Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

For the fifth book of the RUSC Literary Challenge, we bring you one of the true masterpieces of the creative imagination - The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, written in 1886.

You might remember in December, I wrote an editorial about a show called Markheim. It was a short story written by Robert Louis Stevenson, about a man named Markheim who discovers the truth of his soul and the strange force that has been propelling him ever forward. It's widely believed that during the revisions of the Markheim story, Stevenson came up with the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

The story begins at the funeral of Dr Henry Jekyll. Well-respected, prosperous, and one of the greatest scientists of the nineteenth century, his belief had been that every man is truly two beings, cursed with the struggle of good and evil within him, and so to explore this theory, he creates a chemical compound to separate this duality.

With no consideration of the potentially horrible consequences, he tests his theory by drinking the potion himself.

What emerges from the experiment is a personality which is the polar opposite of the warm, kind and friendly Dr Jekyll. This new personality is a dark, evil and violent, alter ego whose name is Mr Edward Hyde.

It took the genius of Robert Louis Stevenson to fashion this tale of the dual forces, the powers of good and evil that lies dormant in us all, and the result is so weird, so strange and yet so filled with the eternal conflict of mans immortal soul, that we who hear it stand petrified, because in the tormented character of this strange fantasy, we see ourselves.

I remember reading the novel itself many years ago, and I found it mesmerizing, albeit pretty tough going. However, one of the wonderful benefits of old time radio, is that these kind of tales really are perfect for dramatization!

It's a fascinating, eerie story, but the Theater Guild on the Air adaptation is truly spine-tingling, and will give the chills to even the most hardened horror fan.

There have been several other dramatizations of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which are available to download or listen to online. I have listed the links to these below:-

Jack Benny

CBS Radio Mystery Theater

Favorite Story

Weird Circle

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Australian Series)

As always, I'd love to know your thoughts about the latest book in the RUSC Literary Challenge, so please do comment below.

Happy listening my friends,

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