The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson

It deals with the relation of the baser parts of man to his nobler—of the capacity for evil that exists in the most generous natures,

and it expresses these things in a fable which is a wonderfully happy invention.

--Henry James, American novelist

Robert Louis Stevenson

• Sickly child & man• Dad wanted him to be an engineer• Married Fanny (right after she divorced her 1st

husband)• Other works– Treasure Island (1883)– Kidnapped (1885), David Balfour (1893)– Jekyll & Hyde (1886)

Victorian EnglandQueen Victoria ruled 1837-1901

• England was world’s leading economic & military power

• Railroads & postal system linked country

• Medical & sanitary advances

• Industry grew rapidly, agriculture became less important

Changes in Victorian England

• Increase in urban populations leads to poverty• Difficult foreign wars challenge English Empire• Workers demand more power• Women enter work force in greater numbers

Changes to “traditional” England disturb & frighten many Britons.

Stevenson aware of new ideas about economics, science and the workings of

the mind• Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde was a symbolic

representation of these threats to traditional society– Karl Marx—struggle for power among social

classes– Charles Darwin—evolution; survival of the fittest– Sigmund Freud—humans are influenced by

impulses that they are not aware of

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. HydeInstant Success

• Novella (longer & more complex than a short story, but shorter and simpler than novels)

• Published in chapters• Critics compared Stevenson to:– Edgar Allen Poe (Tell Tale Heart, Masque of the

Red Death, Cask of Amontillado)

– Nathaniel Hawthorne (Scarlett Letter, The Minister’s Black Veil, Young Goodman Brown)

Do you listen to your dreams?

In 1885, Stevenson was awakened by his wife, Fanny. He scolded her because she had interrupted a “fine bogey tale.”

Wrote the 1st draft in 3 days, but Fanny judged that is was nothing more than a spooky story; she challenged him to explore its philosophical possibilities.

Burned first draft; final draft produced 3 days later.