“The strange story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Stephenson in brief
The action takes place in London, at the end of the XIX century
Mr. Utterson, a notary, was a self-contained man, taciturn and awkward in society, and yet very sympathetic. He was strict with himself, but he showed indulgence to the weaknesses of his neighbors, preferring to help, not to blame. So he often had to be the last decent acquaintance of many descended people and the last good influence in their lives. It was this kind of friendship that connected Mr. Utterson with his distant relative Mr. Richard Enfield, the famous London bon vivant. Both of them were very fond of joint Sunday walks, for which they sacrificed other matters.
On one Sunday, the event brought them to a certain street of one of the business districts of London. Its inhabitants prospered, so the street looked clean and well-dressed. This neatness was broken only by one building, which had a morose, uninhabited appearance. Mr. Anfield told Utterson a strange story related to this building.
One
That evening, Mr. Utterson returned home in a troubled mood. After dinner he went to his office and took out of the safe a document that said: “Testament of Dr. Jekyll.” According to the will of Dr. Jekyll,
Since then, Mr. Utterson began to monitor the door in the shopping street. He knew that this building belonged to Dr. Jekyll. Utterson wanted to see Hyde’s face. Finally his patience was rewarded. Even at a distance the notary felt something repulsive in him. Hyde was pale and squat, he looked like a freak, although there was no obvious ugliness in him. He smiled very unpleasantly, and his voice was husky, quiet and intermittent, but all this could not explain why Mr. Utterson felt until now that he had no known disgust, disgust and fear. “My poor Henry Jekyll, the face of your new friend clearly shows the seal of Satan,” muttered Utterson quietly.
Immediately after the meeting with Hyde, Utterson turned the corner and knocked at the door of Dr. Jekyll’s house. It was never possible to meet a friend with a notary. Poole, who met his butler, said that he was not at home. Utterson with a heavy heart wandered home, thinking about his friend’s strange will.
Two weeks later, Dr. Jekyll gave one of his meals, which was attended by Mr. Utterson. After lunch, left alone with a friend, Mr. Utterson started talking about the will. This topic was unpleasant to Jekyll. He refused to discuss his decision, asked Utterson not to interfere and help Haida when the time comes. Utterson had to agree.
Eleven months later, in October 18, London was shocked by the atrocious crime, the victim of which was a man who held a high position. The only witness to the murder was a servant, who was alone in a house near the river. That night she could not sleep. She looked out the window and saw two gentlemen meet at her window: one – an elderly, very handsome, with snow-white hair; the other was short and unattractive, in which the maid recognized Mr. Hyde. Between them began a dispute. Suddenly Mr. Hyde went into a wild fury, he knocked down an elderly gentleman from the feet with a cane and with monkey malice began to trample on his victim and shower it with blows. From horror the servant lost her senses. At two o’clock in the morning she came to herself and called the police. The cane, the weapon of murder, was broken in half, and one part of the killer took with them.
In the morning, Utterson went to the police station and identified Sir Denver Carew in the murdered man. Having learned that the murder suspects Haida, the notary decided to tell the police his house. In the room that Hyde shot in one of the London slums, he was not there, but they found the second piece of the cane. Now Hyde’s guilt was undeniable. However, it was not easy to describe his signs: he did not have friends, he could not find any of his relatives, and his features were too inconspicuous, and everyone described him in different ways. All converged only in the sense of ugliness that came from Mr. Hyde.
In the evening, Utterson again went to see Dr. Jekyll. The pool immediately held a notary to the building in the backyard of the courtyard, called the laboratory or sectional. The doctor bought the house from the heirs of the famous surgeon, but, with a propensity for chemistry, changed the purpose of the building in the garden. As soon as Utterson came in, he was overcome by a strange, painful feeling, which was growing as he walked through the anatomical theater to the office of Jekyll. A pale and exhausted doctor assured Utterson that he had renounced Hyde forever. Jekyll gave the notary a letter in which Hyde called the doctor his benefactor and reported that he had found a safe haven and would not bother anyone else. Utterson experienced some relief. When he left, he asked Poole what the messenger who brought the letter looked like. Pul decided emphatically that on that day there was no messenger.
Utterson decided to consult his senior clerk, Mr. Gestus, from whom he had almost no secrets. He showed Hester the letter from Hyde. Guest was a great connoisseur and lover of graphology. He compared the handwriting of Hyde and Jekyll, which were exactly the same, only the slope of the letters was different. Utterson decided that Dr. Jekyll had made a fake to save the killer, and the blood froze in his veins.
As time went. For the capture of Mr. Hyde, a reward of several thousand pounds was assigned, but the police could not find any trace of him, as if he had never existed. A new life began for Dr. Jekyll. He resumed relations with friends, led an active life, engaged in charity. This went on for two months or more.
On the eighth of January Utterson and Legion dined with Jekyll in a close friendly circle. On January 12, and then the fourteenth, Doctor Jekyll’s door was closed to the notary. Poole said that the doctor does not go out and does not accept anyone. On the sixth day, Utterson went to Dr. Lanyon and was shocked by the change in his friend. Lannon markedly emaciated and decrepit, his face was clearly pronounced a death sentence, and in his eyes there was an inescapable secret horror. Lanyon told Utterson that he had suffered a great shock and would not recover from it. Talk about Jekyll Lanyon refused, saying that this man died for him.
Returning home, Utterson wrote to Jekyll, asking why he denied him from home, and inquiring about the reason for the break with Lenal. The next day came the answer, in which Jekyll reported that he intended to lead a closed life. He brought upon himself a terrible punishment and danger, and now he must bear his heavy burden alone.
A week later, Dr. Lanon was gone, and two weeks later he passed away. In the evening after the funeral, Utterson locked himself in his office and took out a letter from Lanyon addressed to him. “Personal: Hand it over to G. J. Utterson, and in case he dies before me, burn, without opening” – such was the order on the envelope. A frightened notary opened a letter in which was another sealed envelope, on which it was written: “Do not open up to the death or disappearance of Dr. Henry Jekyll.” Overcoming the temptation to open the envelope immediately, Utterson placed him in the safest corner of the safe. From that day on, Utterson did not seek his friend’s company, confining himself to brief conversations with Poole on the doorstep of the house. Jekyll was now constantly locked in his office above the laboratory and even spent the night there.
One Sunday, Mr. Utterson, as usual, was walking with Mr. Anfield. They again found themselves in a shopping street in front of the house of Jekyll. Entering the courtyard, they saw that the window in the office above the laboratory was open and Dr. Jekyll was sitting in front of him, unspeakably sad and pale. Utterson spoke to him. Suddenly, an expression of such horror and despair appeared on the doctor’s face that the people at the bottom turned cold. The window slammed shut.
One evening, after dinner, a terrified Poole suddenly appeared to Utterson. He said that Dr. Jekyll had again locked himself in his office and had not been out for a week. Poole believed that there was some kind of crime. Utterson went after the butler to the house of Jekyll. All the doctor’s servants, embarrassed by panic, crowded in the hallway near the fireplace. Utterson followed Poole through the dark lab to the door of Jekyll’s office. Poole knocked and loudly announced Utterson’s visit. An irritated voice came from behind the door, who said that he did not accept anyone. He was not at all like the voice of Dr. Jekyll. Poole told Utterson that for a week they received from the owner only a note demanding to buy some kind of drug. The doctor received the required medicine, immediately sent him back, and demanded the same, but another firm. And some time ago Poole saw in the laboratory a stranger who was looking for something in the boxes folded there. At the sight of the butler, he squealed like a rat, and fled. This man was very short. Poole was sure he had seen Mr. Hyde.
Utterson decided that he should hack into the door of the office. He put a footman Bradshaw near the window, armed with a poker and went to the door. The silence of the night was disturbed only by the sound of footsteps in the office. The steps were light and strange, they were not like the doctor’s heavy pace. Utterson loudly demanded from Jekyll to open the door, threatening to hack her. From the office came a strange voice, praying to take pity on him. This was the last straw. The door was immediately broken. In the middle of the study, lying on the floor, lay a man. His body shuddered in the last convulsions. Utterson and Poole turned him on his back and saw the features of Edward Hyde. The notary felt a strong smell of bitter almonds and realized that the unfortunate person had been poisoned with cyanide.
Mr. Utterson and the butler carefully searched the study and the anatomical theater, but Dr. Jekyll, dead or alive, was never found. The door that faced the street was locked. Near her, Utterson found a broken key. In the study on the table, a large envelope was found on which the name of Utterson was written in the doctor’s handwriting. It contained a will in which Jekyll left everything to Mr. Utterson, a short note and a plump package. In the note, Jekyll said goodbye to his friend, and in the package was his confession.
Promising Pula to return before midnight to call the police, Utterson returned home. He wanted without hindrance to read two letters, which contained an explanation of the mystery. The first was the letter of Dr. Lanyon.
Letter from Dr. Lanyon
On the ninth of January I received a registered letter written by my friend Henry Jekyll. The content of the letter aroused my great bewilderment. In it, Jekyll asked me for two services. First, I had to immediately go to his house, break open the door of the office, take a box of powders, a glass bottle and a thick notebook from the closet and take it to me. Secondly, I must give this box to the person who will come to me at midnight. Jekyll assured that his life depends on this.
After reading this letter, I was sure that my friend was crazy. Nevertheless, I fulfilled Jekyll’s first request and waited for midnight. At midnight there was a faint knock on the door. I opened and saw a very small man. At the sight of the policeman who was walking along the street, the little man shuddered and slipped into the hallway. Then I had the opportunity to consider it. I was struck by the hideous expression of his face and the unpleasant sensation that arose when I approached him. A suit of good cloth was hopelessly large and wide, but he did not look ridiculous. In the very essence of the stranger was something abnormal and ugly, horrible and vile. His clothes only strengthened this impression.
When he saw the box, he let out a sobbing sigh, full of such relief that I was petrified. He took a beaker, poured liquid into it from the vial and added one of the powders. Then he put the beaker on the table and asked for permission to leave my house without any explanation. I did not agree to let him go just like that. Then he gulped down the contents of the mezur. There was a short cry, and suddenly I saw that he was changing, growing bigger, higher. A minute before me stood the pale and exhausted Henry Jekyll.
My life is crushed, the dream has left me, days and nights are guarded by deadly horror, and I feel that my days are numbered. Even in my thoughts, I can not turn to that abyss of the most vile immorality, which this person revealed to me with tears of repentance. I will only say one thing: the one who came to me that night, and was the killer Carew.
A comprehensive explanation of Henry Jekyll
I was born in the year 18. heir to a large fortune, and could not doubt that a brilliant future awaits me. The worst of my shortcomings was an impatient desire for pleasure. I could not reconcile these inclinations with my desire to look in the eyes of society a person worthy and respectable, so I began to hide them. Those areas of good and evil that make up the nature of man, in my soul were divided much more sharply and deeply than in the souls of most people. Both sides of my nature were my true essence. In the end, I realized that a person is not really one, but two. This thought led me to the discovery that condemned me to death. I decided to separate my two natures.
I found that some substances are capable of transforming the human body. Finally, I ventured to subject this theory to practice testing. I made a solution and bought from a wholesale pharmaceutical company a significant amount of salt I needed. In one accursed night I mixed the ingredients and drank. Immediately I felt a pain and a terrible terror. Then this agony suddenly stopped, and I came to myself, as if after a serious illness. I was younger, my body permeated with pleasant ease, I felt reckless carelessness, the bonds of duty no longer constrained me, my soul gained freedom far from serene innocence. I became much more vicious – the slave of the evil that was hidden in me. Driving secretly into my bedroom, I first saw in the mirror the face and figure of Edward Hyde.
Evil, to which I gave the ability to create an independent shell, was less strong and developed than the good I rejected. That’s why Edward Hyde was lower, younger and subtler than Henry Jekyll. The face of Hyde carried on itself a sweeping stroke of evil, which left a mark of ugliness and rottenness upon it. Nevertheless, it was me too. Then I did the last experiment: I again drank the composition and woke up already to Henry Jekyll.
That night I came to a fateful crossroads. I still loved entertainment, but they were not too worthy. The splitting up of my life became more and more painful for me every day. Not being resistant to temptation, I turned into a slave of my invention. I rented a room for Hyde in Soho and wrote a will that outraged you. Secure from all possible accidents, I began to benefit from my strange situation. Soon Hyde turned my not-so-dignified pleasures into something monstrous. He by nature was evil and criminal, and his conscience slept deeply.
A couple of months before the murder of Sir Danvers I went to bed Henry Jekyll, and woke up Edward Hyde. This prophesied to me a terrible punishment. Recently, the body of Hyde has become higher, wider and more powerful. I gradually lost contact with my first and best self and began to merge with the second, worst, part of my being. I realized that I had to choose between them once and for all. I preferred an elderly doctor, unsatisfied with life, but respected and surrounded by friends, but I did not have enough willpower to remain true to my choice. Time has blunted the acuteness of my anxiety, and at the hour of mental weakness I again composed and drank a magical drink.
My Devil broke out with a fierce desire to do evil. That night, Hyde committed murder. Again and again I returned to the horror of this accursed evening. Everything was decided definitively. Since then, there was no question of Heide. I was even glad that circumstances helped me to get rid of him. Now Haidu appears, and he will be betrayed to a just execution. I decided that my future would turn into a redemption of the past. I did a lot for others, and it brought me joy.
Soon I again succumbed to temptation, and, remaining myself, could not resist the temptation. This brief concession to my evil beginning was the last straw, irrevocably destroying the balance of my soul. I was sitting in the park on the bench, when a convulsion ran over my body. I felt faint and chill and turned back to Hyde. I began to think about how to get to the medicine, and eventually wrote a letter to Lanyon. When I became myself again, I realized that a decisive change had taken place in me. I was afraid that I would stay Hyde forever.
From this bottom, I managed to preserve the appearance of Jekyll only under the influence of the drug. As soon as I fell asleep, I woke up with Hyde. This condemned me to insomnia and turned into a terrified creature. Hyde seemed to gain power as Jekyll faded. My punishment could last for many more years, if the salt reserves did not begin to dry out. I ordered all the drugstores in London to be searched, but in vain. Apparently in the salt that I used, there was some kind of admixture, and it was this impurity that gave strength to the drug.
Since then, about a week has passed. I am adding this explanation under the action of the last powder. Henry Jekyll thinks for the last time as Henry Jekyll, and the last time he sees his face in the mirror. I hope that I will be able to save this letter from the monkey wickedness of Hyde. Will Hyde die on the scaffold? For me it does not matter. The hour of my real death has already come, the further one does not concern me. Now I will seal my confession, and this will end my life the ill-fated Henry Jekyll.
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