However, after reading the original version to his wife, she suggested more could be made of the tale. After initially resisting, Stevenson burned the original manuscript and rewrote the entire novel in only three days. Immediately upon its publication in January of , Dr. Hyde was recognized as a grand work. An anonymous review in "The Times" praised the book highly, observing that, "Nothing Mr. Stevenson has written as yet has so strongly impressed us with the versatility of his very original genius.

Hyde was the first work in which Stevenson sustained a full-length narrative that was not only exciting, but also well-composed story with a powerful and timely parable. Stevenson lived and wrote during the Victorian era, when Queen Victoria ruled England. The Victorian era brought a great deal of technological progress and the advancement of European power throughout the world.

However, during the height of Stevenson's writing at the end of the nineteenth century, artists, writers and intellectuals were beginning to move away from the celebration of "progress" that had so defined the times, and were questioning the relevance and permanence of the global domination of Western culture.

As a part of this increasingly pessimistic group of writers, Stevenson based this book on his own experiences. Hyde" by Alan Grant. The article reviews the book "The Strange Case of Dr. Hyde," illustrated by Eric Scott Fisher. Hyde," in looking at the societal and moral decline of the Victorian culture in Great Britain. It highlights on how Western intellectuals, knowing the formidable decline, constructed strategies to maintain the Victorian order Reviews the book "Dr.

Hyde," by Robert Louis Stevenson. Reviews several fictional books. Hyde,' by Robert Louis Stevenson. While I am quick to admit that a general audience of today will have a hard time finishing this novel due to the lack of today's immediacy, I will too admit that I did not enjoy this novel as much as any other story of good versus evil.

I appreciated that it came out in its time; however, I personally look for something more, something beyond good and evil, something beyond duality. The story overall didn't do me much service, neither: I felt that everything hung on Dr. Jekyll's account at the end of the novel, which gave a great insight on the struggle between two moral magnets.

However, to read a story as something witnessed, then something explained, can either resonate well with me or not. The witnessing of madness in this novel left much to be desired, at least on my account. A great read if you're starting on the duality of man. Frequent mentions. REGoodrich, August 10, Written by a customer while visiting librarything.

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Sign In. Jekyll and Mr. Added to Watchlist. Critic Reviews. Miriam Hopkins. Rose Hobart. Holmes Herbert. Halliwell Hobbes. Danvers Carew. Horrified, Jekyll tried more adamantly to stop the transformations, and 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 salt must have itself been contaminated. After sending Poole to one chemist after another to purchase the salt that was running low only to find it wouldn't 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.

His amazing performance transcends the lack of sound, scratchy picture and obvious limitations. He is the definitive Dr. Jekyll and a suitably creepy Mr. Barrymore's co-stars more than hold their own, proving that acting is an inherited talent, not something that is necessarily developed through years of schooling. Brandon Hurst in particular stands out as the upperclassman Sir George Carew. The film also benefits from its strong script and dialog, though much of the credit there must go to Robert Louis Stevenson, who authored the book on which it is based.

What could have easily been a mediocre man-turned-monster outing is instead smart, thought-provoking and imaginative. Director John S. Robertson is to be highly praised. I went into DR. HYDE prepared to cut it heaps of slack given its production date. But not once did I have to award it brownie points for trying. This is a screen gem from which the Hollywood of today could learn some valuable lessons. Sign In. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.

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