An analysis of Jekyll and Hyde from a scientific standpoint, Part 1: Hyde’s looks
(A word of warning: this essay series will contain spoilers of the Jekyll and Hyde novella. And mentions of murder and blood. And injury related biology. So if you won’t survive listening to a basic first aid course, read no further. )
This collection of ramblings, that might be called a collection of essays, will concentrate more on the novella itself, with visual aids from the various fancomics.
First of all, Hyde is supposed to be very creepy in behaviour. Frightening, calm, collected, uncaring of consequences. Pure evil. “Satanic”, to quote Henry Jekyll. (It’s Victorian times, of course there is mention of religion and comparisons to Satan and demons and things of religion, but I’ll disregard those, because they are just a part of the time period.)
On the matter of his portrayal as a handsome, murdering, short-ish creature, I have good news. The horror movies are wrong. Looking at you, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I’m judging you for a terrible potrayal of a wide group of literary characters. Anyway. Let’s get to my theories.
As one of our semi-narrators (Enfield, in case anyone is interested) retells in the chapter Story of the door: “There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, downright detestable” and “(…) gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I could not specify the point” Sound familiar? You know what theory uses same kind of fear? Uncanny valley. Robotics.
The Uncanny valley theorem, is basically, that feeling of unease when you see something that feels wrong, somehow, but you can’t pinpoint why. Like playing a computer game or a video where the sound is a few seconds too late or the movements seem unnatural, too slow or too quick. You know why slowly smiling at someone is creepy? Because of a combination of uncanny valley and evolutionary caution of anything out of the ordinary. To quote this article: “An unexpected break in humanness can be an unpleasant shock, one that sets off fearful and distrustful instincts”. Look again at the quotes from the book.
Hyde is creepy, because he triggers the uncanny valley effect, with his behaviour and way of speech. “Hoarse”, “whisperly”, “snarl”, all animalistic, predatory things, and humans were a prey species, apelike beings and we have a fear of being hunted and an instinct of fear of that. As further proof of Hyde’s creepiness, I present you this page of Search for Henry Jekyll, open at own risk. It shows another aspect of the uncanny valley effect: the fear of bodily mutilation, on of basic human fears. Anything that looks not part of the “healthy human being that is not showing signs of pain/suffering/whatever”- formula makes this fear appear.
Now we have that discussed, lets take a look at his shortness. Various characters remark on his smallness, but all the times Hyde is seen is at night, or in winter, or generally at times where its really difficult to really judge how a person looks. And at no point is it mentioned that he would be unnaturally short, just below average. And taking in account all the mentions of a lack of deformity, and that being unnormally small would be considered a deformity in 1880s…. Just trust me on this. My guess is that he’s small for 1880s standards. Okay?. Oh and there is a mention of him being lithe, but very strong. Like bash a man’s head in strong.
To hear it, once more, from the person who knows Hyde as well as himself: “ (…) [Hyde] was much smaller, slighter and younger than Henry Jekyll” (chapter Statement of the Case). And he later remarks that it is “(…) as though the body of Edward Hyde had grown in stature”. My guess would be that Hyde is just walking in this sneaky, slightly hunched manner that gives him the appearance of shortness.
And to end this, here’s a collection of tiny thought fragments:
Quess what? Hydes reason of existene is to be Jekylls freedom, his liberation of societys restrictive ways. But that plus transformation will be another essay.
And the potion will be another one.
And the murder of Garew will probably also get discussed so that I can finally rant about its stupidity. I could murder someone better than Hyde.
The whole book is a philosophical mindgame.
