Jekyll, Henry

Dr. Henry Edward Jekyll was an English doctor who covered up all his worst thoughts and deeds. After drinking a potion of his own creation, Jekyll is transformed into the cruel, remorseless, evil Edward Hyde, representing the hidden side of Dr. Jekyll's nature brought to the fore.

A brilliant and kind scientist, Jekyll sought to purify himself from his "evil thoughts." Jekyll felt as if he is were constantly battling within himself between what is good and what is evil, and is pushing away people dear to him. Eventually, Jekyll created a potion that separated his psyche into two personalities. One which still appeared to be Jekyll was a being of pure good with no ambition, the other was a being of pure id, lacking any restraint. Jekyll's wicked side took the name Edward Hyde and began to cause chaos in London.

Utterson's account describes Henry Jekyll as a "large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty with something of a slyish cast." He spent a great part of his life trying to repress urges he considered to be evil and not fitting for a man of his stature, which motivated his creation of a serum to separate this hidden evil from his personality. After his disappearance, later investigations indicated that a large part of the "evil" within him that he sought to end was his attraction to men, which was unacceptable in Victorian society. While all of Jekyll's worst motivations being removed from him by the potion and manifested as Hyde, the experiment did nothing to change the natural sexual orientation he had struggled with for so long. Jekyll had many friends and a friendly personality, but as Mr. Hyde, he became mysterious, violent, and secretive.

A London legal practitioner, Jekyll's friend Gabriel John Utterson, undertook an investigation into Hyde's true identity, which was published in the guise of fiction, thanks to the aid of the noted writer Robert Louis Stevenson. As time went by, Jekyll weakened, while Mr. Hyde grew in power, and even in size. Originally Hyde was smaller than Jekyll, but over time he turned in to a hulking, muscular beast of a man, while Jekyll seemed to shrink. At first, Jekyll used a serum to transform into Hyde, but after a time, he began to transform in his sleep, and then even involuntarily while awake. Eventually, Hyde grows so strong that Jekyll became reliant on the potion to remain conscious and in control.

Jekyll's involuntary transformations increased in frequency and required ever larger doses of serum to reverse. Finally, in 1886, Dr. Jekyll vanished from London after a scandal. He was said to have committed suicide.