight at Lanyon's home in Cavendish Square. In Lanyon's presence, Hyde mixed the potion and transformed back to Jekyll - ultimately leading to Lanyon's death. Meanwhile, Jekyll returned to his home only to find himself ever more helpless and trapped as the transformations increased in frequency and necessitated even larger doses of potion in order to reverse them.
Eventually, the stock of ingredients from which Jekyll had been preparing the potion ran low, and subsequent batches prepared by Dr Jekyll from renewed stocks failed to produce the transformation. Jekyll speculated that the one essential ingredient that made the original potion work (a chemical salt) must have itself been contaminated. After sending Poole to one chemist after another to purchase the chemical salt that was running low only to find it would not work, he assumed that subsequent supplies all lacked the essential ingredient that made the potion successful for his experiments. His ability to change back from Hyde into Jekyll had slowly vanished in consequence. Jekyll wrote that even as he composed his letter, he knew that he would soon become Hyde permanently, having used the last of this salt and he wondered if Hyde would face execution for his crimes or choose to kill himself. Jekyll noted that in either case, the end of his letter marked the end of his life. He ended the letter saying "I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end". With these words, both the document and the novella come to a close.
The original pronunciation of "Jekyll", as used in Stevenson's native Scotland, rhymed with "treacle", thus ().
Adaptations
While there are adaptations of the book, this section depicts notable portrayals of the character in different media:
Television
Dr Jekyll appeared in some of Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated shorts.
Dr Jerkyl's Hide (1954) features Sylvester turning into a Hyde-like cat upon ingesting the formula which he mistook for soda pop where he attacks Spike the Bulldog and Chester the Terrier.
Hyde and Hare (1955) depicts Dr Jekyll (voiced by Mel Blanc) bringing Bugs Bunny to his apartment. When Dr Jekyll drinks his formula, he becomes Mr Hyde who is depicted with green skin and red eyes. Toward the end of the short, Bugs Bunny drinks the formula and transforms into a Hyde-like rabbit.
In Hyde and Go Tweet (1960), Dr Jekyll drinks a formula that turns himself into Mr Hyde. The commotion wakes Sylvester, who then sees Hyde revert to the form of Jekyll. Tweety later exposes himself to Dr Jekyll's formula and he becomes a Hyde-like canary.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde appear in Climax! episode "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde". Hosted by Bill Lundigan, this episode was originally aired on 28 July 1955 (Season 1 Episode 34). The story was adapted for television by Gore Vidal.
The Scooby-Doo, Where are You! episode "Nowhere to Hyde" features the Ghost of Mr Hyde (voiced by John Stephenson) who is committing jewelry store robberies and one of the suspects is a descendant of Dr Jekyll.
In the Dynomutt, Dog Wonder episode "Everyone Hyde!", the criminal Willie the Weasel (voiced by Henry Corden) creates a similar formula (which is related to Dr Jekyll's formula) that turns him into Mr Hyde.
The grandson of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is featured in The Comic Strip segment "The Mini Monsters" voiced by Bob McFadden. He works as the camp physician at Camp Mini-Mon. When Dr Jekyll goes into a room to get something for his patients, Mr Hyde comes out with the item in question. When Mr Hyde goes back into the room, Dr Jekyll comes back out. Dr Jekyll considers Mr Hyde to be his "partner".
Film
Fredric March played Jekyll and Hyde in the 1931 film adaptation of the novel, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde appear as the antagonists in the 1953 short film Spooks! starring The Three Stooges. Here, the duo are two separate characters. This Dr Jekyll is a mad scientist who kidnaps a woman to transplant her brain with that of a gorilla while Mr Hyde is his assistant. Dr Jekyll was portrayed by Philip Van Zandt while Mr Hyde was portrayed by Tom Kennedy.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde appear in Mad Monster Party?, voiced by Allen Swift. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde appear as guests at a party thrown by Baron Boris von Frankenstein at his castle on the Isle of Evil. Dr Jekyll keeps his elixir in his cane whenever he wants to turn into Mr Hyde. Also, Dr Jekyll's cane doubles as an umbrella as seen when Mr Hyde uses it to keep the sleeping Creature from spewing water onto him at night.
Bernie Casey played a blaxploitation version of Jekyll and Hyde in Dr Black, Mr Hyde.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde appear in Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters (a "prequel of sorts" to Mad Monster Party?), voiced again by Allen Swift. Dr Jekyll appears as a therapist that the mail carrier Harvey visits after delivering the invitations to the wedding of the Monster and his bride at the Transylvania Astoria Hotel. At the end of the film, Harvey visits Dr Jekyll again. This time, Dr Jekyll drinks his serum and becomes Mr Hyde. As the credits roll, Harvey is chased by Mr Hyde who is joined by the other monsters. The bellhop Norman joins the chase in order to get Mr Hyde's autograph.
David Hemmings played the characters in the 1980 version, but instead of transforming into a hideous being, he becomes younger and very physically attractive. Even though he still does evil things, he seems to be more of a gentlemen at times and less remorseless than other versions of this character. The movie was only made for TV.
Mark Blankfield played Jekyll and Hyde in the 1982 comedy Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again, wherein Jekyll discovers a white powder that unleashes the animal in every man and in his case transforming him from a shy and timid doctor into Hyde, a sex-crazed party animal.
Comics
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde appeared in a Classic Comics adaption of the story that was featured in issue #13.
Mr Hyde appeared in issue #4 of Kid Eternity where he alongside Frankenstein's monster from Frankenstein, Count Dracula from Dracula, the Thief of Bagdad from One Hundred and One Nights, and Jimmy Skunk from Thornton W. Burgess' Old Mother West Wind were summoned by Kid Eternity to deal with the remaining Mackey Musclers member.
In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume One and Volume Two by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, Henry Jekyll is a scientist who is the lesser half of Edward Hyde and member of the Victorian League.
Music
The Who recorded the song "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" on their album Magic Bus: The Who on Tour.
Renaissance recorded the song "Jekyll and Hyde" on their album Azure d'Or.
The Damned recorded a song titled "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" on their 1980 release The Black Album.
Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde was a 1980s hip hop group.
The split personality theme – I am to myself what Jekyll must have been to Hyde – is featured in ABBA song "Me and I" (1980).
Men at Work parodied the two names somewhat for their 1983 hit song, "Dr Heckyll & Mr Jive."
Miroslav Žbirka (a popular artist from Czechoslovakia, later Slovakia) recorded the song "Dr Jekyll Mr Hyde" on his 1986 Album Chlapec z ulice
Ozzy Osbourne portrayed a scientist similar to Dr Jekyll in the music video for Bark at the Moon from his 1983 album of the same name.
South Korean boy band VIXX released their first mini-album, Hyde, and first repackaged mini album, Jekyll, based on the novel.
Diamond Rio released a country music version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde with their single "Bubba Hyde" in 1995.
In 1998, the song, "Jekyll Jekyll Hyde," was featured on the TV show Arthur in the season three episode, "Arthur's Almost Live Not Real Music Festival."
Heavy metal band Judas Priest released a song entitled "Jekyll and Hyde" on their 2001 album Demolition.
Stage
The story was adapted into a stage musical simply titled Jekyll & Hyde, with music by Frank Wildhorn and book by Leslie Bricusse. It premiered on May 24, 1990, at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas, with Chuck Wagner playing the title role(s) and Linda Eder as Lucy Harris. The stage version includes several character changes: Jekyll believes the evil in man is the reason for his father's mental deficiencies and is the driving force of his work; he is also engaged to Sir Danvers' daughter, Emma, while her former lover, Simon Stride, is still longing for her affections. The musical also features a prostitute named Lucy Harris, who is the object of Hyde's lust. Hyde also murders seven people in the musical: each member of the Board of Governors at the hospital where Jekyll is employed and rejected his work, along with Lucy and Stride. Robert Cuccioli originated the role(s) for the first U.S. tour in 1995, and then in the original Broadway theatre version in 1997. Other notable actors to play the role(s) include: Jack Wagner, Anthony Warlow, Sebastian Bach, David Hasselhoff, Rob Evan, and Constantine Maroulis in the 2013 revival.
Miscellaneous
The Lego Minifigures theme has a character in Series 9 named Mr Good and Evil, who is based on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
In Monster High, there are characters named Jackson Jekyll and Holt Hyde who are the descendants of Dr Jekyll. They are voiced by Cindy Robinson in the webisodes and TV specials.
In Servamp, a manga written and illustrated by Strike Tanaka, there are two characters known as Licht Jekylland Todoroki and Lawless of Greed (later given the name of Hyde by the former). They have no direct correlation with Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in personality traits from the original novel, but their names, as well as their roles as opposites to each other (Licht as an Angel and Hyde as a Demon) nod to the original story. Their combined special attack is titled "Jekyll and Hyde".
In Fate/Grand Order, a mobile video game based on the Fate/stay night visual novel and franchise from Type-Moon, a Servant under the classes Assassin and Berserker appears, named "Henry Jekyll & Hyde." In most of his appearance during battle sequences, he is the Assassin-class Servant Henry Jekyll, however when using his Noble Phantasm, or special ability, he becomes the Berserker-class Servant Hyde.
In the BBC radio sketch show John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme, one sketch depicts the relationship between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (played by John Finnemore and Simon Kane respectively) as that of aggrieved flatmates. They enter into a tit-for-tat exchange which ends in begrudging compromise after Jekyll threatens to get a vasectomy.
In 2016, BBC Radio 4 produced The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, with Stuart McQuarrie as Jekyll, John Dougall as Hyde and Madeleine Worrall as Lorna Utterson This version is presented as a speculative version of what the original Jekyll & Hyde would have been like before Stevenson edited it based on his wife's objections, and introduces the twist of a third identity for Jekyll in the form of George Denman, intended to represent all the most positive aspects of Jekyll's character, only for Denman to regress to Hyde when he loses his temper.