The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde/YMMV

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The book provides examples of:

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Not a full example as this is actually mused upon in the book, but the idea that the serum doesn't actually transform Jekyll into a different-looking evil man, it simply transforms him into a different-looking man, and it's the intoxication of being able to get away with any crime that leads him to act so evilly.
  • Of course many adaptations, especially recent ones, decide to eschew the idea that it changes his looks at all and represent the changes purely by acting.
• Complete Monster: Hyde. Jekyll writes that all men are "commingled out of good and evil" except Hyde, who's pure evil.
• Ho Yay: Too easy to read some Utterson/Jekyll into the former's concern for the latter.
  • Not to mention his fears that Hyde was Jekyll's lover, and was using that to blackmail him.
    • Homosexual undertones were read into the book early on, and a few of Stevenson's gay friends chided him for possibly bringing them to light at all. The recent passing of homosexual legislation up north meant that closeted homosexuality wasn't just a hot-button issue at the time, but that Stevenson could possibly have had it on the mind while writing. A closer look at the edits from the second manuscript seems to support this theory, as Utterson himself starts to read a little bit more into Jekyll and Hyde's perceived relationship. Then again, this was a time when two men could have a completely platonic Romantic Two-Man Friendship and not be chided for it (again, because the idea of two men having sex with each other was just too absurd for Victorian sensibilities).
    • A short story by Kim Newman, "Further Developments in the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", riffs on this; Essentially, Hyde is a separate person. And he's Jekyll's lover.
• It Was His Sled: In a big way.
• Mainstream Obscurity: Just ask a member of the general public to give you even a vague summary of the plot! As mentioned above, most people do not know that the dual identity was originally a Twist Ending, and it is not uncommon to see pastiches of it where Hyde is literally an ogre-like monster rather than simply an evil (but not even particularly ugly) man.
  • To be fair, Hyde is described in the book as a misshapen dwarf so ugly he inspires hatred in people without them understanding why.
  • A lot of people will assume the two girlfriends are part of the plot as well; they were introduced in the 1931 film and added to many subsequent versions.
• What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: Inverted. Stevenson wrote the first draft in one-sitting during a speed binge.

The 1988 video game provides examples of:

• The Problem with Licensed Games: It's The Angry Video Game Nerd's least favourite game. And he plays a lot of bad ones.