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This Villain was Headlined on March, 2010. |
“ | O my poor old Henry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan's signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend. | „ |
~ Gabriel John Utterson trying to describe Hyde's appearance in the original novella. |
“ | Lanyon, you remember your vows. What follows is under the seal of our profession. And now, you who have so long been bound to the most narrow and material views, you who have denied the virtue of transcendental medicine, you who have derided your superiors - behold! | „ |
~ Hyde to Lanyon before drinking Jekyll's potion. |
“ | I feel I'll live on forever! With Satan himself by my side! And I'll show the world that tonight and forever, the name to remember's the name Edward Hyde! | „ |
~ Mr. Edward Hyde singing "Alive" in the musical adaptation. |
Doctor Henry Jekyll, also known as Edward Hyde, is the titular main antagonist of the 1886 gothic novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by the late Robert Louis Stevenson. Over the course of the novel, Jekyll transforms into Hyde in order to keep his good and evil personalities separate, only to find himself addicted to the potion as Hyde slowly overtakes him.
He has since been the subject of many films, and was prominently featured in the first two volumes of The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, a graphic novel by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill.
Personality[]
Unlike in many other adaptations, Hyde is originally portrayed as just an extension of Henry Jekyll. Jekyll is largely aware of his actions as Hyde, and Hyde is merely Jekyll relieved of consequence and responsibility and thus acting out compulsively after years of repression in a high-society life. Jekyll alludes to having to repress certain base desires all his life, and so as Hyde - no longer being bound to them he acts on even his slightest whims as a form of ego cleansing/stress-relief. Because of Jekyll's repressed life, what he is repressing has often been debated among academics and has ranged from toxic masculinity, to homosexuality, to deep-seeded psychosis; The actual text is ambiguous, only stating Jekyll has some in-born preferences he knew he could never act on.
Whatever Jekyll's issues, he has been repressing them so long, Hyde almost seems like another person to him who he can live an escapist life through. Hyde is anti-social, dislikes children, has a short-temper, and is prone to sadism. The final days of his life are not Hyde trying to assert himself over Jekyll but rather Jekyll becoming so prone to indulging himself through Hyde he can no long subconsciously form a distinction between himself and his alter-ego. The point of the book is that despite someone like Jekyll's best efforts, Hyde could never be an alternate personality, just his true self coming out more and more once indulged until Jekyll suffers a major identity crisis in losing the veneer of respectability Hyde hid behind.
Biography[]
In the original novella, Hyde is described as "pale and dwarfish", and has rough, corded hands. Everyone who sees him describes him as giving an impression of ugliness, although he is not physically deformed. Hyde was created out of an experiment by Dr. Henry Jekyll, who wanted to live a wild and carefree existence without losing his respectability, so he decided to unleash his darker side. He created a potion, that allowed this to happen, and he named his new face Edward Hyde. Hyde was shorter than Jekyll because he had yet to exercise the evil in his soul.
For a time after this, Jekyll is a respectable doctor by day, then uses the potion to become Hyde and live a life of debauchery and excess by night. However, the more Jekyll used the formula, the more difficult it was to control his impulsive actions. One night, he trampled a small child who had bumped into him in the street. About a year after that, something worse occurred: As Hyde, without provocation, savagely beat an old Member of Parliament named Sir Danvers Carew to death with his cane and feet. After this incident, Jekyll determined never to use the potion again. However, Jekyll began to transform without even taking the potion, and he had to brew more antidotes to change back into himself.
When Jekyll ran out of his first batch of ingredients, he tried to procure more to brew the antidote again, but he couldn't reproduce it exactly. For several weeks, Jekyll had to live in seclusion in his laboratory, since he was stuck as Edward Hyde, a wanted criminal. Unable to go on, he wrote a letter confessing his double life as Hyde and the murder of Danvers Carew. Afterward, he brewed a bottle of poison and died on consumption to avoid punishment.
Powers and Abilities[]
Hyde is said to be much stronger than Jekyll, as the formula used to induce him was originally supposed to be a vitamin tonic. The limits of his strength are ambiguous but he can very easily throw other people of the same height and weight aside without slowing down and in a fit of rage he can casually break furniture. Hyde is said to be in his mid-20s, which is substantially younger than Jekyll who is over 50 - Jekyll's explanation for this is that Hyde is a part of himself he has only had to start repressing for about 20 years, but that the vitamins in the formula might have something to do with it as well. Hyde is spry and capable of moderate acrobatics like hoping off walls to climb up alleyways.
Hyde has an uncanny aura about him, at first it seems he is ugly, but upon trying to recount his appearance onlookers find they cannot recall any actual details of his face. Gabriel Utterson, in trying to ambush and examine Hyde finds he too is for some reason entirely unable to recall Hyde's face, only that it filled him with dread. Simply seeing him induces fear and/or disgust in Hyde; It is implied this is not a physical change of the formula, but rather an innate perception of him as Hyde is an embodiment of all the things those in polite society shun, and so as a manifestation of those traits, Hyde passively exudes a sort of aura of malice directed towards him. In addition to his physical traits, Hyde has access to Jekyll's accounts, making him wealthy enough to indulge in creature comforts, pay-off victims of his crimes to not report him and afford exotic ingredients to replenish his formula.
In Other Media:[]
- Main article: Mr. Hyde (1920)
- Main article: Mr. Hyde (1931)
- Main article: Mr. Hyde (1941)
- Main article: Mr. Hyde (1973)
Alan Moore's Portrayal[]
In their graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill picked up Hyde's story after his alleged death in the original story. In this version, Jekyll faked his suicide and relocated to Paris, where Hyde began murdering the prostitutes he brought back to their apartment. He was found and captured by Alan Quatermain and Mina Murray, and sent to Paris by the British Secret Service to recruit him for a special team. This version of Hyde is far taller than Jekyll, who plays a smaller part in this story. Hyde explains this in the second volume, stating that as Jekyll lost any assertiveness, Hyde lost all restraints.
In the second volume of the story, Hyde even exhibits certain noble characteristics. He forms a bond with Mina, and when Hawley Griffin, better known as the Invisible Man, betrays the team and humanity itself to the Martians and assaults and nearly kills her, Hyde seeks violent revenge. Hyde could actually see Griffin through the use of infrared vision (which he cleverly kept a secret), and he beat, raped, and murdered him (ironic, as Hawley had used his powers to rape numerous people before). When the Martian tripods is about to enter London, Hyde distracts them just long enough in order for the secret germ weapon to arrive. The Martians incinerate Hyde, but he keeps them distracted just long enough to save London.
Abbot and Costello[]
- Main article: Mr. Hyde (Abbott and Costello)
The Pagemaster[]
- Main article: Mr. Hyde (The Pagemaster)
Jekyll & Hyde[]
- Main article: Robert Jekyll (Jekyll and Hyde)
Van Helsing[]
- Main article: Mr. Hyde (Van Helsing)
Once Upon a Time[]
- Main article: Mr. Hyde (Once Upon a Time)
Dark Universe[]
- Main article: Mr. Hyde (Dark Universe)
Jekyll & Hyde (2021)[]
- Main article: Mister Hyde (2021)
Doctor Jekyll[]
- Main article: Rachel Hyde
The Evil Within[]
The Evil Within depicts a younger Jekyll living in Edinburgh during a number of killing associated with a Beast. Over the course of the book he finds out that he is the the Beast, and moves to England, faking the Beast (which he names ‘Hide’)’s death and promising to bury it, leading into the events of the original novel.
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- While most adaptations portray Edward Hyde as Jekyll's alternate personality, in the original novella, the effects of the formula were merely cosmetic to help Jekyll separate his misdeeds from his high society life. Henry Jekyll was fully aware of his actions at all times. His involuntary transformations into his Hyde persona became a metaphor of his growing addiction to disregarding polite society.
- Originally Hyde is meant to show the dangers of Victorian values - repressing one's base human urges until the primal side of someone like even the respectable Dr. Jekyll is nothing but a shell used in polite society while Hyde is a true-self that can no-longer be ignored once indulged.
- The misconception of Jekyll having dissociative identity disorder became the popular core theme in adaptations of the story.
- Majority of adaptations even portray Hyde as a hulking being with superhuman capabilities.
- Along with the Professor Moriarty and Dorian Gray, Mr. Hyde had a large role in the creation of the concept of supervillains, especially those of dissociative nature with alternate personalities.
- The Batman creator Bob Kane used the story of Jekyll and Hyde as a basis for the villain Two-Face.
- According to Stevenson, Henry Jekyll's last name is pronounced "Jeekel", with the Y used as a vowel to make the E sound long, but popular culture tends to refer to him as "Jehkel", with the E sounding short by default.
- In 1888, during the Jack the Ripper murders, Shakespearean actor Richard Mansfield was accused of being the killer due to his frightfully convincing stage performance in a dual role as the regal Jekyll and violent Hyde. Rumors claimed that he could distort his physical appearance at will without assistance, but it was in fact a result of color-filtered lighting and grease paint while at the same time contorting his face.
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