Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Annotated)

Robert Louis Stevenson's novella The Curious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was first published in 1886. It's about a London lawyer who looks into mysterious events involving his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and the misanthropic Edward Hyde. The work is known for its vivid depiction of a split personality, split in the sense that within the same person, there are both an apparently good and an apparently evil personality, each of which is very distinct from the other; in popular culture, the word "Jekyll and Hyde" has come to denote a person who is vastly different in moral character from one circumstance to the next.This differs from multiple personality disorder, in which the various personalities are not inherently morally distinct.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was an instant hit and became one of Stevenson's best-selling novels.

Within a year of its release, stage adaptations started in Boston and London, and it has since inspired a slew of major film and stage productions.