05 43 STEVENSON

Robert Louis Stevenson
(1850-1894)
Performer Heritage.blu
Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella,
Margaret Layton © 2018
Robert Louis Stevenson
1. Life
• Born into a middle-class family
in Edinburgh in 1850.
• Since his childhood, he
suffered from tuberculosis and
spent much of his time in bed.
• He travelled a lot in an
attempt to improve his health.
• His trips provided him with
inspiration for his writings.
• He settled in Samoa and died
there in 1894.
Performer Heritage
Robert Louis Stevenson
2. Works
• Treasure Island (1883) brought
him success.
• The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde (1886) made his
reputation.
• He wrote many other notable
books including Kidnapped
(1886) and Master of Ballantrae
(1889). He also published
collections of short stories and
other tales.
Performer Heritage
Robert Louis Stevenson
3. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: plot
• Mr Utterson, a respectable London lawyer, is a friend of
the brilliant scientist Henry Jekyll.
• The scientist has created a potion able to release his evil
side, Mr Hyde.
• These two beings are in perpetual struggle.
• Hyde achieves domination over the Jekyll aspect.
• In the end Jekyll’s suicide is the final and only choice.
Performer Heritage
Robert Louis Stevenson
3. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: the setting
• Victorian London in the 1870s. The town
had a double nature
the respectable West End vs the appalling
East End slums.
• Jekyll’s house has two façades
the front used by the doctor is attractive, part
of a square of handsome houses, while
the rear side, used by Mr Hyde, is part of
a sinister block of buildings.
• Most of the scenes takes place at night.
Performer Heritage
Robert Louis Stevenson
4. Style
Utterson  the story is told in the 3rd
person from his point of view. He plays the
role of a detective.
Multi-narrative structure
and four narrators:
Enfield  a distant relative of Utterson’s.
He tells Utterson a terrible story about a
man trampling a child.
Dr Lanyon  a friend and colleague of
Jekyll’s. He tells of his experiencing Jekyll’s
transformation.
Dr Jekyll  his narrative and final
confession takes up the last chapter
Performer Heritage
Robert Louis Stevenson
4. Style
• The language is simple and
clear.
• Use of puns:
‘If he be Mr Hyde, […] I shall be
Mr Seek.’
Performer Heritage
Robert Louis Stevenson
5. Sources
The novel had its origin in a dream: a man in a laboratory
swallowed a drug and turned into a different being.
The Gothic aspect
of this dream
excited Stevenson
who produced a
first draft
Performer Heritage
The Calvinism of
Stevenson’s family
gave the writer a
sense of the duality
of man’s nature
Robert Louis Stevenson
6. Influences and interpretations
• Darwin’s studies about man’s
kinship to the animal world  Hyde is
deformed and abnormal, the symbol
of repressed psychological drives.
• Jekyll is a Victorian Faust  His
awareness is a sort of a pact with
interior evil that controls him in the
end.
• A reflection on art itself  Jekyll’s
discovery may be the artist’s journey
into the human psyche.
Performer Heritage
Robert Louis Stevenson
7. Main theme
The double nature of human beings  Jekyll and Hyde are the
stereotypes of people who are good and evil.
Jekyll has led a virtuous life 
Hyde is pure hate and evil 
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his face is handsome;
his hands white;
his body is large and
harmonious.
Performer Heritage
his face is pale;
his hands are dark and hairy;
his body is dwarfish and
deformed.