More about Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson, a Scottish essayist, poet, and author of fiction and travel books, was born in 1850 in Edinburgh. As a child he suffered from tuberculosis and spent much of his time in bed composing stories before he could even read. Stevenson studied engineering at Edinburgh University but, due to his ill health, had to abandon his plans to follow his father's footsteps. He changed to law and passed the Scottish bar in 1875.Stevenson then took some time to travel to warmer countries in an attempt to improve his health. These experiences provided much material for his works.Stevenson is especially known for his adventure novels. His first success was the romantic adventure story Treasure Island. His other proeminant works include Kidnapped, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Black Arrow. A characteristic of Stevenson's novels is a skilful use of horror and supernatural elements. His stories are often set in colourful locations, where his characters can forget the restrictions of Victorian social manners.

Dr.Jekyll

The Strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, published in January of 1886, sold 40000 copies. The mystery of Jekyll and Hyde is gradually revealed through the narratives of Mr. Enfield, Mr. Utterson, Dr. Lanyon and Jekyll's butler Poole. Utterson, Jekyll's lawyer discovers that the nasty Mr. Edward Hyde is the heir of Dr.Jekyll's fortune. Hyde is suspected of a murder. Utterson and Poole break into Jekyll's laboratory and find the lifeless Hyde. Two documents explain the mystery: Jekyll's old friend, the late Dr. Lanyon tells that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. In his own account Jekyll tells that to separate the good and evil aspects of his nature, he invented a transforming drug. His evil self takes the form of the repulsive Mr. Hyde. Jekyll's supplies of drugs run out and he finds himself slipping involuntarily into being Hyde. Jekyll kills himself, but the last words of the confession are written by his alter ego: "Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Dr. Jekyll to an end."The story has been considered as a criticism of a Victorian double morality, but it can be read as a comment on Charles Darwin's book "Origin of Species" – Dr. Jekyll turn in his experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured human being. Henry James admired Stevenson's "genuine feeling for the perpetual moral question, a fresh sense of the difficulty of being good and the brutishness of being bad". Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde has become and icon of popular culture and was adapted among other into screen over twenty times. The story of double personality and metamorphosis appealed strongly to Victorian readers.

Commentary by Patrick Nelson

Jekyll and Hyde represent two of the most often used characters in literary history. The story involves a middle-aged scientist who experiments with different potions until he transforms into a completely different person: a situation resembling multiple personality disorder. The story has become popular since we all relate to it. As Hyde takes more and more control over Jekyll, "All things therefore seemed to point to this: that I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse". All efforts to help Jekyll end in failure as Hyde continue his life of crime, allowing authorities to close in. Jekyll pulls in a short list of friends forced to confidentiality. Living in fear of Hyde, they all try and help out their friend Dr. Jekyll. It´s a tale of self-deceit, friendship, paranoia, addiction, and personality disorder. The story´s popularity plays on our fear of the uncontrollable worse, our lack of self-control.

Our opinion about the book

We didn't have the chance to read the book because the public library didn't have the book... From what we've read this book seems to be an interesting story that represents the cases of double personality, that are becoming more common in our society. We can't say too much about the book because we didn't read it but we hope that this work makes someone have the will to buy or try to get the book... With this work we also got the chance to know a bit more about Robert Luis Stevenson, a writer that we didn't know well.

Artur, Daniel, João Melo, Marli, Mónica

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