Stevenson

Stevenson: the man and the writer

Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850. Because of his poor health he spent most of his childhood in bed tutored at home under the influence of his family's Calvinism. He took up engineering at University but he graduated in law. During his adolescence he travelled a lot; he lived in England, Germany, France and Italy and then moved from Australia to Tahiti. All the time he was in conflict with his social environment: the respectable Victorian world. Then he became a bohemian openly rejecting his family's religious principles and love for respectability. Stevenson became popular when he published "Treasure Island" and "The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde".. In the end he died of a brain haemorrhage in 1894.

The origin of the novel

This novel had its origin in a dream: Stevenson wrote down in this diary that he had dreamed of a man in a laboratory who had swallowed a drug and turned into a different being.. so he produced a first draft that depicted the double nature of Victorian society. Also Stevenson was concerned with the duality of man's nature, the good and evil sides.

The plot

The story is told from the point of view of Mr Utterson, a lawyer and friend of the scientist Dr Jekyll. Utterson is who begins to question  the odd behaviour of his friend. He also discovers that Jekyll has created a potion able to release his evil side, Mr Hyde. These two beings are in perpetual struggle and finally the individual has two choices:

to conduced a life made of crime and depravity

or

to eliminate "Hyde" in the only way left: by killing him.

So Jekyll's suicide is the finally and only choice.

The double nature of the setting

The setting of the novel seems to be halfway between England and Scotland, London and Edinburgh. Both capitals had a double nature. This ambivalence is reinforced by the symbolism of Jekyll's house whose two facades are symbolically the faced of the two opposed sides of the same man. Most scenes of the novel take place at night infact the most important events are wrapped up in darkness and fog.

Good and evil

The novel Is the portrayal of good and evil and its characters Jekyll and Hyde, are the stereotypes of people who are good and evil. Jekyll has lived a virtuose life, his face and his body larger than Hyde's. Hyde is pure hate and evil he is pale and dwarfish.. Though the evil side of Jekyll's nature is initially less developed, Hyde gradually spoils his good twin, threatening and overthrowing the original balance of good and evil in Jekyll's nature.

A multi-narrative technique

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has a multi-narrative structure. There are four narrators, though whom almost the whole action is seen and filtered: Enfield, Utterson, Dr Lanyon and finally Dr Jekyll himself.