『지킬 박사와 하이드 씨』의 고딕 소설적 특징과 각색 공연물과의 비교

Abstract

This essay examines Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, in comparison with its theatrical adaptations. As a gothic fiction written in the fin-de-siècle Victorian age, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde demonstrates the central themes of nineteenth-century gothic literature, featuring the ambiguity of human nature, doubt regarding science and rationalism, and middle-class hypocrisy and guilt, all of which are embodied by the novella’s protagonist, Jekyll. In contrast to these predominantly gothic conventions seen in the fiction, its theatrical and musical adaptations add the key features of melodrama to the original story. Instead of Jekyll’s moral ambiguity and psychological conflict, the stark contrast between Jekyll and Hyde, each incarnating human goodness and malice, symbolizes the indelible separation between good and evil. As the plot has become simplified, a new element of heterosexual romance has also been inserted in Thomas Sullivan’s play and Frank Wildhorn’s musical. These melodramatic features effectively bring out the audience’s (excessive) emotion. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and its theatrical adaptations showcase how a literary classic, turning into a new text using different mediums, can be reread and reinterpreted by the readers and audience. This protean performativity of the text contributes to the novella’s undying popularity.