#“utterson comma my utterson”

[freddos616]

i feel like sherlock and john are literally so gay in every adaptation that i see, but i don't think of them as gay (for each other) in the original work?

[chemiicalformula]

Ok bc of your doctor jekyll and mr hyde post I am now extremely curious. What's your favorite interpretation of the original story?

ah! hello anon!! sorry i took a while, i usually don't get asks and this honestly made me very happy!!! 🧪 buckle up because you've just opened the flood gates

(also i use commas like my life depends on it, so my apologies in advance for run-ons)

so, let's see, my favorite interpretation of the strange case of... , that's a bit of a tough one seeing as i like quite a few i've seen around and also my own, sort of, which is...

essentially, what i got was henry jekyll and edward hyde are both henry jekyll. one man, two bodies ; not two men, one body/head/mind, you get me? i don't exactly enjoy how media has turned them into a "split personality" symbol when that's not what the original story was about, and i also don't really enjoy how people try to write off henry as some sort of saint when he was simply going incognito mode by mixing a potion and disguising himself so he could try and just live life until it unfortunately took a turn for the worst

and with that said, i feel i must address that when it comes to the movies (although i absolutely love fredric march's performance as the doctor and mister hyde in the 1931 film) i really hate that most of them try to:

A. make him appear far younger and more innocent/naive than he is because come on, he's written as a large, fifty year old man who is a bit (well actually a lot) unhinged and selfish but knows how to act like he's not (and i love him for it)

B. have him be engaged to marry a woman (most times the daughter of sir danvers carew when that's the dude he literally murdered like huh???) when i'm a firm believer (as a bisexual nb man) in henry jekyll being someone who was forced to hide his sexuality because of the strict victorian society he lives in, so he just never marries and goes on about his life alone out of shame with a hint of fear

C. try to pass it off as some sort of intrusive thoughts or split personality thing because it's not either, and finally

D. don't add in utterson or hastie because!!! come on man, they were in the story too! and poole, and enfield because some of their dialogue made me giggle for no reason (in all honesty, i find a lot of the book very humorous but maybe that's just because i love the characters and feel a strong connection to the premise given personal reasons)

now, i do love hearing theories; one big example is utterson thinking hyde was some sort of secret lover or even more outrageous (a long lost son??!) who's planning to blackmail jekyll. it's really funny to me in a dark comedy sort of way because it's such a huge leap to make seeing as gabriel is one of his best friends, yet he came to that kind of conclusion so quickly after henry said edward hyde was someone of interest to him, but given the time period and the customs, it's not surprising to understand why he could be thinking that (plus i don't think jekyll running down the stairs after waking up as hyde in his hilariously oversized clothes or filling hyde's townhouse with expensive stuff made it any better)

"i can't pretend i shall ever like him." GABRIEL, DEAR SIR, THAT'S JUST JEKYLL YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!! and it's so funny!!

i also love the interpretations by everyone who says they head canon henry jekyll/edward hyde as being on the spectrum or/and that he's trans, because hell yeah dude, as someone who is both, i will give all of you a high-five for being so rad and so cool

i feel like there's more i could say but i've rambled so much already and i apologize for that, but thank you once again for the ask and feel free to message me if you ever want to talk about more (anyone for that matter can do so because i really want to engage with more fans!!) 💉

bonus : for reading this far, here's a silly drawing