Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (Английская Литература)

Last month I read a book that I assume most of you have heard of. It is “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson. 

First of all, I'd like to tell you some information about the author. I have no doubt you've heard about him at least at the 8th grade when we had a lesson where we discussed Treasure Island, one of Stevenson's most famous works. But, if you don't remember or haven't even heard anything about him, Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist and travel writer. He was born in 1850 and died in 1894. Stevenson was famous during his lifetime, and now he is the 26th most translated author in the world (according to The Index Translationum - UNESCO's database of book translations).

So now let's pass over to the story.

As I recall, we already discussed this book at one of our reading conferences in the previous years, so I will try to tell you the plot very briefly.  

The story tells us about a lawyer, named Mr Utterson, who investigates the relationship between his friend Dr Jekyll and a suspicious Mr Hyde. The reason for Utterson to do such an investigation was Dr Jekyll's will, which says that in case of his death or disappearance, all his property goes to Mr Hyde. This Mr Hyde, as I said, appears very suspicious, so even his look makes you feel like you shouldn't trust this person. However, for some reason Dr Jekyll protects Mr Hyde even after he commits a murder. During his investigation, Mr Utterson discovers something unbelievable - that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are actually one person. Hyde was formed from the dark side of Jekyll's personality through some scientific experiments, carried out by Dr Jekyll. 

Therefore, Hyde is like the reflection of all the darkness inside Dr Jekyll. Jekyll himself can not be called an evil person, he is very respected by society and his friends and this leads us to the conclusion that the point which Stevenson tries to prove is that nobody can be defined just as good or evil, there is always more than one side of someone's personality. 

I'd recommend this book to every baccalaureate student, because in my opinion, it helps to develop one of ib students' qualities - open-mindness. This story gives us the opportunity to learn how to look at one thing from different points of view, considering different aspects. It teaches us that we can't define anything as good or evil, because there are many points to consider while defining it, and these points are often opposite from each other.