Who was the Real Jekyll and Hyde? | Documentary

Since its publication in 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson’s short novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has fascinated the world and spawned countless adaptations, sequels, reinventions and over 100 movies.
The idea of how an apparently fine upstanding citizen can also be a evil minded
monster is as engrossing today as it was to Stevenson over 130 years ago.
But who inspired the Edinburgh born writer to create one of fiction’s most enduring
characters? This video explores the two main candidates for this dubious honour and
how Stevenson’s creation has been interpreted and reinterpreted over the years.
Finding Out More
Stevenson’s original story is only 70 pages long and available as a free download
from Project Gutenberg and other sites. If you prefer paper, I have added it and
some of the best biographies of Stevenson to my Amazon Store Page.
www.amazon.com/shop/professor...
Academic References
Schultz, M. G. (1971) The Strange Case of Robert Louis Stevenson. JAMA, 216(1),
90-94.
Singh, S. M., and Chakrabarti, S. (2008). A study in dualism: The strange case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 50(3), 221.
Smith A.D. (1906) The Trial of Eugène Marie Chantrelle. Canada Law Book
Company, Toronto.
Wright, D. L. (1994). The Prisonhouse of my Disposition: A Study of the Psychology
of Addiction in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Studies in the Novel, 26(3), 254-267.
Copyright Disclaimer
The primary purpose of this video is educational. I have tried to use material in the
public domain or with Creative Commons Non-attribution licences wherever possible.
Where attribution is required, I have listed this below. I believe that any copyright
material used falls under the remit of Fair Use, but if any content owners would like
to dispute this, I will not hesitate to immediately remove that content. It is not my
intention to infringe on content ownership in any way. If you happen to find your art
or images in the video, please let me know and I will be glad to credit you.
Images
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Wellcome Collection
Robert-Louis-Stevenson.org
The Stevenson Museum, St Helena, California.
Music
Dead wrong Jeremy Blake CC0 KZbin
Missing persons Jeremy Blake CCO KZbin
Black Mass Brian Bolder CC0 KZbin
To have to in least Water Patches CC0 KZbin
Crystalline Amulets CC0 KZbin
Joke’s Lair Coyote Hearing CC0 KZbin
Fun House Coyote Hearing CC0 KZbin
Tension Nonstop Myuu CC0 KZbin
Tragic Story Myuu CC0 KZbin
Lurking Shadows Myuu CC0 KZbin
Underworld Myuu CC0 KZbin
Horror House Aaron Kenny CC0 KZbin
The Others are coming Hainbach CC0 KZbin
The Skye Boat Song Llansteffan - Elinor Bennett/Meinir Heulyn CC3.0
Our French Café Jimmy Fontanez Media Right Productions CC0 KZbin
Verdi Rigoletto Ernest Pike sings "La donna è mobile" Public Domain
Reggae Base Line Serolillo CC2.5
Video produced by Graeme Yorston and Tom Yorston.
Who was the Real Jekyll and Hyde? Documentary
#jekyllandhyde #history #documentary

[@annerigby4400]

There was a person I used to think of as Dr Jekyll or Mrs Hyde, depending on whether she had been drinking or not. I am of the opinion that R.L. Stevenson's story is about intoxication/addiction.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

I agree this is the most likely interpretation.

[@jesuscampos8136]

​@@professorgraemeyorstonyup

[@jesuscampos8136]

@@deniseboldea1624 better yet, schizophrenia. That the ticket

[@annerigby4400]

@@deniseboldea1624 What makes me go for the intoxication theory is the fact that Dr Jekyll had to take something for the change to occur. As you say, people with bipolar disorder do not bring on the change. It happens to them, it's not something they do.

[@deniseboldea1624]

@@annerigby4400 Hmmm, odd that comment was supposed to be for the Caligula video. Guess that's what I get for trying to post when I'm tiered. I concur with the alcoholism theory.

[@eliseintheattic9697]

I always thought it was a story about people in general who show one face publicly but become something else behind closed doors. There's nothing new about that, but the very proper, very strict, mannered Victorian society probably hid a lot of terrible behavior.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Victorian London certainly catered for every peccadillo, most of which which could not even be named in polite society!

[@PutinsMommyNeverHuggedHim]

bingo!

[@deniseelsworth7816]

Yes I agree. At least I think that the success of this story is our interest in people who act this way. Human nature hasn't really changed.

[@johnlynch-kv8mz]

And not very well.

[@user-ev4ie2wx7k]

Of course it did, but so has every society since the world began.

[@juliaannegrider5734]

One of the first people I have heard say you can't blame your bad behavior on your medical condition. I totally agree. Bravo... good video.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks.

[@Morpheus1910]

If that's so, then how is it legal to use mental disorder as an acceptable defense in court?

[@Morpheus1910]

And, for the record, I don't think it should be (a viable defense).

[@nian_purkhard]

@@Morpheus1910 you also probably have no idea what you’re talking about.,

[@claudiabothma]

Very enjoyable doccie. You do a great Scottish accent- which leads me to this joke: A Scotsman is taking a tour of Canada. Upon his guide pointing out the local wildlife- a moose in particular, the Scotsman exclaims: " If that's a moose, I'd hate to see the size of your cats then!"

[@Dirty_Squirrell]

😂

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks, I wasn't planning on doing the accent - it just came out as I was reading!

[@h.calvert3165]

This Canuck of Scottish descent loves this! 🤣

[@marymelnyk3678]

😂😂😂

[@koriw1701]

Doccie? Lol! Are you English? I notice that the British are well known for their tacking on -y and -ie at the end of many words. Like "Brekkie" for breakfast and, as you say, "doccie" for documentary! Don't go changing on my account. I find it fascinating to imagine where the suffix will be used next!

[@Hydrocorax]

This puts me in mind of Stevenson's short story "The Body Snatcher," which he wrote two years before Jekyll & Hyde, and was based on the Burke and Hare murders, which had happened fifty years earlier.

[@bobtaylor170]

You should see the movie of the same title, with Boris Karloff, from about 1946.

[@Hydrocorax]

@@bobtaylor170 Yes, good movie based on Stevenson's short story, featuring one of Karloff's finest performances.

[@bobtaylor170]

@@Hydrocorax a Val Lewton film. Lewton is a cruelly forgotten auteur, who from about 1942 - 47 made maybe the most interesting horror/supernatural movies anyone in Hollywood ever made. He's best remembered for his first, "Cat People," but the ''Cat People" sequel, "The Curse of the Cat People" is a fascinating and, though in black and white, gorgeous movie on its own. My view is that the Lewton masterpiece is "The Seventh Victim." That someone so talented should be so unremembered underscores how unjust life often is.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Even more succinct, it is in included in my Penguin Classics edition of Jekyll and Hyde.

[@ThomasAllan-up4td]

Scary stuff. But there really were grave robbers in those days. They weren't after a wedding ring or something else on your corpse, it was your corpse alone that was worth money. And they sold you to the medical hospitals. Who were interested in dead bodies, and turned a blind eye to how their suppliers obtained them. It really is nothing new. .... The body snatchers got their money.. after a hard day's night... working like a dog. But then Burke and hare saw a quicker way to save them from all that toil... just murder folk in their sleep . Quick as, and nobody is caring about these homeless carcases anyway. I'm afraid that's the way it goes.

[@arthuroldale-ki2ev]

I read years ago, that Stevenson had a friend that was a binge drinker, who went from a mild mannered, decent fellow, to a monster , when in his cups, I should say its fairly obvious , where the inspiration came from. Drink has this effect on more than one!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Eugene Chantrelle would fill the bill.

[@DeidreL9]

Absolutely fascinating, Professor. I’ve often wondered if Stevenson was ruminating on his own dark side, something he might perhaps have become more aware of since partaking of his own exotic potion. He was a deep thinker and I love that after all these years we’re still talking about his work, and likely will be waaay into the future.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Yes I'm sure the trial of his friend would have made him wonder if he was capable of anything like that. But unlike so many writers he didn't seem to have had much of a dark side, or else it was very well hidden.

[@DeidreL9]

@@professorgraemeyorston or maybe it was an awareness of the potential we all have, and he put it down on paper? I’d love to have had the chance to talk to him.

[@user-ev4ie2wx7k]

We’ll never know but speculation, intellectually, can be fascinating despite it being fairly pointless. But if it gets people thinking and talking about a sensible subject, so much the better. It’s all the ridiculous “speculation” aka gossip on the trash media that is abhorrent, stupid, dangerous, nasty - filling the heads of ghouls shouldn’t be allowed. But it is (derisive: Free speech) with all its ramifications and they print the lies and nonsense to make a fast buck out of the idiots who don’t realise they’re being laughed not only only on the way to the bank but nowadays globally via “social media”. Everyone’s an expert on subjects of which they are 99% ignorant. Not to mention the inherent cruelty, in that their “victims” cannot, and/or wouldn’t, answer back. Having come across a sensible video, makes a pleasant change. Keep ‘em coming and, if you print this, thank you for allowing me to let off some steam!

[@Leslie12.66]

I like your short videos that spike our interest for these longer ones. They raise the anticipation!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you, that's the plan... although the timing doesn't always quite work out.

[@terrypitt-brooke8367]

Couldn't concur more with your concerns about the pathologization of evil. But you didn't mention what is the best "moral" for Stephenson's "cracking good tale"--that in his attempt to perfect himself through the technology of his draught, Jekyll inadvertently brought himself to the opposite state. A cautionary tale for Victorian society, convinced as it was of the perfectibility of technology, art, and humanity.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks, I think I had read so many interpretations by the end I could barely strong a sentence together!

[@SeanMahoneyfitnessandart]

"Financial fluctuation" 😂.... I can relate... I like that... Im going to use it

[@professorgraemeyorston]

I think we've all had a few of those over the years!

[@TheMeJustMe75]

When I was a senior in highschool I had to write a paper on a writer so I picked Robert Louis Stevenson. I read Treasure Island, The Black Arrow and Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The Black Arrow was my favorite.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

I haven't read that one.

[@patriciajrs46]

​@@professorgraemeyorstonNeither have I. Hadn't heard of it.

[@indigocheetah4172]

Thank you, Professor Yorston, You have a wonderful gift for bringing these eras of history and their people to life. Have you thought about a story on King Ludwig II?

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you, yes Ludwig is on the list.

[@indigocheetah4172]

,@@professorgraemeyorston, thank you.

[@markholland5810]

Once again fascinating video! I think the story is just a story. Being an artist….lay people invest so much in a work of art. Whereas the work is just a creation of the artist’s mind…no hidden meaning

[@professorgraemeyorston]

I blame Freud! He has turned everyone into a wannabe psychoanalyst!

[@charlynegezze8536]

@@professorgraemeyorston Hear! hear! Between him and greedy lawyers we are in this guiltless society today.

[@TuckerSP2011]

I'm sure he was thinking about some of these associations and pondering whether or not he himself would be capable of living such a dual life. That Chappelle person in particular. Good video and subject matter. It always provides food for thought to wonder how artists and writers come up with their impressive creations especially when they are extremely original.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks.

[@user-pf6ib3ue5s]

Jack the ripper

[@autumnscott568]

Loved this! And so enjoyed hearing someone in your profession say that excessively excusing choices as mental illness can lead to dangerous things. Thank you for your thorough videos

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@martitinkovich4489]

So then, are we to dismiss the effects of mental illness altogether?

[@autumnscott568]

Absolutely not. As I said in my comment and in response what was said in video I used the word “excessively.” I think there are many symptoms of mental illness that are not choices.

[@reginaucker3533]

I had always thought that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dealt with the duality that we all have inside. Dr. Jekyll was the one who conforms to society. Mr. Hyde was the one who delt with darker side of our psychy.. we have 1 personality that we show to the world, at home we show another to family or even our friends.

[@AlanWinterboy]

I like to listen to lectures while I work, and yours are above the average. Thank you for your historical service

[@nledaig]

The drugs Stevenson took for his condition had considerable side effects on his body and mind. The novella was an attempt to pay for the cost of these prescribed drugs. Stevenson was fascinated by contrast within individual personality and although that fascination drives this novella it is present in much of his work. The two real individuals you mention would have been part of the inspiration but he would have heard in his religious upbringing many references to the dangers of hypocrisy. The religious background is a philosophical underpinning to his work. But it is the case that the famous Scottish surgeon John Hunter would also have been an inspiration. Jekyll's house in the novella is remarkably similar to the house in London owned by Hunter. Like many surgeon/anatomists of the era, Hunter had professional contact with bodysnatchers who delivered fresh cadavers to the back door of his premises. Hunter was a successful intelligent mind who experimented in a variety of unusual ways - like Jekyll's strange "transcendental" experimentation in the novella. But Hunter had regular contact with the criminal underworld - and in the novella Hyde has an address in one of the seedier areas of Victorian London. Fanny's comments on the first draft were probably a protest that the explicit nature of the first draft would not be publishable so he burned it and rewrote it with Jekyll's sins concealed. Addiction is one of the themes.

[@kylieebrook]

Thank you for another great video!!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks for watching!

[@tonmarinaxxzz]

Great summary. I loved the Spencer Tracy version.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

That is one of the best!

[@williamsullivan3702]

This is great work. This generation needs quality like this.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

I couldn't agree more.

[@afwalker1921]

In 2005, in a fit of madness, I wrote a 70,000+ word novel in three and a half months. I wrote it by hand, felt-tipped pens on blue-lined paper. When Stevenson wrote J/H, he must have been incandescent. I cannot imagine! Such a work cannot have come from the ego/self, and I am not surprised it was inspired by a dream...

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Was it published?

[@afwalker1921]

@@professorgraemeyorston Oh, yes! I didn't put my name on it, because at the heart of the story was a lesbian romance between two eleven-year-old girls. Even I didn't want to be associated with it...

[@user-wu1bu7ss1s]

Thank you so much Professor Yorston ... I enjoyed every minute.... the story has always been to me a statement of good and evil in all of us.... the double life.... it is a recurring theme... I am a recovered alcoholic of 42 years and I can identify totally...... thanks again

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Keep going.

[@davidbennett9691]

I must agree with you on both your points of analysis. The modern tendency to pathologize bad behavior has become alarmingly common, and Stevenson's intent was simply to write an engaging story. He succeeded.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Agreed!

[@bobtaylor170]

Very interesting! After I made my comment on your Brodie short the other day, I remembered that I had read that Brodie may have been inspired by "The Beggar's Opera," not that he inspired it. In fact, this fascinating idea may have been in the William Roughead book, "Classic Crimes." Wherever I read it, the author asserted that Brodie may have been the first person in history to have been inspired to become a criminal by a work of popular art ( something which I doubt ). The Great White Whale of thought to be lost forever silent films is the 1927 silent film, "London After Midnight." There are plenty of stills of Lon Chaney as the creeping, post midnight freak from that movie. It's exactly how a Victorian imagination would have imagined a Mr Hyde, but as I remember what I've read of the scenario, that character most definitely does not have a Jekyll - by - day persona. Another excellent video.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you, did you like the excerpt from the Beggar's Opera, it keeps going round in my brain, perhaps I need to do a little housebreaking!

[@CSchaeken]

Great video again Dr Yorston, so very informative and well presented, thanks! 👍👍

[@bobtaylor170]

@@professorgraemeyorston yes, and as a lifelong musical obsessive who has never heard The Beggar's Opera but does know The Threepenny Opera, here's what fascinates me: that little fragment of song is stylistically so much like something Kurt Weill would eventually write for The Threepenny Opera that it shocked me.

[@aaronjclarke1973]

As a paranoid schizophrenic thank you for addressing the misconception of my illness (as a split personality disorder) to the general population.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

There is so much about mental illness that is misunderstood and if I can correct one or two misconceptions then I will have done some good.

[@jimmyfortrue3741]

My favorite Jekyll & Hyde movie is "Mary Reilly" with Julia Roberts and John Malkovich

[@professorgraemeyorston]

I watched dozen of clips of different films, but I don't recall that one, I'll see if I can find it.

[@fabiengerard8142]

@@professorgraemeyorston *I fully agree: director Stephen Frears' "Mary Reiley" was, indeed, an excellent revisitation of the iconic Hyde & Jekyll story.

[@user-ev4ie2wx7k]

There are better.

[@stratguy1013]

Superb study. I enjoyed it completely. Thank you

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@user-wc6rm3gf3l]

Absolutely fascinating! Listened to this after your presentation on Poe and really appreciate the intelligent observations on addiction. Both interesting and entertaining, I will be looking out for more. Thank you very much.x

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@fizzao1342]

I’m so glad that I found your channel. I can’t remember how I came across it but it’s always a pleasure to listen to your tales. Thank you.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks for listening

[@sisiphas]

Thanks for this. I enjoyed it

[@mariovaccarella6854]

Very Good & Informative Video

[@jonathaneffemey944]

thanks for posting

[@311girl]

Love your analysis, thank you!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Much appreciated!

[@ellstark372]

Thank you for this great video. Interesting (depending on your point of view) bit of information: I used to work in a house in Morningside which was the childhood home of Robert Louis Stevenson. It is now used as nursing home and operated by Crossreach, The original building has been extensively added to, but the main house, and all its original features still remain. Early photographs of Robert as a boy were found in the attic and now hang in the foyer.

[@Mike_Levinson]

Brilliant Documentary!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@WadeRaney-vv5oi]

A good presentation,Thanks 😉

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you.

[@WeirdDarknessOfficial]

Thanks for this. I think I'll have to add this to the short list of titles to narrate on my channel!

[@Sleepingbear2222]

Good video. I now have a deeper appreciation of this story and the author.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you.

[@mermaidme25]

Ur a Great story teller. Ur tone is sublime😁😁

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you.

[@johnathonbrent2242]

Thank you for the interesting and educational outlook on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks for watching.

[@mijiyoon5575]

*Stevenson's* tale is sublime writing about the human condition & what people are capable of doing . I've read the story many times & listened to the audiobook more times than I have counted. It's one of my favorite books & I consider it to be master piece in human psychology, about 138 years ago, give or take

[@naarahjanemorris3121]

Thanks professor Grahame for the history lesson video of how it came to be,it's very interesting.

[@susandodson1822]

Love your content 😊

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you! 😁

[@jacquelinerdaley9837]

Very interesting & enjoyable 😮

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@D.H.-mg2cz]

Again, tnriguing! Thank you

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks for listening

[@peggymcdermott8094]

I saw a Jekyl and Hyde high school play yesterday..which these kids were fabulous... and addiction was the parallel that came to mind for me also.

[@ElkoJohn]

Much obliged. I would like to see your analysis of Adolf Eichmann, and your response to Hannah Arendt's assessment regarding the banality of Eichmann's evil.

[@Jimyblues]

Great vid - its not that Mr. Hyde is evil, or even schizophrenic- it's Freudian - not that Mr. Hyde is a different person, he isn't , he is the id and Mr. Jekyll is the super ego. Mr. Hyde is in all of us.

[@user-eq7nr3bb1c]

I think you are right-Great video-Thanks👍🙂

[@professorgraemeyorston]

You're welcome

[@liasisboa]

Thank you thank you thank you for having the fortitude to declare that various psychiatric disorders are not usually an excuse for bad choices. I say this not as one free from disorders disparaging those who do, but as one who has had to deal with a number of psychiatric challenges. It was only when, despite my disorders, I realized that I still very much had free will, that my life improved.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you, I'm glad things worked out for you.

[@einzelgalger52223]

I think most authors or writers would also be flabbergasted and flattered as to how readers would put so much thought and profound analysis and interpretative ideas to their written work; when actually, the work was written only just to make a buck.

[@user-ev4ie2wx7k]

If that is so, and it’s believable, can you name your source? Please tell us it’s not a quick fast buck American analogy.

[@AlanWinterboy]

Fascinating. Thank you again. About your closing, tho. I certainly must defer to your expertise in the field, but having been on the fringe of mental health and addiction treatment, I have never heard anyone in trouble for aberrant behavior say it was 'my bipolar that did that' or 'it was my this or that that made me kill them'. In fact, most such I've had occasion to observe are actually in denial about the role of mental health in their behaviors.

[@Inkling777]

I'd suggest as an inspiration the theory that Jack the Ripper was a physician (hence the "Doctor"), but his killings took place between 1888 to 1891 and this was published in 1886

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Yes he seems to fit Jack the Ripper....but just a few years too early.

[@sasajelisavac5209]

THE BOOK:::: It is one of those pieces of literature that makes you wonder:"why am I reading this"? And if I didn't know that is a famous book, will I read it anyway? What is it about it that echoes still today, as fresh and clean as it was when it was written? It has no writing power of Dostoyowski, Shakespeare, it's nowhere even close to Kafka world of mystery, it lacks dept ending is a real mess, but yet, It still hovers around us, relic of all known and unknown..Jekyll and Hyde... It's one of the reasons why I am in love with British writing, It's just canny and silly, like Dr. Watson trying to figure it out what S. Holmes is up to I will borrow a line from a true master of written a word,H. Melville from his masterpiece Moby Dick to explain this strange world of Jekyll or Hyde: "It is not down on any map; true places never are".

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Interesting, great quote, thank you.

[@sasajelisavac5209]

@@professorgraemeyorston Thank you...

[@kylermichael3972]

During the week of Halloween I always watch dr jekyll and mr hyde with Fredric March and Spencer Tracy. They are both good especially for the time

[@soundNTechdude2022]

Fascinating!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks.

[@margiesoapyhairbillian4754]

Can't? Wait to watch!!!🎉🎉🎉

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks.

[@liesltiessen9022]

So very interesting!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you.

[@JamesThomas-gg6il]

I like your take on this. Why does eveything have to be a lesson or plan to live by? As Freud said, sometimes a story ( cigar) is just a story(cigar). It's a good story, nothing more.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Agree 100%

[@sailingsam3815]

Very interesting indeed😮

[@OLDCHEMIST1]

A very enjoyable analysis, thank you! I agree with you about addiction, I think if you want to believe in a hidden meaning, this is the one. As you know far better than I do, addicts are so very confident in their ability to give up "tomorrow" and unaware of the obnoxious individuals they become when they use their substance of choice, gamble, etc.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Very true.

[@user-zo7mr3op8i]

Another little RLS thread: Ben Gunn's favourite food was "Cheese. especially toasted". (Treasure Island)

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Oh yes, I'd forgotten that, how interesting!

[@mistermaxr]

Great job as usual. I think it is about substance abuse and addiction. If you like it, check out the song "The Beast in Me": that Nick Lowe wrote for Johny Cash.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks I'll have a listen.

[@catherinepatterson4720]

Thank you for this thought provoking video. I especially enjoyed the second half. And agree with you in regards to your comment about the simplistic vs complex viewpoints about this book and like you said, he most likely wrote the book because he needed to earn some money. In a way, it’s easy to write what one has experienced either internally and/or in everyday interactions. Maybe this story ended up being a form of narrative therapy for Stevenson, which is why he wrote it so quickly. I own a copy of the Strange Case of Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde. It’s a fascinating read. For me, personally, I think Stevenson used the protagonist name Mr Hyde from the dictionary definition ‘hide’. In my hard copy dictionary it explains, ‘If you hide something or someone, you put them in a place where they cannot easily be seen or found’. Give some people a mind altering concoction, of some description, and out comes a dormant side of their personality one rarely sees, the introvert who becomes extrovert, the serious person who shows a more playful, fun side, and finally, others who become violent, cruel and nasty. Though, I must say, some individuals don’t need any mind altering substance to show cruelty, they can just lack the trait ‘empathy’, turning on and off their manipulative behaviour when required. As always, look forward to your next video.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you.

[@MBRMrblueroads]

The best woman I ever had said I had this weird Jekyll and Hyde thing going. Very interesting as all ways. 👍👍

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks for watching.

[@drjekelmrhyde]

This is relevant to my interests.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Hope it helped!

[@jillmontgomery4856]

excellent!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you.

[@penneycason9269]

Subscribed 10 minutes into this video. Great entertainment. 🇦🇺👍🏼

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Welcome aboard! Any suggestions for other topics?

[@rhobot75]

Thank so much, doc! I hope ok to say, anyone interested in a brilliant 1930s serial radio adaptation, there is one here on YT. And the music... oh my gosh! I have listened to it at least 3 times. It has made it into my dreams!! They took the original novelette and very imaginatively expanded it. Better than any film adaptation.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks, I'l check it out.

[@rhobot75]

@@professorgraemeyorston Yes, do. The sound is a bit muddy in places but it is 90 years on. Australian production. Brilliant storytelling. I hope you enjoy it.

[@soundNTechdude2022]

You’re welcome! I was a Psychology major for two years in the mid 70s

[@uselessindividual]

I’ve been referred to as Jekyll and Hyde. ADHD, alcoholism, tobacco and cannabis. I have a family of manipulative people, so I don’t hold back what I think about them…

[@platovsky]

thanks a lot again professor ! great video , and im thinking in other posible theme video : The book of Michel Focault history of Madnness , Greetings

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Great suggestion - Foucault is hard work though!

[@fredflintstoner596]

Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam ." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window ? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"

[@YochevedDesigns]

In my experience, all men contain both Jekyll and Hyde. Therefore anyone could have been the inspiration, or maybe Stevenson just looked inward and saw his own potential for good or evil.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

But not everyone has the extremes.

[@lindathomas2350]

I have lived with two different people in my life My mother and my husband who had a glowing personality in public but were secret monsters at home. I don't know if you would classify that one way or the other but my husband was classified as bipolar and sociopath. My mother spent time and mental places. I have often considered my husband a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

[@jasonbean2764]

Here's my thing: I'm currently using a paperback edition of "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" as my wallet. For years, I thought it was titled, "The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward", confusing the HP Lovecraft work with the Robert Louis Stevenson work. Can you believe it?:)

[@jonrettich-ff4gj]

Thank you for the interesting presentation. Most of all I greatly appreciate your observation, which seems to me that we are far more responsible for our own actions than much of society is willing to accept lately. Less excuses more personal effort. Relatively comfortable civilizations like ours are far more fragile than many of us realize. Freedom to me means greater responsibility. Thank you again

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Very true.

[@SusieQSydney]

I'd say he did an insanely good job if it created all that conversation and controversay even till this day. Most people would only wish to have only even a 100th of his kind of talent and imagination!!!

[@AndrewLemmings1998]

It definitely describes addiction well, speaking as a recovering addict.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

I think you're right.

[@michaelnoonan352]

You mentioned some individuals who were likely to have influenced Robert Louis Stevenson in writing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. But there is also a literary precursor of that novel. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg; an earlier Scottish writer. It concerns a staunch Calvinist, Robert Wringhim, who, under the influence and persuasion of a sinister and mysterious stranger, called Gil-Martin, believes that he is saved and one of the elect, and is justified in murdering people who he believes have been damned by God. Critics have speculated that the stranger, Gil-Martin, might be the devil, or even, more plausibly, another, darker manifestation of Mr. Wringhim's personality, like Mr. Hyde, in Stevenson's novel. The novel didn't have much success at the time of its publication, but has since become a literary classic, with writers like Andre Gide expressing how much they were impressed by it. It has been described as an early modern crime novel, though written from the viewpoint of the criminal, rather than a detective. Stevenson is on record as having read and admired the novel; and it might also have been an influence on him in creating that famous work. You might be interest to know that I have written a comic take on Jekyll and Hyde, entitled, A Serpent in Eden, that can be seen at the website: www.inkitt.com/stories/horror/183677

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Interesting, thank you.

[@filosophik]

Delightful a video expressing more of your perspective on schizophrenia would be.

[@kariannecrysler640]

By adjusting societal expectations to include the methods of the neurodivergent could help a great deal in many hot topics imo. I think about how we understand now that some people are hands on learners, some visual, etc & have been improving the knowledge retention of young folks, who under less broad expectations would have been robbed of the chance.

[@user-ev4ie2wx7k]

And your point is?

[@kariannecrysler640]

@@user-ev4ie2wx7k find the best of the best, not just the fortunate

[@elizabethtanith8961]

Street angel- home devil l think is a more accurate description of the Jeckell and Hyde character or a covert narcissistic.

[@ignaciohernandez177]

It's simple 1700th and 1800th centuries where a very interesting times for the western and Victorian era Dr double live was scary 😢

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Times of great progress but also great darkness.

[@marcwright8395]

One of my favorite books

[@johnlynch-kv8mz]

24:17’i enjoy hearing your scholarly presentation. I’ve heard it was about alcoholism. Dope fiending makes more sense( to me )

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Alcohol can also bring out the Hyde in some people.

[@johnlynch-kv8mz]

@@professorgraemeyorston I was taught that essentially that was what this story is about. It fits . That’s for sure. What it is , is, God, and the Devil; found in One Man

[@garybrockwell2031]

First on stage in 1887 the Lyceum...But the audience geat to see the actor change before there eyes, good face movement and lighting.. Jacks rain was 1888... I believe he worked on ship's, and went to America? Sid James did the Deacon i one of their Carry-ons......

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Stevenson barely made a penny from the stage adaptations because of poor copyright laws at the time.

[@user-ev4ie2wx7k]

Good for you, bringing all this personalised pseudo psycho “opinion” into reality.

[@jeliarra]

Although I believe the story is based on "addictions", I will say that we humans don't need any sort of consumption to become Mr. Hyde. I've seen frail, innocent and weak people become savage killers when their children were threatened or harmed. I've seen docile people lose a romantic loved one and become Mr. Hyde. These brains of ours are in my opinion about 70% stable at best.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Interesting.

[@ThomasAllan-up4td]

He was just a devil playing Hyde and seek. In short,a narcissist. One face for outside, but another at home.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Yes, I think narcissistic personality disorder comes closest.

[@ThomasAllan-up4td]

@@professorgraemeyorston narcissism, isn't a personality disorder. It's inherited. Genetic. So they are perfectly ordered. Doing what God or nature pre-programmed to do. Like jack the ripper syndrome,or others who claim they were on a mission from God. The narcissist, transcends evil. They will blame everyone.. but rarely blame their own evil..on the God they blame. For they will often proclaim there is no God. So it must be His fault...narcs twist the truth at every single turn . And it just gets murkier the deeper They delve into your soul . They will question, without answering,till they have caused you to question yourself. As to the moral question ;Why does God allow evil in the world.? All I can say is that God continually brings good from evil. And if your parents were narcs. It doesn't mean you are. Genetic insanity,or rather traits of character,can skip generations.

[@ThomasAllan-up4td]

@@professorgraemeyorston it has nothing to do with intoxication. Alcohol only emboldened the narcissist: a little bit disinhited.. and it all spills out . But the alcohol, or whatever other drug gives his insanity free range , isn't the cause. It was always in him, just below the surface. Waiting to rear it's monstrous head . " It is not what goes into a man that makes him rotten, it is what comes out of him . For from his heart he speaks . " " A tree is known by the fruit it bears" Genetically or otherwise, this remains the truth. Narcs are stamped in their nativity and the only " fruit" they bring is disaster.

[@syzygy808]

Wonderful story telling. Thank you. I remember reading about Edgar Allen Poe as a kid and learning that opium turbocharged Xanadu. Too bad drugs offer a bad trade-off for helping one become ‘inspired’ for a very short period in work and life. Say No to Drugs eh!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you, I thought it was Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Xanadu and the stately pleasure domes.

[@sharonkaczorowski8690]

There have been forms of mental illness,including addiction, which cause profound changes in human behavior. There are accounts of serial killers, for example, who were seemed charming individuals to their neighbors and coworkers.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Mental illness can change human behaviour, but some of the worst serial killers did not have mental illnesses but profound disturbances of their personalities.

[@sharonkaczorowski8690]

@@professorgraemeyorston That’s very interesting…I’m probably way behind current thought and research. What is the difference between a mental illness and a personality disturbance? Does that mean multiple personality is not a mental illness? If you have time to respond that would be fascinating. I’ll will do,some research on the difference either way. I’ve spent much of my life studying the human drive to oppress/harm others with a goal of finding mitigations for that behavior. As part of my overall study of human violence, I studied serial killer decades ago more as an outlier example. I did intend to write a book on oppression but health issues forced me to set that aside.

[@KevinDunne-zc4or]

The story of Dr jekyll and Mr Hyde was based on an Edinburgh man called deacon James brodie a well respected man about town a dandy but at night he was a prolific cat burglar and when caught was tried for the crimes he committed and was hung nearby St Giles cathedral, there's a pub on the royal Mile in the old town called deacon brodies Inn and across the road from the Inn is a small cafe and I believe it was where deacon brodie actually lived, I think Robert Louis Stevenson wrote it as jekyll and Hyde to create a better story and he wasn't wrong,

[@williamdixon-gk2sk]

Some nerd told me it was pronounced 'gee-kuhl' once, he was begrudging familiar w/ the work.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

A lot of Scots pronounce it that way - but there is no right right and wrong.

[@williamdixon-gk2sk]

@@professorgraemeyorston interesting, I suppose all etymology falls to this. Wonder if it's regional?

[@soundNTechdude2022]

The process of removing “Executive Function” part of the brain, along with letting the “weaker self” dominate. Perhaps, it is a lesson regarding self medicating

[@thelestrangelair]

So many people misunderstand the point of Jekyll and Hyde. He wasn't did, he was a man supressed by Victorian society and wanting to do what he wanted without conciquences. His friends in the book mention him being wild, in his younger days. Jekyll was Hyde. haha, and I like him. Bella L

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Absolutely, and Stevenson himself had a slightly Bohemian phase.

[@zalinabrooks1198]

Interesting

[@philiprife5556]

Instead of thinking of schizophrenia as being a split personality, I find that "fractured" personality is a more apt definition. Some day the general public will get past the outdated notion.

[@MissWitchiepoo]

I think think there are lots of men with this personality and they don't need to take anything to become the Mr Hyde I have seen these men much too often. I even thought about writing a book about it because it's crazy how many of them one single woman can meet in a life time.

[@tylermoulton7294]

liked and subbed.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Welcome aboard!