Changes

The novel opens with John Utterson, telling an acquittance of his, the strange story of Dr. Jekyll. A man, Edward Hyde, has run over a child and for some reason, the injured girl’s family were compensated by Dr. Jekyll, a very respected medic. Utterson states that he believes that Hyde is blackmailing the doctor. The following year, Hyde attacks one of Edinburgh’s leading citizens and murders him, in the street. Utterson becomes involved in the case because he is Jekyll’s lawyer and not just his friend. In the doctor’s house, the murder weapon used by Hyde is discovered. Jekyll claims that Hyde has run away and produces a handwritten note, allegedly written by the wanted man<ref>Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (London, Penguin, 1991), p. 13</ref>. The doctor who is also an eminent scientist begins to lock himself away in his laboratory. One day, Jekyll Utterson who has not been seen Jekyll for some time and his servants break into his the laboratory, with Utterson in attendance. They find Hyde dead and mysteriously dressed in Jekyll’s clothes. It appears that Hyde had committed suicide, to evade justice. A letter is found net to alongside the body and Utterson takes it home and reads it. This letter was written by Jekyll and he states that he and Mr. Hyde are the same people. In a second letter that had earlier been given to Utterson, Jekyll explains everything <ref>Stevenson, p. 16</ref>. He narrates that he developed a potion, which he hoped to control his evil impulses. He had developed a potion or elixir which he hoped would enable him to control his dark desires and drives. Jekyll transformed himself when he drank the potion and he would transform, into a deranged and sinister figure, by the name of Edward Hyde. It is intimated in the novella that Jekyll when he transformed engaged in unnamed vices and crimes<ref>Stevenson, p. 34</ref>. However, soon, he began to transform involuntarily, without even drinking his concoction. The doctor writes that he knows that Hyde is evil and is the embodiment of his dark side. He believes that he is slowly transforming himself into Mr. Hyde and fears that his alter ego will commit many heinous acts and crimes. The letter suddenly breaks off, this suggests that Jekyll has permanently and irrevocably changed into the evil Hyde. Utterson, speculates that Hyde knew that he would soon be caught, and he committed suicide so that he would not be apprehended and hanged <ref>Stevenson, p. 67</ref>.