Edward Hyde
- For other uses of this name, see Edward Hyde (disambiguation).
Edward Hyde is a male literary character character who features in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
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Biography
Edward Hyde, commonly known as simply Mr. Hyde, was the dark side of the good Dr. Henry Jekyll. Hyde was given form when Jekyll attempted to expell all evil from himself by means of a chemical formula using an unknown and "impure" saline ingredient. But instead of purging his evil Jekyll transformed into a younger version of himself more prone to depraved and immoral acts, who took the name Edward Hyde. Hyde committed many atrocities throughout London, including tramping on a little girl (he was collared by Richard Enfield and used Jekyll's bank account to cash a very large check to pay the girls family so they would not turn him in to the police) as well as brutally murdering Sir Danvers Carew.
Killing Sir Danvers brought the full wrath of Scotland Yard down upon Hyde, and he found himself doggedly pursued by Sir Danvers' lawyer Gabriel John Utterson (who was also Jekyll's lawyer), as well as Inspector Newcomen. To elude them, Hyde was forced to hide in Jekyll, and after the manhunt died down, Hyde began to emerge from Jekyll more and more often (often without the aide of the chemical), and seeing less and less of Jekyll around the house and more of Hyde made Jekyll's butler, Poole, suspect that Hyde had murdered the doctor.
By the time Hyde had completely taken Jekyll over, Poole and Utterson were (literally) breaking down Jekyll's office door, and to escape trial for the murder of Sir Danvers, Hyde swallowed poison and killed himself and Jekyll with him.
When Jekyll refused to leave his lab for weeks, Utterson and Jekyll's butler Mr. Poole break into the lab. Inside, they find the body of Hyde wearing Jekyll's clothes and apparently dead from suicide. They find also a letter from Jekyll to Utterson promising to explain the entire mystery. Utterson takes the document home where he first reads Lanyon's letter and then Jekyll's. The first reveals that Lanyon's deterioration and eventual death resulted from seeing Hyde drinking a serum or potion and subsequently turning into Jekyll. The second letter explains that Jekyll, having previously indulged unstated vices (and with it the fear that discovery would lead to his losing his social position), found a way to transform himself and thereby indulge his vices without fear of detection. But as Jekyll used Hyde to act out his desires more and more, he effectively became a sociopath — evil, self-indulgent, and utterly uncaring to anyone but himself. Initially, Jekyll was able to control the transformations, but then he became Hyde involuntarily in his sleep.
At this point, Jekyll resolved to cease becoming Hyde. One night however, the urge gripped him too strongly. After the transformation, he immediately rushed out and violently killed Carew. Horrified, Jekyll tried more adamantly to stop the transformations, as now his scapegoat was no longer safe. For a time, he proved successful by engaging in philanthropic work. One day at a park, he considered how good a person he had become as a result of his deeds, believing himself redeemed. However, before he completed his line of thought, he looked down at his hands and realized that he had suddenly transformed once again into Hyde. This was the first time that an involuntary metamorphosis had happened in waking hours. Far from his laboratory and hunted by the police as a murderer, Hyde needed help to avoid being caught. He wrote to Lanyon in Jekyll's hand asking his friend to retrieve the contents of a cabinet in his laboratory and to meet him at midnight at Lanyon's home in Cavendish Square. In Lanyon's presence, Hyde mixed the potion and transformed back to Jekyll - ultimately leading to Lanyon's death. Meanwhile, Jekyll returned to his home only to find himself ever more helpless and trapped as the transformations increased in frequency and necessitated even larger doses of potion in order to reverse them.
Eventually, the stock of ingredients from which Jekyll had been preparing the potion ran low, and subsequent batches prepared by Dr. Jekyll from renewed stocks failed to produce the transformation. Jekyll speculated that the one essential ingredient that made the original potion work a chemical salt must have itself been contaminated. After sending Poole to one chemist after another to purchase the salt that was running low only to find it wouldn't work, he assumed that subsequent supplies all lacked the essential ingredient that made the potion successful for his experiments. His ability to change back from Hyde into Jekyll had slowly vanished in consequence. Jekyll wrote that even as he composed his letter, he knew that he would soon become Hyde permanently, having used the last of this salt and he wondered if Hyde would face execution for his crimes or choose to kill himself. Jekyll noted that in either case, the end of his letter marked the end of his life. He ended the letter saying "I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end".
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Edward Hyde was a male human described as pale and dwarfish with rough as well as corded hands. Everyone who saw him described him as giving an impression of ugliness, although he was not physically deformed. Hyde was shorter than Jekyll because he had yet to exercise the evil in his soul. (Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)
John Utterson commented that Hyde's face was a mark of the Devils' signature. (Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)
Jekyll is largely aware of his actions as Hyde, and Hyde is merely Jekyll relieved of consequence and responsibility and thus acting out compulsively after years of repression in a high-society life. (Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)
Hyde is anti-social, dislikes children, has a short-temper, and is prone to sadism. (Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)
Powers and abilities
Hyde was created out of an experiment by Dr. Henry Jekyll, who wanted to live a wild and carefree existence without losing his respectability, so he decided to unleash his darker side. He created a potion, which allowed this to happen, and he named his new face Edward Hyde. Hyde is said to be much stronger than Jekyll, as the formula used to induce him was originally supposed to be a vitamin tonic. He could very easily throw other people of the same hight and weight aside without slowing down and in a rage he can casually break furniture. Hyde was spry and capable of moderate acrobatics like hoping off walls to climb up alley-ways. Hyde has an uncanny aura about him, at first it seems he is ugly, but upon trying to recount his appearance onlookers find they can not recall any actual details of his face. Gabriel Utterson, in trying to ambush and examine Hyde finds he too is for some reason entirely unable to recall Hyde's face, only that it filled him with dread. (Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)
In addition to his physical traits, Hyde has access to Jekyll's accounts, making him wealthy enough to indulge in creature comforts, pay-off victims of his crimes to not report him and afford exotic ingredients to replenish his formula. (Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)
Notes
- Edward Hyde was created by where it featured in the setting of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde universe.
In other media
Television
- In Jekyll & Hyde, Mr. Hyde appeared in the setting of the 2015 BBC fantasy drama television series where he was portrayed by actor Tom Bateman. This Hyde was the alternate persona of Robert Jekyll who was the illegitimate grandson of Henry Jekyll. He had inherited his grandfather's Hyde personality as a result of his bloodline. While Robert was initially able to control his transformation with pills, he learnt about various demonic threats to the world, and was forced to harness the superhuman strength he possesses as Hyde to oppose these forces. In the course of the series, Robert Jekyll worked with Henry Jekyll's old assistant and even meets Henry Jekyll's lover, although his Hyde persona never gains a first name.
Films
- In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Edward Hyrde appeared in the setting of the 1931 live-action film adaptation where he was portrayed by actor Fredric March. Rather than an ordinary-looking albeit repugnant version of Jekyll, Edward Hyde is a brutal, hideous man physically resembling a Neanderthal. Hyde represents Jekyll's animal impulses, particularly his lust for prostitute Ivy Pearson. Upon his second release into the world, as a result of Jekyll's frustration over Muriel Carew's extended trip to Bath, Hyde goes immediately for the Variety Music Hall where Ivy works as a singer, and persuades her to accompany him, promising her that while he is "no gentleman," he is wealthy and can provide her a life of luxury if she will become his. An emotionally and physically abusive relationship between the two follows. When he reads in the newspaper that Muriel and her father, General Carew, are returning to London, he hastily leaves. He then turns back into Jekyll, who, out of remorse (and without telling Ivy that he and Hyde are the same person) promises Ivy that Hyde will never bother her again. However while walking in the park, Jekyll witnesses a cat kill a bird. This causes Jekyll to transform into Hyde for the first time without the use of the drug, and he went to Ivy's apartment and murdered her for daring to seek Jekyll's help. Afterward, Hyde, sought by the police, writing as Jekyll, enlisted Dr. Lanyon's help in acquiring the ingredients needed to recreate the formula so he could become Jekyll again and thus elude capture. Afterward, Jekyll explained everything to Lanyon and promised never to take the drug again. However he turned into Hyde yet again and attempted to force himself on Muriel. General Carew and Hobson the butler rushed to the rescue and a fistfight between the three ensued, during which Hyde nearly killed Hobson by strangling him, before Carew pulled him off of the butler. Hyde then turned his attentions to the General whom he beat to death with his cane. Fleeing to Jekyll's laboratory, Hyde turned back into the doctor with the aid of the chemical. Lanyon arrived with the police, and exposed Jekyll's secret. The attending police inspector did not believe a word of it...until Jekyll, nervous, turned into Hyde under duress. Overcoming their horror, the police attempted to apprehend Hyde who viciously fought them off. He grabbed a knife to defend himself, and a single shot fired from the inspector's gun ended Hyde's life. He transformed back into Jekyll in death.
Video games
Comic Books
- In Wow Comics v1 #4 (1941), Mr. Hyde appeared in the setting of the comic published by Fawcett Comics. This version was a scientist named Dr. Jelke who headed the Oaklawn Orphanage. He came to learn the secret of transforming himself into a fanged monster from reading Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Hyde embarked on a series of brutal murders one of which was a home invasion where he killed the widowed mother of Pinky the Whiz Kid thus orphaning the boy. His actions drew the attention of the masked vigilante known as Mister Scarlet where Mr. Hyde was involuntarily transformed back into Dr. Jelke by a blow to the head. Jelke grabbed a flask of some chemical concoction, gulped it down, and dropped dead.
- In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Edward Hyde appeared in the setting of the comic book written by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill that was published by ABC. Jekyll and Hyde somehow survived, and fled to Paris to continue his depredations. Hyde was tracked down by Mina Murray and Allan Quatermain (with the help of C. Auguste Dupin, who drafted him into the turn-of-the-century incarnation of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. By this time, Hyde had mutated into a huge, hulking brute. Hyde later formed a kind of rapport with Mina, and ultimately died in battle with the invading Martians. London's Hyde Park was named for him following his sacrifice.
Appearances
- Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: (1886)
