AP Lit. horror group discussion

Rough beginning for anyone else? I didn't really get the whole concept of the book. Well to be honest I've only gotten through the first chapter and the beginning of the second. However, Mr. Utterson seems to be playing a really big part in the book and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are only mentioned. In addition I have the same suspicion as Mr. Utterson about Dr. Jekyll. I'll probably read more later on. But why do you guys think that Dr. Jekyll wrote his will out to Mr. Hyde?


- I think that Dr. Jekyll wrote his will out to Mr. Hyde because it has to do something with the mysterious building. I feel that since it's a horror story that some type of death occurred.

Did this beginning remind anyone else a wee bit of Frankenstein? In the sense that it began with characters who (from what little I knew about the book) I initially thought would have nothing to do with the story, but also in particular Mr. Enfield's story about the mysterious, hideously ugly man attacking a young girl. Thus far the book has much more of a detective/mystery feel to it - it was written later than Frankenstein and isn't Romantic-era, but when I first started reading I was curious to see if the two would have any overlapping themes.

It's funny how this book is reminding me so much of all the other books that we've read... Anyone else draw any connections between this and Heart of Darkness either? When Jeckyll says "Man is not truly one, but truly two?" I think it could be interpreted as literal - that there actually two different people within everyone, or more the figurative, Heart of Darkness approach that within every normal person lives evil and sometimes that evil, such as with Kurts or Jeckyll, takes over. However unlike Kurtz, who completely rejects social norms and pretenses of civility, Mr. Jeckyll seems to be ashamed of this and try to hide it, as he still cares about his place in society and reputation. Thoughts?

I found it funny how just like in Frankenstein, ugliness in this book seems to be outwardly associated with evil. In Chapter 2 Mr. Enfield describes how there is something grotesque about Mr. Hyde that he can't fully put into words, but it makes him detest him. I personally find the duplicitous, deceptive nature of evil (how people who do horrible things are often really charming/good looking/intelligent) to be much more interesting and complex, so I find these allusions to wickedness through physical ugliness in 19th century stories to be almost too obvious and somewhat archaic seeming.

Yeah, I didn't really pick up on that until you mentioned it. I do see the connection with Frankenstein and how people instantly didn't like him solely based on his horrific appearance.

So my internet hasn't been working for me to post but I finished the book and it shocked me insane amounts ! I can't believe that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same person. It made me wonder if we would do the same if we could change our appearance. It's kind of crazy to think how we all have an alter ego locked up inside of us. Not all of us want to go around killing people but still imagine all the evil you would do if you could do it with an alter ego.

I really think the book showed a good representation of human nature, how we all want to maintain a positive imagine for everyone to see but locked inside are suppressed evil feelings dying to get out.

Oh, So what about Mr. Utterson? Even though he was suppose to have a professional relationship with Dr. Jekyll, he seemed wicked involved with his life. It was a little weird to me.

And what about that house? It mirrored Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll who was seen as ,for a lack of a better word, "good" lived in a nice house while Mr. Hyde who was "bad" lived in a run down place. The house were both judged based on appearance just like the characters were.