The document provides biographical information about Robert Louis Stevenson and analyzes his novella "The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." It notes that Stevenson was born in 1850 in Edinburgh and rejected a conventional life, eventually settling in Samoa. The summary describes the plot of Jekyll and Hyde, in which a respected doctor develops a potion that turns him into his evil alter ego Mr. Hyde. It analyzes themes of duality, the double nature of man and Victorian society, and the narrative technique involving multiple narrators.

1. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
1854- 1894

2. 
ROBERT LOUIS
STEVENSON
 Edinburgh 1850
 Poor health (home
tuition)
 Periods in France,
Germany and Italy
(healthy weather)
 Rejected his life>
bohemian
 Graduation in law 1875
 Settled in Samoa
 Married Fanny Osbourne,
American
 Died of a brain
haemmorhage 1894

3. 
NOVELS
Treasure Island,
1883
The Strange Case
of Doctor Jekyll
and Mr Hyde,
1886
Kidnapped, 1886

4. 
 A dream
 Gothic aspects (despised by Victorians)
 1880s/1889s: revival
 Victorian Compromise: double aspects of
Victorian society (antithetical values, sexual
repression)
 Stevenson: concerned with the double nature
of man (good vs evil) + Calvinistic education
«The Strange Case of Doctor
Jekyll and Mr Hyde»

5. 
Simple plot
Man divided into two sides on a
perpetual struggle
A respectable man, Dr Jekyll
VS
An evil genius, Mr Hyde
Chemical solution in the laboratory
PLOT

6. 
 At night Hyde is released
 Achieves domination over Jekyll
 Two choices
 A life of crime and depravity (Hyde)
VS
 A respectable life (Jekyll)
 One solution : eliminate Hyde by killing him
 Jekyll’s self murder / suicide
PLOT

7. 
 Double nature of London /Edinburgh
(hypocrisy of Victorian society)
 London: respectable West End VS East End
slums
 Edinburgh: elegant New Town VS Old
Town
 Jekyll’s house: attractive front side (used by
Jekyll) vs sinister rear side (used by Hyde)
DOUBLE NATURE OF
THE SETTING

8. 
DOUBLE NATURE OF
THE SETTING
 Night scenes: no natural daylight, artificial
lights
 Darkness and fog for important events
 Hyde tramples over the child (3.00 a.m.)
 Murder of a respectable M.P. (at night)
 Jekyll/Hyde’s suicide (night)

9. 
Characters
 No women
 No wives
 Professional ties
 Respectable world
 Bachelors, lawyers,
doctors
 Patriarchal world of
Victorian Age

10. 
 Jekyll & Hyde: stereotype of good and evil
 Jekyll: respectable life, handsome, white
hands, well shaped
 Hyde: pure hate, evilpale and dwarfish, dark
hands and hair, «Satan’s signature»
 Jekyll’s fine clothes: too large for Hyde
 Hyde: «plunges in the sea of liberty», erodes
his good twin
GOOD VS EVIL

11. 
 Multilayered structure
 Complex series of points of view
 4 narrators: Enfield, Utterson, Lanyon &
Jekyll
NARRATION
TECHNIQUE

12. 
NARRATION
TECHNIQUE
 Utterson: a sort of detective (similar to Sherlock
Holmes), follows clues and develops hypotheses
 Enfield: far Utterson’s relative (strange
relationship)
 Lanyon: Dr Jekyll’s friend and colleague, a sort
of mirror ( a sort of Jiminy Cricket!)
 Very curious
 Tempted by forbidden knowledge
 That’s why he finally dies!
 Jekyll himself: last chapter and final confession

13. 
 Description of Hyde: Darwin’s theories
(man’s kinship to the animal world)
 No explanation for his mall stature,
deformity
 Primitive forerunner of civilised man
 Grotesque animal imagery
 Jekyll’s psychological repression projected
into Hyde
INFLUENCES AND
INTERPRETATIONS

14. 
Jekyll as guilty as Hyde
Hyde represents Jekyll’s hidden
pleasures
Jekyll = Hyde
Jekyll: a kind of Victorian Faust
The artist’s journey into the unexplored
lands of human mind
INFLUENCES AND
INTERPRETATIONS

16.  Origin of the novel
 Where it takes place
 Narrative technique
 Main characters
 Most important themes
 Jeckyll as a «Victorian
Faust»

17. 
 How the Victorians dealt with crime
 The attitudes towards domestic violence
 How criminals were viewed throughout the
Victorian Age
 www.bbc.co.uk
 DISCUSSION
 Is it easy to break the law in your country? Think of
some examples.
WEBQUEST
CRIME & VIOLENCE

18. 
What actor do you think would be
perfect to play both Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde in a new film adaptation
of the Robert Louis Stevenson’s
novel?
One more question
now…

19. Johnny Depp

20. 
«Sweeney Todd»
 Sweeney Todd is a fictional character
 Protagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful «The String
of Pearls», 1846-47
 Penny dreadful: pejorative expression to refer to cheap
popular serial literature (mid Victorian Britain)
 Pennhy horrible, penny awful, penny blood
 Story published weekly for one penny each part
 Subject matter: overdramatic & sensational

23. HTTP://ONLINE.SCUOLA.Z
ANICHELLI.IT/LITLAB-
FILES/AUDIO/TEXT_129.M
P3
JECKYLL’S EPERIMENT,
PG E102