The protagonist of Robert Louis Stevenson's *Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde* is Dr Henry Jekyll. He is a respected London physician who experiments with separating the moral sides of human nature, creating the alter ego Edward Hyde.
The story is framed largely through the investigations of Gabriel John Utterson, Jekyll's lawyer and friend. That structure sometimes leads readers to call Utterson the narrative's central investigator, but Jekyll is the title character whose transformation drives the plot and whose confession reveals the mystery.
First published in 1886, the novella became a defining work of Gothic horror. Jekyll's potion temporarily releases Hyde, who grows increasingly violent and eventually appears without the need for the drug. The common mix-up is treating Jekyll and Hyde as two unrelated men: Hyde is Jekyll's destructive alternate identity.