Trivia for English majors

"Jeykll" does not rhyme with "freckle."

The correct (and little-known) Scottish pronunciation of Jekyll is ‘Jee-kul’... I originally discovered this uncommon fact whilst studying at Kent. It was told to me by a favourite lecturer who said that Stevenson had intended ‘Jee-kul to rhyme with treacle, not Jeck-ul to rhyme with heckle’.

I'll interrupt to note that many Americans would mispronounce "treacle" to rhyme with "heckle."  I would suggest instead "Jekyll should rhyme with fecal."  Now to continue...

My quest launched me into the world of Hollywood (fount of all cultural wisdom), where in 1941 a film was made based on the text starring Hollywood heavyweights Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, and Lana Turner.  The film was a remake of a 1931 production starring Fredric March.

The interesting thing is that March pronounced Jekyll ‘Jee-kul’, whilst Tracy pronounced it ‘Jeck-ul’. Despite being made only ten years later, Tracy’s portrayal of Jekyll and Hyde marked a watershed moment for the shift in pronunciation in mainstream society.

So why did March’s pronunciation not take hold instead, given that it had a ten-year head start?  [answer at the link]

There seems little doubt that Stevenson meant for Jekyll to be pronounced the Scottish way. Jekyll is an actual Scottish surname and Stevenson borrowed it from a family he befriended (that of famous horticulturalist Gertrude Jekyll)...

There is also a lovely anecdote that suggests Stevenson may have chosen the name as a joke, intending ‘Jee-kul’ to rhyme with ‘seek all’, in opposition to Mr Hyde (or Mr Hide) and in reference to the children’s game ‘Hide and Seek’.

Or maybe he wanted Jekyll to rhyme with cecal...

You learn something every day.