Hyde and Seek

Authors Note: Who can honestly understand all the motifs and symbolism in this story? Did Robert Louis Stevenson truly write every word to stand in the place of a larger and more meaningful symbol found in our society? No one can be certain, but after several hundred references to a dinner composed of the sharing of wine, the talk of both good and evil, and a coming sacrifice foreshadowed by the heavenly fog that o so conveniently falls every time Hyde shows his hideous face and a chapter named The Last Night maybe he meant something regarding Christ?

Bless me, Poole Utterson cried with lamentation, as Poole unexpectedly showed up at his doorstep to bring the news that Jekyll was sick. However, this was nothing new, every time the name Hyde came up Jekyll's already frail and virtually diaphanous body took another blow and one step closer to an inevitable death. While Utterson hearkened to Poole explain that he suspects foul play, they both know no matter what Hyde had some input into what Poole is talking about. To prepare to see any horror, Utterson's only answer to Poole is to rise--into heaven? doggedly--and throw on his hat and greatcoat--halo and angel wings? The evil within Hyde is so exorbitant that the only way to combat its power is to bring along the essence of the very purest good and the element of Christ himself. Is it only a coincidence that Utterson is the vessel to take on this spirit, or is he truly a walking Christ on earth?