#jekyll and hyde weekly

[nik-the-bik]

Chapter 9: Dr. Lanyon's Narrative

I've had this meme template sitting on my computer for nearly 2 years and suddenly had divine inspiration strike

[bluecatwriter]

He is literally the best.

(Image description in Alt.)

[immediatebreakfast]

I really, really need to count how many times any kind of alcoholic beverage appears in a scene, and how factors around it affect the scene itself within the story. Of course the very blantant message of wanting to have a good stage in society plus enjoying the benefits of it while gratifying your own selfish desires without caring how you affect others is very studied, yet I wonder how the theme of addiction plus social class was seen back then.

Knowing that Hyde is described as this "state" of unrestrained freedom that Jekyll has access to in very specific moments where he longs for a out sight view from victorian society. Along with Hyde being this "mysterious" entity which Utterson desperately wants to understand for the sake of his old friend while Jekyll shamefully hides it, and claims that he can "stop it" in a matter of a single spoken promise:

“Utterson, I swear to God,” cried the doctor, “I swear to God I will never set eyes on him again. I bind my honour to you that I am done with him in this world. It is all at an end.”

I do wonder, would the word addiction be used to describe Jekyll? Considering how socially and economically segregated everything was, what would be the cultural language used in late victorian england to describe addiction? It is now known that mentally ill people who were also poor always got the medical diagnosis of "pauper lunatic" no matter what kind of problems they had, yet would a rich person receive the same name?

“I cannot say that I care what becomes of Hyde; I am quite done with him. I was thinking of my own character, which this hateful business has rather exposed.”

What was the line in which something was classified as that? A poor person with an addiction to drugs or alcohol would have been called a lunatic along with some classist and ableist comments of such person being "more prone" to do so... However, if a rich person "got caught" with the same state such as the upstanding member of the community and condecorated doctor Henry Jekyll... Would It be instant social downfall, or would it be carefully twisted into having "too much indulgence".

[posingsodomite]

URGENT MESSAGE: I'm on my knees begging you guys to SIGN UP FOR WHAT MANNER OF MAN before it starts on friday!!! 🙇🙇🙇

look me in the eyes! I'm grasping you urgently by the lapels! it's like if Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde were taking notes from my ao3 bookmarks. it has all the authentically victorian vibes I've never found in queer historical fiction and all the hot gay sex they couldn't put in the real stuff. I wish I could eat it!!

IT HAS:

erotic vampirism

hot priest

catholic guilt

celtic paganism-flavored fantasy vibes

CATHOLIC GUILT

lesbian swashbuckling

did I mention the guilt????

please!! you have to help me! I have a fatal disease and the only cure is more people talking about WHAT MANNER OF MAN ⬇️⬇️⬇️

[artemisyates]

Little drawing of what I imagine Dr Henry Jekyll would wear when out and about on the streets of London.

Featuring very important plot relevant cane that was canonically a gift from Utterson.

[thegoatsongs]

Utterson: :l

The crowd: *goes wild*

[poeticearthmonth]

4 days until Jekyll and Hyde Weekly begins!

[spider-xan]

I find it really interesting that all three of Utterson, Lanyon, and Jekyll are introduced in the context of wine and drinking in a way that says something about their individual characters.

Utterson enjoys wine, but drinks gin when alone to avoid indulging, and when he does drink wine in the company of friends, it brings out something more human and lively in his eyes, even if he remains quiet.

Lanyon is drinking wine by himself at dinner when Utterson visits him, so unlike his friend, he's perfectly fine with privately indulging in wine and isn't at all embarrassed or ashamed that Utterson walked in on him enjoying himself.

Jekyll is hosting a dinner party where everyone is a good judge of fine wines, painting him as a socialite who loves hosting and indulging in the company of others, where drinking is a social activity, and it goes along with how he seems to be the most free-spirited and self-indulgent of the three; it's also here where Utterson is given the opportunity to indulge in the company of friends, as per his personal habits; interestingly, the way Jekyll talks about his connection to Hyde also has overtones of addiction and alcoholism once he and Utterson are alone together afterwards.

[paulgadzikowski]

[see-arcane]

Jekyll: "Well, that's it! No more Hyde! Time for a fresh start, some good clean living, and absolutely no consequences for my past actions from here on out!"

Two Months Later

Jekyll, locked in his lab doing [REDACTED] while Lanyon dies of 'What the absolute fuck was that??' shockitis and Utterson realizes he might wind up the last old friend standing: "Okay so it turns out that the conses are, in fact, quencing"

[thecrazywriter]

Alright, so far we have a Frankenstein musical, a Jekyll & Hyde musical, and a Dracula musical. Any other classic lit musicals I should know about?

[nik-the-bik]

I love (hate) how from the first scene where we actually get to see Jekyll, we see just how manipulative he is.

Utterson brings up the will. Jekyll immediately tries to change the topic to 'Bitching About Lanyon.'

Utterson persists. Jekyll tries to play dumb about the reason Utterson brings it up.

Utterson name drops Hyde. Jekyll looks uncomfortable and asks to drop the subject.

Utterson pushes forward. Jekyll tries to win Utterson's pity without telling him anything.

Jekyll even butters Utterson up, saying that the concern is "downright good of you" and that he'd trust Utterson over anyone else, and it works! Utterson begins to let it drop.

But now JEKYLL starts pushing Utterson, insisting that he promise as his friend to take care of Hyde should it be necessary, and effectively getting what he wants out of the will situation in the first place. And Utterson agrees!

Jekyll took what was initially an uncomfortable interrogation and turns it around so that he finally gets Utterson on his side without revealing a damn thing.

And that's where some of that horror element is supposed to come in - if he was an upstanding guy like Utterson thinks, none of this would feel calculated. It's all a perfectly natural way to behave when pressed on a sore subject. It's why Utterson gives in at all!

But we know Jekyll's selfish as hell. Of course he knew exactly what he was doing.

And if anything, it proves Utterson's main weakness is the blind spot he has when it comes to Jekyll.

[bluecatwriter]

Utterson: I incline to Cain’s heresy; I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.

Jekyll: *leaves all his earthly goods to Hyde in the case of his disappearance*

Utterson: ...Nevermind I'm gonna hunt down this devil and tear Henry Jekyll out of its grasp with my own bare hands

[immediatebreakfast]

It's so wild to think about how the more I realize that Jekyll literally kept digging in own grave (both as Hyde and him) in a way that only an aristocratic upper class victorian man could do.

Not caring enough about the kind of people he crosses, thinking that money can solve absolutely everything, pushing away any kind of help or comment even if it is from Utterson who is his most intimate friend. On top of Hyde thinking that he can swipe all of what he does under the smoky corners of Soho despite not doing a single thing to mask his actual socioeconomical status.

Utterson only started to "chase" Hyde when he did a crime that was completely unrelated to Jekyll. Moreover, the way both lawyer and police follow his trail is thanks to the very group of people that is completely overlooked by upper class nobility: the service workers. Both the poor maid, and the old housekeeper directed the eyes of the law exactly where it needed to be since Hyde probably never considered that service workers can not only see the actions of the upper class, but that they will gladly talk about them. Whenever it's out of pure fear like the maid, or pure karmic satisfaction like the housekeeper.

Then, Jekyll gives a fucking written letter with the worst timing possible in order to try, and cover Hyde's tracks. I just can't with this even when I know that I have the insight because I'm not part of the narrative, nor have the same cultural ideals of the late victorian england, but god... Utterson literally told Jekyll that he was willingly to overlook his connection to a murderer if he truly promised him to be done with the whole circus.

“You seem pretty sure of him,” said he; “and for your sake, I hope you may be right. If it came to a trial, your name might appear.”

Right here! Right here everything would have stopped legally wise! But, Jekyll is paranoid, and well... It seemed that he underestimated Utterson's competence, and the intellegence of the people surrounding Utterson. Now our poor lawyer truly understood that he can't trust Jekyll anymore.

This whole conflict was born out of a series of mistakes, paranoia, and serious arrogance from both Jekyll and Hyde in the wild wild game of truly caring for both your presentation and your actions. This book may be about identity, morality, and addiction, but never doubt that the very clear social and economical privilige that Jekyll holds was his own weird undoing.

[serial-serializednovelreader]

What other novels to your inbox do you recommend? I have done Dracula Daily for years and I want to expand my horizon. War is pretty much the only thing that I don't like. Thanks

Hi!

So funny story, contrary to my username and bio…I have not been keeping up with the classic novels in my emails lately. BUT. That does not mean I don’t have some recommendations for you!

Also, since you did mention you don’t like war, I made sure not to recommend any novels that heavily involve war (War & Peace & Emails, for instance). However, I do know some characters in these recommendations have history with war (e.g. Watson was a war doctor) and I’ve made sure to make mention of that wherever possible. So, I apologize if that comes off as annoying or stating the obvious, I just want you to be fully informed before you read. I’m also listing general content warnings as a rule to inform anyone who might be interested in these Substacks. :)

On to the recommendations!

If you’re looking for mystery…

Learn about the greatest detective of all time from his faithful partner — that’s right! Read Letters from Watson to get the scoop on Sherlock and solve mysteries alongside the legendary duo. I thought this was such a cool concept and I wish I had been able to keep up with it. But it was very fun for the time I did. It goes through the entire chronology of Sherlock stories (which is a lot, by the way) and they just started going through the “more complex cases” (aka, the 4 Sherlock novels) back in January. So, it might be a good time to start! There isn’t war in these cases (at least as far as I know, each email does have a list of content warnings for specifics), but Watson was a war doctor and this does come up frequently, just as a heads up.

If you’re looking for epistolary stories…

Literary Letters takes obscure epistolary novels from the public domain and puts them into your inbox! Right now they’re reading The Sorrows of Young Werther, which is about a guy who’s in love with a girl who’s betrothed to another and writes very passionate letters on the subject.

For a content warning, I’ve included the publisher’s note on this one: “There are passages where the book discusses Werther’s depression, despair, rationalizations for suicide, and the suicide itself at length, so please take whatever precautions you need to read the book safely, which may include buddy reading, mental health breaks, or skipping it altogether.”

So with that being said, the reason I got into this email chain was actually for their first novel they emailed - The Lightning Conductor. I absolutely loved this novel and I heavily recommend going back into the archives to read it and its sequel if you can (that one is in the “Side Stories” archive). It’s a very lighthearted read and a romance, told in epistolary format! Basically, it’s about this smart (yet a bit scatterbrained — not judging, because, same) woman who goes to Europe for the first time and she ends up meeting a gentleman when her car breaks down. Said gentleman is mistaken for a chauffeur and he goes along with it, just because she’s dreamy and he’s already smitten with her. Then there’s her “best guy friend” and her mom trying to throw a wrench in their plans. It’s utter chaos and I love it. I could go on for hours about this novel, but I won’t! I do highly recommended reading it if you ever get the chance.

If you’re looking for a read in verse format…

Check out Divine Comedy Weekly! It’s telling Dante’s Divine Comedy every Tuesday and Thursday. There’s not much to say about this one because I dropped out pretty early in the game, unfortunately. For some reason, stories told in a lyrical/verse format don’t seem to be my thing, but maybe they’re your thing! I think it’s a great concept and for that reason, I will recommend this.

If you’re looking for an all-new read…

North and South by Jane Austen is coming to your inbox this June! It’s apparently a bit like Pride and Prejudice but with the Industrial Revolution and labor relations. I actually just subscribed to this one and I’m excited to see how I enjoy it!

If you’re looking for a long haul read…

Buckle in! It’s time for Whale Weekly! That’s right, you’re in for a THREE YEAR TRIP with this bad boy because Ishmael is emailing you the tale of Moby Dick. Life has gotten in the way and I’ve fallen behind (though this is motivating me to catch up again), but this is actually really good as an email read because this guy goes on so many tangents, it’s more fun for me to absorb his thoughts in spaced out emails, rather than if I tried to read the book.

The memes are very fun with this one, but please keep in mind there is racism and foul language in this, as well as other heavy topics I can’t remember off the top of my head. Also, this does not take place in a war setting, but I do believe some characters have been in war in the past, so that is probably something to keep in mind with this one!

This one is coming to an end fairly soon (I didn’t realize we were on chapter 113/135 OOF), so I don’t know if they’re going to do another round after this or leave it. I imagine it would probably be hard to catch up at this point, but I’m going to link it anyway because I typed all of this up before realizing how far along we were and I do still recommend the read in email format rather than a novel format.

If you’re looking for horror…

I would recommend “The Beetle Weekly”. I wasn’t able to finish this one because LifeTM got in the way, but it is, for sure, one of the reads of all time. Probably the best and worst thing you could read ever tbh. It’s not very enjoyable and I’m not pitching it well at all, but for some reason, I am legitimately recommending this because it is hilarious to read with Tumblr memes by your side. As a heads up, this book does include racism, gore, sexism, transphobia (iirc?) and likely more content warnings I can’t remember. The reason I’m recommending it at all is because it does carry some of the same themes as Dracula and the characters are interesting. Plus, love it or hate it, I reacted while reading this book - a lot. Did I mention I have a bug phobia? Also, fun fact: it was published at the same time as Dracula and was actually MORE POPULAR than Dracula for a while before fading into obscurity.

The only thing is, it did just end last April so you might have to wait until December for it to crawl back into your inbox if you’re interested.

If you’re looking for a thriller…

Jekyll and Hyde Weekly. I absolutely LOVED THIS ONE!!!! Very much vibes of Dracula Daily. Immaculate stuff right there. This one has a lot more comedy than you’d think and was very enjoyable. Content warnings for violence against a child (mentioned, not shown), body horror, and there is one more I can’t say without spoiling the book (feel free to DM me if you’re interested in knowing).

Again, this is pretty short and it’s not currently active; it runs November through January, so that’s when you can look out for it!

I was hoping to recommend some more via a masterlist, I know someone made a post waaay back in 2022 when this serialized email novel thing first got started, but it looks like it got deleted, so if there is a new one, I would love for anyone to share it just for future reference!

I do have a couple of honorable mentions I’ll link that I haven’t read and know next to nothing about, but just so you can have even more recommendations. Please feel free to share your favorites!

[artemisyates]

Mr. Utterson the lawyer.