Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Personal Response

After I read the book The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, I thought it was quite interesting. Before we started reading the book, I decided to read the blurb to get a better understanding of what I was going to be reading, and it was quite different then I expected. When I saw the title of the book, I thought the book was going to be about a doctor (Dr Jekyll) and his patient (Mr Hyde) but I was completely wrong. I thought the concept of having one person play two characters without the readers knowing was very cool. I didn’t realize or get this idea until about three quarters into the book. I think Stevenson did a very good foreshadowing this scenario as there were very slight clues but it was not obvious to the reader. Stevenson also stated that Hyde was “deformed” and “detestable” which were very smart foreshadowing moments. This concept allowed the reader to have their own imagination as well. Readers could picture Hyde as anyone they chose. During the story, they could continue thinking to themselves: Who is Hyde? Where did he come from? etc. I also picked up on that during the book Stevenson used the concept good vs evil quite clearly. For example Dr. Jekyll really embodies a good person and was a respectable scientist while on the other hand you have Mr Hyde who was a rude man and he only cared about himself. Hyde embodied Jekyll’s alter ego. And the funny thing is that these two people are the same person. This could indicate that all people have part good and part evil in them. Even though Jekyll is a good person, he creates this evil person. Hyde helps Jekyll with the violence needs he has and creates a new purpose for him. Finally, something else I thought was cool is how Stevenson made Utterson tell the story. As he plays the protagonist, the story still does talk about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde much more. Overall, I did like the book. It wasn’t my favourite book but I was still interested because it always had something going on. I was able to stay engaged in the book even though it wasn’t my favourite.

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