The Strange Case of the Horrors Inside Us

[Warning: this post contains spoilers]

I made a rather sad discovery while reading Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (a title which, by the way, tends to get shortened, but that is what the book is actually called). I realized that some of these classic horror stories have become so ingrained in our culture that we already know them too well to get the full effect of the story.

Take the case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, for instance. We've all come across it in numerous forms. The double itself is a very common trope, true. But I can think of at least three cartoons that I watched as a child that adapted this story. Most of you would likely be more familiar with the Looney Tunes episodes (and, yes, there are a couple), but Arthur and Veggie Tales have also done their own takes on this story. The names of the character and his alter ego have even become so commonly associated with the idea of a split personality that it is nearly impossible to pick up this book without already knowing that Jekyll and Hyde are one in the same. For those who magically managed to avoid that spoiler all their lives, I apologize for being the one who just ruined this for you. But honestly, if you didn't know anything about it, would you ever have planned on reading the book?

Having the answer to the mystery before even beginning to understand the plot took out all of the suspense that would have had early readers on the edge of their seats. Except for the ones who were clever enough to put together the clues in the text, that is.

Add to that the fact that most of what Mr. Hyde is actually involved in is left rather vague, and the book seems to lose all of its horror. Having seen so many versions of the story, I was expecting to read about the most depraved, vicious man to grace the pages of early classic horror. But aside from the curious incident of trampling a small girl and one brutal murder, all that is ever really said about Hyde is that he is free of Jekyll's conscience and therefore able to indulge in all of Jekyll's dark impulses without feeling any guilt, which also frees Jekyll of guilt, obviously, as he is no longer the one doing these things, in a sense.

So he's certainly not a moral man. He represents a human tendency to hurt others, to do things that we shouldn't, to sin. But he comes across as less of a monster than most of the unsubs on Criminal Minds, quite honestly. What is it, then, that makes this novel so pivotal to the Gothic horror genre?

Interestingly, it is actually the vagueness surrounding Mr. Hyde's character. Stevenson gives us very little idea what Hyde actually indulges in during his late-night escapades for a reason: he wants us to assume the worst of Hyde. So what is the worst thing he could be doing? That all depends on your perspective. Your mind fills in the blanks by reaching into the deepest, darkest parts of your imagination.

Suddenly, as you watch the doctor slowly unravel, losing the ability to stop his darker impulses from taking over, your brain makes him into the most twisted image of humanity that it can think of. Or at least, that's the idea.

And while that is horrific, I believe there's a secondary -- and perhaps unintentional -- horror that one experiences when their imagination is allowed to run wild in this way. And that is the horror of realizing how twisted our own minds might truly be. If that is what you think of when you imagine an evil counterpart, then one has to wonder, is that what you would become in this situation? Would you be capable of such things?

By employing our own dark and vile imaginings, Stevenson invites us to project ourselves onto his divided character. And so we now come to the realization that the character is no more perverted than our own minds. Perhaps, then, Dr. Jekyll is meant to serve as a warning to humanity: we all have the potential for great evil, and every time we give in to our darker impulses, the harder it will be to come back from that. And there is no potion or medication strong enough to overcome the darkness inside of us--a darkness so awful that even Mr. Hyde couldn't live with what it drove him to.