I have been drawn to re-reading some of the classics lately and one that I decided on was the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. And this time, I decided to go with the audiobook version of it read by Richard Armitage.
For those of you unfamiliar with the novella, the story follows a lawyer by the name of Gabriel Utterson who comes to hear of a violent man Mr. Hyde committing a series of heinous crimes and is somehow under the protection of the highly respectable Dr. Jekyll. As the story unfolds, we come to understand that Dr. Jekyll has developed a potion that would separate the good side from the evil side of him into two physically separate beings, unwittingly bringing the darker side of his personality to life in Mr. Hyde. The doctor’s aim was that in being able to separate the two sides, he would be able to eliminate the darkness in him and leave only the good. Unfortunately, the result is rather the opposite in which the dark side of him, Mr. Hyde, completely replaces Dr. Jekyll and begins to exist without a good counterpart to balance him out.
Being such a popular story and a widely known metaphor for dual personalities, the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is then truly brought to life by the way it is told. This external perception of the events and the delayed understanding of the circumstances that bring Mr. Hyde into being are probably the most interesting aspects of the novella. Moreover, the audiobook version of it brings an additional element of depth to the tale. Richard Armitage (most famously known for his portrayal of Thorin in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy) is an excellent narrator and is utterly convincing in seamless his transitions between Jekyll and Hyde. Due to how short the story is, the telling of it becomes of utmost importance and is well executed by the talented Armitage.
And while I was reading (or listening) what struck me was the parallel between the novels theme of a dual nature in humans and the way social media is approached. Every social media influencer and their mother will be seen reminding you time and time again just how constructed the world of social media is, particularly the visual representations on Instagram. A construct of the look that is desired and coveted by many and achieved by few (if not none at all). And if the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were written in the 21st Century of today, it may very well include all of these aspects.
Social media presents to you a visual avenue into the private life of someone that somehow has become rather personal. And in the midst of it becoming personal, for some it requires a certain degree of fine-tuning to appear as appealing as possible. That much is common for everyone. However, what happens when the private avenue becomes vilified in the eyes of the public?
And in a way, this separation, or desired division seemed to me a metaphor for social media. The effort that is spent in demonstrating the positive sides of who we are on social media, I would argue, is a very natural instinct. Do we not try to put our best foot forward, so to speak, whenever we meet with someone? Often, knowing the less “perfect” sides of an individual is considered a rather intimate thing, something only known and accepted by those we are close with and trust.
Social media is our avenue to act out this separation of good from bad where the world only sees the good that we want them to see and obscure the existence of the bad, almost hoping that if people do not witness it, it will erase itself. Is this not the very foundation of that which lead Dr. Jekyll to create his potion in the first place?
However, what results is the ruin of Dr. Jekyll’s own reputation as the acts of his counterpart Mr. Hyde begin to reflect on him. And it is this notion of reputation that really drove home the parallel between the novella and social media in today’s world. Reputation is everything. Whether it be for larger social media influencers, or celebrities, or even in one’s personal life, reputation is a delicate commodity. Dr. Jekyll’s reputation was only as stable as his baser impulses, that is Mr. Hyde. And as Mr. Hyde’s violent ways could not be contained Dr. Jekyll’s reputation was put on the line.
The mask of social media is essentially then our Dr. Jekyll, the upstanding citizen that we want the world to see. But if our impulses come out and are similarly caught on video and the made permanent, those take over any effort we’ve made to produce a good reputation. And it is exactly this idea that made the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde so relevant to me even today. It takes dedicated work and effort to create a persona and reputation that we are proud of, but only a moment for it to fall apart.
It was in this realisation that impressed me more about the novella than ever before. Academics say that the mark of a classic is that it can live in perpetuity, that it survives through the ages under repeated examination and analysis. While universality is not something I believe can be truly achieved, re-reading the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde did highlight that it is in great writing that we can find elements to relate to no matter when it was written.
Go back and re-read a classic yourself and see what you can find in it that relates to your life today! Not only a great excuse to re-read something wonderful that you love but an interesting exercise in perspective!
~ S ~
