I read the book after watching the excellent 1941 Spencer Tracy movie based on it and was surprised (although maybe I shouldn't have been) at the liberties Hollywood took with the text. Neither the barmaid Ivy (Ingrid Bergman) nor Dr. Jekyll's fiancée Beatrice (Lana Turner) are in the book and they are major roles in the movie!
Instead, the book focuses on the observations of Dr. Jekyll's friends and servants about his mysterious and strangely repellent friend Mr. Hyde who is seen visiting his office frequently and at odd hours. He does not seem like the type of person the morally upright and influential Dr. Jekyll would normally associate with, so there is a lot of speculation about him. In the end, Dr. Jekyll confesses the truth in a letter to one of his friends.
I see the story as a lesson of what can happen when a person decides to give himself permission to occasionally indulge in something evil. He thinks he is in control as he only gives in now and then, and he can keep it in a separate watertight compartment from the rest of his life. But the indulgence becomes a habit and soon it controls him and takes over.
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