Jekyll and Hyde – Chapter 3 (Part 1)

[00:00:00] You’re listening to. Elaine is reading the strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Episode 5, Chapter 3, Part 1.

[00:00:13] In this episode I’m going to talk about one of my favorite chapters of the book. Dr. Jekyll was quite at ease. Similar to Dracula. Jekyll is not the main character of the story. So this chapter gives a rare chance to hear from him. But. But mainly I like it because we get to see the relationship between him and Utterson, who is the main character. Adaptations leave out this relationship and it’s a real shame.

[00:00:48] Hey everyone. Welcome Back to episode three, chapter, chapter three of the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

[00:01:01] Chapter three is really super short.

[00:01:04] One, two, three.

[00:01:06] Like three and like not even a whole page. It’s really, really short. But I actually really liked this chapter.

[00:01:16] So I may do this chapter and chapter four today because they’re, they’re both a little short. And there’s a significant amount of stuff that happens in the next chapter. But let’s just focus on this one, which is Dr. Jekyll. It’s called Dr. Jekyll was quite at Ease, which is an interesting kind of way of putting this.

[00:01:40] So in the last chapter, which I really had a bit of a fit over, I’m still having a little bit of a fit over this, but I really felt like there has been a lot of unnecessary dislike and hatred and everything put towards Mr. Hyde. And it bugs me a lot because so far we haven’t really seen anything, in my opinion, that would necessarily peg him as extreme as everyone is kind of pegging him just from these little bits of behavior. And again, I recognize that at that time these are not little things about his behavior. These are, you know, this, this sort of rudeness and the ungentlemanliness and the general creep factor are kind of unacceptable.

[00:02:42] I, I get that it’s still true today. It’s not just back then, like any kind of little creep factor you have makes you automatically a target of everybody’s. And I’ve just seen Hyde being a target of everybody’s kind of projected disgust and distrust of, of this tiny little dwarfy, maybe not so socially, you know, acceptable dude.

[00:03:12] But at the same time, you know, I’m aware that he’s doing things that are putting people off.

[00:03:19] I don’t necessarily feel put off by Hyde in any way. He seems very smart and very aware of the bullshit. And I like that about him, as I said last time.

[00:03:30] So this chapter I really like because we finally get to hear, quote, unquote right. We finally get Jekyll’s actual voice. We get him as a character. He exists, he’s a person.

[00:03:48] And we get to finally or well, not finally, but yes, finally we get to hear from him. Finally we get to hear what he has to say about what’s going on. Everybody. So far it’s been, you know, Enfield, it’s been Utterson, it’s been hearsay, it’s been gossip. And Utterson finally meeting Hyde for the first time in the last chapter. It’s like, okay, I’m still not convinced. Like Hyde doesn’t seem projecting, projecting, projecting, projecting all this stuff. And we have, we’ve, we haven’t even really heard Jekyll by name yet except once and only because Utterson pulled out his will and we were told he pulled out Jekyll’s will. So Jekyll has only been a name. He’s only been a person that society and all of these people in the society have said is a good man. He’s in the paper. It’s someone that you read about a lot. He’s known.

[00:04:53] And the fact that he associates with Hyde is absolutely clutch the pearls, a shocker. And he can’t be, you know, in this relationship with Hyde for any other reason other than the fact that Hyde is blackmailing him because he’s such a good man and he’s such a well respected man. There’s no way he could know this guy Hyde and certainly not leave Hyde all of his stuff and everything in that very incredibly sus will.

[00:05:21] So now we get to hear from Jekyll and see what Jekyll actually has to say about what’s going on, which is what I’ve been waiting for this whole time.

[00:05:33] Oh, wait, hold. I’ll be right back.

[00:05:36] Okay, I’m back. Sorry about that.

[00:05:39] So I like this chapter because it also shows us a little bit about. Actually a lot about, not even a little bit, a lot about the relationship that Utterson and Jekyll. Have I told you guys that I love Utterson as a character and partly in the way that he’s described in literally the first page of the story, this description of him that we get, the type of person he is, the kind of friend that he is.

[00:06:06] And I just think he’s someone of such interesting character. And obviously he cares deeply for Jekyll beyond just Jekyll being his client and you know, the client, client, lawyer relationship. There’s. It’s more than that. He’s concerned about his friend. And I love how that comes across in this very short but powerful chapter, so it says. A fortnight later, by excellent good fortune, the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies. All intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine.

[00:06:46] And Mr. Utterson so contrived that he remained behind after the others had departed. This was no new arrangement, but a thing that had befallen many scores of times. Where Utterson was liked, he was liked. Well, hosts loved to detain the dry lawyer. When the light hearted and loose tongued had already their foot on the threshold. They liked to sit awhile in his unobtrusive company.

[00:07:12] Practicing for solitude. Sobering their minds in the man’s rich silence after the expense and strain of gaiety.

[00:07:21] I love this man so. I love that description of him. Like he’s somebody who just kind of. He’s not like the loud, boisterous, you know, crazy kind of guest that you have in your home. He’s. He’s the quiet one, the one, you know, he’s the person that you want to sit with and afterwards in front of the fire and have a little bourbon and just sort of chill, chill out, you know. He’s someone who evokes a sense of chill, you know. I like that.

[00:07:57] So to this rule, Dr. Jekyll was no exception. And as he now sat on the opposite side of the fire.

[00:08:05] A large, well made, smooth faced man of 50.

[00:08:11] With something of a stylish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness.

[00:08:18] You could see by his looks that he cherished for Mr. Utterson a sincere and warm affection.

[00:08:26] So just, you know, as we only get these sort of, you know, drips and drabs of description of Hyde. We already know that Hyde is short, he walks and sort of shuffles and slumps.

[00:08:41] He’s dwarfish, he’s sort of a quiet dude, right? These little, little bits we get. Same with Dr. Jekyll.

[00:08:51] We know that he’s a large, well made sense, smooth faced man of 50.

[00:09:00] So I get this to mean like he’s a. He’s sort of handsome. He’s. He’s well put to put together with something of a stylish cast perhaps. So he’s, he’s kind of a handsome.

[00:09:14] He’s. He doesn’t have like a beard or anything. Smooth faced man of 50 who’s kind of well made, you know, well put together, you know, that sort of stuff. Stuff. And you could see by his looks that he cherished for Mr. Utterson a sincere and warmth, affection.

[00:09:34] I like that. That’s Very, very clear and comes across very well. So you have these two guys, these two old friends sitting by the fire after this party and just chilling and relaxing. And you can just see in his face and the way he treats Utterson. That there’s. There’s a. There’s a sincerity there. There’s. There’s a.

[00:09:59] There’s a warm affection. Right?

[00:10:02] And here’s where this conversation happens.

[00:10:07] So Utterson is like, I’ve been wanting to speak with you.

[00:10:11] You know, that will of yours.

[00:10:15] This particular piece of dialogue is very telling for me. Okay. He says, my poor Utterson, said he, you are unfortunate in such a client. I never saw a man so distressed as you were by my will.

[00:10:33] Unless it were that hidebound pendant, Lanyon. At what he called my scientific heresies.

[00:10:40] Oh, I know he’s a good fellow. You must. You needn’t frown.

[00:10:44] An excellent fellow, and I always mean to see more of him. But a hidebound pendant for all that, an ignorant, blatant pendant.

[00:10:54] I was never more disappointed in any man than Lanyon.

[00:10:59] You know, I never approved of it. Pursued Utterson ruthlessly disregarding the fresh topic. I loved that entire exchange.

[00:11:09] The Dr. Jekyll is.

[00:11:13] There’s a lot happening here. And I love this. I love dialogue like this.

[00:11:18] Jekyll is like, you know, at first he’s kind of like, oh, yeah, you know, it sucks to have a client like me. And, you know, you. You were so. I’ve never seen someone so bothered by my will.

[00:11:31] Except for the way that Dr. Lanyon wrote. Right.

[00:11:36] Called my scientific heresies. So he’s. He’s both shifting the topic from the will and trying to bring up Lanyon as another topic. More of him. But a hidebound pendant for all that. An ignorant, blatant pendant. I was never more disappointed in any man than Lanyon.

[00:12:00] So in. In our modern times, right, when people are grossly trying to gossip and grossly trying to change the subject or get you focused on another topic, they bring up something juicy. They bring up something that’s going to make you say, what? What? What? What happened? What. Why do you like him? What happened? Why did you have a falling out? Right.

[00:12:26] I love that Jekyll is. Is doing this exact same tactic to try not to have to talk about this will, which he’s probably already talked about because he’s already kind of. It’s already been alluded to, the fact that Utterson had sort of talked to him about it before. And he shut it down.

[00:12:43] I love that he’s kind of like you know, I’ve never seen someone so upset with my will. Except maybe the way that Lanyon was, was upset with my scientific stuff. Right. And even Lanyon sort of said this to Utterson, you know, in the previous chapters where he’s like, you know, I, I used to see Jekyll a lot, but then he got weird. Like he went wrong and all of that scientific balderdash. And again, Utterson sort of waves it off because he’s not a scientist, he’s a lawyer. And he just kind of thinks that these two old friends who are both scientists had some sort of disagreement. Some scientific disagreement. Right. Something pertaining to their professions or whatever, or theories. And that’s why they’re not getting along. And he doesn’t really care about that. Like he’s not.

[00:13:34] He didn’t ask Lanyon about it more he didn’t try to delve in. Be like, well, what happened between the two of you? What, what disagreements?

[00:13:41] You know, what’s the problem? Even the fact that Lanyon said he’s gone wrong didn’t pique Utterson’s interest. It didn’t make him go like wrong how? Like I was like wrong. What do you mean wrong? Like what happened to make Jekyll go wrong? What is it that Lanyon felt or heard from him that made him be like, you know what? I don’t think I want to spend a lot of time with this dude anymore. I was interested in that part of the conversation. But I also noted that Utterson just sort of was like, I don’t know, it’s some science guy thing. I don’t know.

[00:14:13] So here Jekyll’s kind of giving us more of that Lanyon under story, right? That undercurrent between the two of them where he’s like, you know, he calls him a. What is it? A high bound, A hide bound pendant. Like, like hide bound as in like a.

[00:14:37] A leather bound book or like hidebound as in, you know, like a bound book. Right. So a pendant is someone who is.

[00:14:48] It’s a great word. It’s. It’s someone who’s so like rigid.

[00:14:54] Someone who is like adverse to new sort of ways of thinking. Someone not just old fashioned but someone who’s rigidly focused on their own way of thinking. Someone who’s not open minded. Right. But in a, you know, in a. In a really hardcore kind of way. And the, the hide bound sort of indicates that this guy is so tightly wound up, so tightly bound in what he believes or thinks that he’s not willing to Think outside the box or be very open minded. It’s not just that he’s set in his ways. Like he’s rigid, you know, in his own sort of way of thinking.

[00:15:44] Which is again, this is sort of one of those key things where you kind of need to know what he’s, what he’s saying. Let me actually, and I don’t want to be incorrect about this, but I’m, I’m almost positive that that’s, that’s what a pendant is.

[00:16:06] Yes. A person who is excessively concerned with minor details or rules or with displaying academic learning.

[00:16:18] Right. Someone who is unimaginative or who unduly emphasizes minutia in the presentation or use of knowledge.

[00:16:31] A person who makes an excessive or inappropriate display of learning. I really don’t like people like that.

[00:16:41] People who are overly educated and are constantly reminding you of that kind of thing.

[00:16:47] It makes me.

[00:16:49] It’s annoying.

[00:16:51] So it kind of the, the word pedantically is. Is that right?

[00:16:59] A way that gives too much attention to formal rules and small details.

[00:17:04] So we can already get a feel for the type of person Lanyon is. Which is interesting because.

[00:17:10] Let me see if I can find this quickly.

[00:17:13] Lanyon is described by Utterson, right. At the sight of Mr. Utterson, he sprang up from his chair and welcomed him with both hands. The geniality, as was the way of the man, was somewhat theatrical to the eye, but it re. It, it reposed on genuine feeling.

[00:17:32] So Utterson’s perspective of Lanyon is that he’s this jovial, very jolly, personable guy that like, you know, shakes with both hands, you know, oh my God, how nice to see you kind of dude. Right.

[00:17:46] And Jekyll’s perspective of Lanyon is that he’s a hide bound, pedantic, you know, academic who’s caught up in the rules and the minutia and doesn’t have any kind of an open mind.

[00:18:01] And I, again, the, the juxtaposition is that the word I’m looking for between these two is interesting. Utterson, you know, who the. Always the last and you know, the last friend of the, you know, the downgoing man, that dude, the loyal friend.

[00:18:20] He sees kind of everybody in the best of ways. Almost like he sees Lanyon in this jovial, you know, way. This, this, this very bright personality.

[00:18:35] And the way he sees Jekyll is also a good man and someone who’s in need of a good friend to help him in this situation he’s clearly gotten himself into. He’s not one to speak ill of A person. And honestly, even in his sort of introduction to Hyde, he didn’t necessarily have ill things to say about him. He was going off of Enfield’s opinion. But it’s not like he was like, oh, I thought he was Satan as well. Like, he didn’t have that response. He agreed that there was something about Hyde that was kind of getting to him.

[00:19:10] But he wasn’t all like, oh, I thought he was Satan and he was disgusting. Right.

[00:19:14] So Utterson is an interesting character. I just.

[00:19:17] I like him as a person. I like how he sees the world that he’s in. I like that he doesn’t get involved in other people’s squabbles or whatever. And he’s not that much of a gossip. I mean, him and Enfield were talking, but I call it gossip because that’s what it sounded like. But at the same time, he didn’t really get in for details. The only detail he wanted to know in Enfield’s story was, are you sure he had a key? Like, he wanted a detail about Enfield’s story that would help him better understand Hyde’s relationship to his friend Jekyll.

[00:19:53] He wanted to know if he actually had a key to Jekyll’s home or his laboratory or whatever.

[00:19:57] But he wasn’t all like, ooh, tell me the juicy details. You know, he wasn’t like that.

[00:20:03] So he brushed off Lanyon’s issue with Jekyll and he brushes off Jekyll’s issue with Lanyon. And he. And I love the way that it said, you know, ruthlessly disregarding the fresh topic. Like he doesn’t even want to talk about it. He doesn’t want to get off topic. He wants to talk about the will.

[00:20:25] We haven’t heard from you in a while.

[00:20:28] Is there anything you’d like to talk about with the group?

[00:20:38] Get out of here.

[00:20:43] Yes, I would like to talk about.

[00:21:06] Jekyll doesn’t want to talk about the will. And I love the way that he kind of tries to divert the conversation.

[00:21:15] This also tells me something else about Jekyll here.

[00:21:20] It tells me that even though these aren’t gossipy men, right, Even though they’re not going to sit there and be like, oh, let’s talk about Lanyon, let’s talk about your disagreement. I don’t think that would happen. Anyway, it seems like he’s. He wants to tell him, you know, he wants to tell Utterson, maybe why Lanyon doesn’t disagree. Or he wants to speak on this thing that has got him and Lanyon on the Outs with each other.

[00:21:55] He brings it up in such a way. And he makes such a strong point. Point? I mean, he repeats this.

[00:22:03] I never saw a man so distressed as you were by my will. Unless it were that hide bound pendant Lanyon, at what he called my scientific heresies.

[00:22:16] Oh, I know he’s a good fellow. You needn’t frown. An excellent fellow, and I always mean to see more of him. But a hide bound pendant for all that ignorant, blatant pendant.

[00:22:31] I was never more disappointed in any man than Lanyon. He wants to talk about this.

[00:22:37] He wants someone to hear his side of whatever it is he has a scientific theory or whatever it is that he’s been discussing. And he probably maybe threw out some ideas to Lanyon, who’s also a scientist, also in the medical profession. And he probably thought Lanyon would agree or be interested in his theories or whatever.

[00:23:02] We know from Lanyon that he feels like Jekyll has somehow gone wrong. It’s like he’s. He’s on the wrong end of an avocado. He was like he was fresh, and then he wasn’t fresh.

[00:23:16] So whatever Jekyll talked to him about made him not want to spend time with him anymore. Made Lanyon be like, you know, Jekyll’s great and all, and we’re old friends, but there’s something wrong with him.

[00:23:28] I’m interested in that.

[00:23:31] I’m interested in what that discussion, that argument, that falling out was.

[00:23:37] It keeps getting brought up. It’s been brought up twice now by both men.

[00:23:42] And I am not like Utterson in this regard where I’m just like, yeah, I want to talk about the will. I don’t care about the will. The will is sus.

[00:23:50] What happened between these two men that they keep bringing this up.

[00:23:55] And not in the sense where they’re trying to poison Utterson against each other. Right. But they’re just saying, you know, I don’t really want to talk about Jekyll. You know, he’s. He’s gone wrong in the head. And Jekyll’s like, I don’t really want to talk about the will. Let’s talk about Lanyon. Because he is a hidebound pendant. And he’s, you know. You know, so, you know, rigid in his views. And I’m so disappointed in him. Let’s talk about that.

[00:24:23] I’m in agreement. Let’s talk about that. What happened? What is it that you said or did that made Lanyon just not want to deal with you? What is it that Lanyon said about whatever Theories you have or what is it? Scientific heresies. What scientific heresies?

[00:24:43] Like up to this point again, if you’re reading this book for the first time and you don’t know anything about it, which I know in this day and age is impossible, there is nobody who doesn’t know the idea behind Jekyll and Hyde. They don’t necessarily know the full story, but they know the idea. Right. But because I have this wonderful ability.

[00:25:05] Let’s talk about the fact that the build up here are these little breadcrumbs that Robert Louis Stevenson.

[00:25:20] Yes, I forgot his name, I had to look in the front is dropping for us is these. Just these two little tidbits. In the midst of everything that’s going on so far, we’re getting something about Jekyll.

[00:25:37] We’re getting something about his person.

[00:25:42] We’re getting this idea that maybe he’s gone off the rails in some way or he’s doing something that makes a man like Lanyon feel like he’s off, you know where. Is that the way that he says that.

[00:26:09] Yeah. Utterson says, I thought you, you had a bond of common interest. We had was the reply. But it is more than 10 years since Henry Jekyll became too fanciful for me.

[00:26:21] He began to go wrong, wrong in mind.

[00:26:27] And it’s like, you know, and again he says, I’ve seen devilish little of the man. Such unscientific balderdash.

[00:26:38] And their, their descriptions of each other mirror each other right.

[00:26:44] He began to go wrong in mind. And though of course I continue to take an interest in him for old times sake, as they say, I see and I have seen little devilish. I. I see and have seen devilish little of the man.

[00:26:58] Such unscientific balderdash would have estranged Damon and Pythias.

[00:27:04] So it’s like they’re saying the same thing, right?

[00:27:10] Oh, I know he’s a good fellow, you needn’t frown. An excellent fellow. And I always mean to see more of him. But a hidebound pendant for all that.

[00:27:20] An ignorant, blatant pendant.

[00:27:24] So he’s saying for all that, right.

[00:27:27] My. What he called my scientific heresies. A hidebound pendant for all that. And then even Lanyon says such sign, unscientific balderdash. So they’re both kind of doing this quippy little, you know. Oh yeah, he’s great and all and I’d love to see more of him. But you know, it’s such unscientific balderdash which would prompt you to Be like, what unscientific balderdash, right? My. My science, my he. What he thinks of my scientific heresies and all that.

[00:28:02] What scientific heresies? What? What all that. What? What all that is there. What.

[00:28:08] So even as a reader, I’m picking up on this, and I’m like, what’s going on with these two?

[00:28:14] What is the scientific heresies? What is the unscientific balderdash? What is the underlying thing that’s gotten these two men talking about each other in very much the same ways, right? I’d love to see more of him, but he’s gone wrong. Oh, I’d love to see more of him, but he so disappoints me in his rigidity.

[00:28:40] And Uterson is just like, whatever, let’s talk about Madeline.

[00:28:47] This will, right? He doesn’t care. Like, it’s completely.

[00:28:52] He doesn’t give a.

[00:28:53] He is not interested. He’s not interested in the science. He’s not interested in the heresies or the balderdash.

[00:29:00] I’m interested. When you say word like heresy and balderdash and science.

[00:29:07] I. You’ve got my attention, right?

[00:29:11] So I love that he’s just like, I don’t care. Ruthlessly disregarding the fresh topic. He’s not going to be deterred. And I love that about him. He is not a gossip. He does not want to hear it.

[00:29:24] But at the same time, it’s like Jekyll wants to be heard. And I think Lanyon, in a way, sort of said, that’s a prompt, maybe a discussion about what’s been going on between him and Jekyll, right?

[00:29:38] These two are like. They want someone to kind of get in the middle of whatever this is going on between them.

[00:29:46] So, you know, Utterson is like, you know, I never approved of it. My will, really.

[00:29:58] My will. Yes, certainly, I know that, said the doctor, a trifle sharply.

[00:30:04] You have told me so. So I like this. So switching the topics didn’t work.

[00:30:09] So I like that he’s like, we’re gonna talk about this again, my will.

[00:30:14] Yes, certainly, I know that you have told me so.

[00:30:18] Well, I tell you so again, continued the lawyer. I been learning something of young Hyde.

[00:30:26] The large, handsome face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale to the very lips.

[00:30:34] And there came a blackness about his. His eyes.

[00:30:38] I do not care to hear more, said he. This is a matter I thought we had agreed to drop.

[00:30:45] So I like that he’s described again with the adjective large.

[00:30:53] Dr. Jekyll was as he. He now sat on the Opposite side of the fire, a large, well made, smooth faced man of 50.

[00:31:03] And again, the large handsome face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale to the very lips.

[00:31:10] All these descriptions that we get of Hyde again are small. Hyde is small.

[00:31:16] He is a dwarf. He has quiet little footsteps. He, he shuffles when he walks.

[00:31:25] Small, right?

[00:31:29] I still am trying to wrap my mind around how all of the interpretations of Hyde are overblown, outrageous, tall, big, broad, creepily handsome. Right? Where do these come from?

[00:31:54] Where do the writers and directors get this idea when they read this, which they probably never have, and go, I’m gonna make Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and I’m gonna make Hyde huge.

[00:32:19] I’m gonna make Hyde handsome. I’m gonna make Hyde dashing and sexy and able to seduce all these women. I’m gonna make Hyde a big G.

[00:32:36] Why?

[00:32:40] What about this story so far, or story in general makes one want to make Jekyll a tiny kind of frail.

[00:32:57] I’ve even seen him sometimes as a little effeminate guy and hide the uber opposite of that.

[00:33:12] That is not how they’re described.

[00:33:16] That is not the impression that you are made to have about either one of these men.

[00:33:23] So I really want to know why the interpretation has always been this way.

[00:33:32] Most of the people who are making these movies and TV shows and interpretations are men.

[00:33:38] I might be wrong. If there’s a woman that worked on Mary Ryle.

[00:33:45] I have only seen maybe six versions of Jekyll and Hyde and that includes the Hoff on on stage, so I haven’t seen them all.

[00:34:10] And a couple of them were TV series, so I can’t speak for all the ones that have ever been made, but I’m pretty sure that they’re all made by men and they’re all, you know, taking this interpretation from their own right kind of thing.

[00:34:40] So I see the director, but who’s the, who’s the, who’s the writer of this?

[00:34:52] And I say Mary Riley because it’s so feminine focused. It either has to be a woman or it had to specifically be written to be targeted towards a female audience because John Malkovic’s Hyde is right. And it’s a love story, you know, taboo and all that. So it’s either a woman that wrote it or a man that wrote it for primarily a female audience because it’s, it’s the only one I’ve seen that even involves a woman and has any kind of aspect of romance in it that’s, you know, weird. And women, sorry, tend to kind of when they Write dark romance. It tends to be a little on the sm, sort of like, I don’t know why, but dark romance tends to be dark romance for a reason. But it always tends to have the same power feel.

[00:35:50] You know, I, I don’t get it, but whatever.

[00:35:54] So Mary Riley was directed by Stephen Frears. Well, that makes sense because he also directed Dangerously Essence. Maybe that’s how he got into the whole Malkovic thing.

[00:36:07] It was written by Valerie Martin and Christopher Hampton. So yes, there was a woman involved. That makes sense. Of course there was.

[00:36:18] So I think a lot of interpretations of Jekyll and Hyde put Hyde and Jack the Ripper together in a kind of package deal, even though they’re not remotely related in any way.

[00:36:38] But I think they kind of combine it into this sort of psychopath murdering dude and like someone who has just a blatant disregard for the rules of society, which includes gentlemanliness and let’s say, not murdering people on the street, because I guess those are the only two rules of society that exist. But Hyde tends to be a Ripper type or like a sociopath or a psychopath that’s very charming and can sort of charm women especially.

[00:37:18] And men sometimes are very intimidated by Hyde because either he’s a very imposing male or he just kind of has this charm and this, this dark presence about him that he, you know, he scares men, other men.

[00:37:36] I, I just don’t get it.

[00:37:44] Hyde is not that.

[00:37:48] He’s not that.

[00:37:50] And Jekyll is not some quivering, effeminate, mild mannered scientist either. From the description that I get, he’s described as large, large, well made, smooth faced man of 50, large, handsome face.

[00:38:22] I don’t get timid. I don’t get femme. I don’t get.

[00:38:28] And you know, the way that Lanyon says he’s become fanciful, that’s not what that fanciful means. It just means that he’s, he’s given to kind of what Lanyon considers to be fanciful ideas about science. Doesn’t mean he’s, you know, fanciful. Not that kind of fanciful.

[00:38:45] So I don’t, I don’t understand where the interpretation comes from. I don’t understand why people insist on taking this and going, let’s do this to it.

[00:39:01] Is it because they think it would be more interesting if Hyde was like Jack the Ripper, if he was handsome, if he seduced women instead of being a dwarf who runs around just creeping people out? Like, does that not make it an interesting story?

[00:39:16] I don’t, I don’t know. And I don’t know why every interpretation is like this. I don’t know why everybody who decides to reinterpret this book reintroduces, interprets it the same way.

[00:39:28] Like, where is it written in here that these characters should be like this?

[00:39:34] Why does every person who reads it and decides to make a version of it make the same kind of changes?

[00:39:46] I’m lost.

[00:39:47] If someone could explain it, that’s not a man I would be interested in.

[00:39:52] Because if a woman read this book, I wonder what her directorial and, you know, her version would be. How would a woman write this book?

[00:40:10] And again, it might be a whole different kind of bias.

[00:40:13] The. The roles might be maybe approximately the same.

[00:40:18] But I would like to see a woman write this. I would like to see a woman do her version of the actual story of Dracula. I would like to see someone, not a white guy, do versions of these classics as they are written.

[00:40:39] I would love to see that, because I don’t see why you wouldn’t.

[00:40:46] And don’t take this as me dissing the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, because as many things as I have to say about Hyde being interpreted strangely and Jekyll being interpreted strangely, that’s probably one of the best, most outrageous versions of Hyde I’ve ever seen.

[00:41:08] But at the same time, I like to think that that’s the whole point of that.

[00:41:15] But the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is the only version of Mina Harker that I feel does her any level of appropriate focus and respect at the same time.

[00:41:29] Because Mina Harker is an extraordinary character. She is strong and the leader of this group of men in this book. That is the only time I’ve ever seen her portrayed in a way that gives proper call to her role in the book.

[00:41:53] So the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is kind of cool that way, because I’ve never seen a man even discuss Mina Harker as anything other than some frail woman in distress, you know, but to give her props in a unique way, you know, making her a vampire and making her. You know, I think that’s awesome because Mina deserves that kind of power and respect at the same time. We have Hyde.

[00:42:20] Stay back if you value your life, and he’s crazy and he has a really small head. Anyway, so I just would love to know why someone won’t do this, you know, the way that it’s written, because it would be even more of a mystery, in a sense. Not that there’s any mystery with the story, but I’m saying let’s just pretend someone didn’t know anything about the book, it would be even more of a mystery and more of a how did we get here? Kind of thing. If Hyde was, like, significantly smaller and sort of more shrunken in a way that you can’t even kind of picture the people side by side. Right. You. There’s no way that you could equate them to way of looking at the story instead of him being this hulking, creepy mass of man that it’s so obvious what he is and so obvious, you know, what he’s about. Like, I don’t know, maybe. I just. I don’t read well. I don’t, you know, what do I know?

[00:43:32] End of Part one. Thanks for listening.