Interesting Literature

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Analysis and Themes

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The story for Jekyll and Hyde famously came to Robert Louis Stevenson in a dream, and according to Stevenson’s stepson, Lloyd Osbourne, Stevenson wrote the first draft of the novella in just three days, before promptly throwing it onto the fire when his wife criticised it. Stevenson then rewrote it from scratch, taking ten days this time, and the novella was promptly published in January 1886.

The story is part detective-story or mystery, part Gothic horror, and part science fiction, so it’s worth analysing how Stevenson fuses these different elements.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: analysis

Now it’s time for some words of analysis about Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic 1886 novella. However, perhaps ‘analyses’ (plural) would be more accurate, since there never could be one monolithic meaning of a story so ripe with allegory and suggestive symbolism.

Like another novella that was near-contemporary with Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , and possibly influenced by it ( H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine ), the symbols often point in several different directions at once.

Any attempt to reduce Stevenson’s story of doubling to a moral fable about drugs or drink, or a tale about homosexuality, is destined to lose sight of the very thing which makes the novella so relevant to so many people: its multifaceted quality. So here are some (and they are only some) of the many interpretations of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which have been put forward in the last 120 years or so.

A psychoanalytic or proto-psychoanalytic analysis

In this interpretation, Jekyll is the ego and Hyde the id (in Freud’s later terminology). The ego is the self in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, while the id is the set of primal drives found in our unconscious: the urge to kill, or do inappropriate sexual things, for instance.

Several of Robert Louis Stevenson’s essays, such as ‘A Chapter on Dreams’ (1888), prefigure some of Freud’s later ideas; and there was increasing interest in the workings of the human mind towards the end of the nineteenth century (two leading journals in the field, Brain and Mind , had both been founded in the 1870s).

The psychoanalytic interpretation is a popular one with many readers of Jekyll and Hyde , and since the novella is clearly about repression of some sort, one can make a psychoanalytic interpretation – an analysis grounded in psychoanalysis, if you like – quite convincingly.

It might be significant, reading the story from a post-Freudian perspective, that Hyde is described as childlike at several points: does he embody Jekyll’s – and, indeed, man’s – deep desire to return to a time before responsibility and full maturity, when one was freer to act on impulse? Early infancy is the formative period for much Freudian psychoanalysis.

Recall the empty middle-class scenes at the beginning of the book: Utterson and Enfield on their joyless Sunday walks, for instance. Hyde attacks father-figures (Sir Danvers Carew, the MP whom he murders, is a white-haired old gentleman), which would fall in line with Freud’s concept of the Oedipus complex and Jekyll’s desire to return to a time before adult life with its responsibilities and disappointments.

However, one fly in the Oedipal ointment is that Hyde also attacks a young girl – almost the complete opposite of the ‘old man’ or father figure embodied by Danvers Carew.

Nevertheless, psychoanalytic readings of the novella have been popular for some time, and it’s worth remembering that the idea for the book came to Stevenson in a dream. Observe, also, the presence of dreams and dreamlike scenes in the novel itself, such as when Jekyll remarks that he ‘received Lanyon’s condemnation partly in a dream; it was partly in a dream that I came home to my own house and got into bed’.

essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde

An anti-alcohol morality tale?

Alternatively, a different interpretation: we might analyse these dreamlike aspects of the novel in another way and see the novel as being about alcoholism and temperance , subjects which were being fiercely debated at the time Stevenson was writing.

Here, then, the ‘transforming draught’ which Jekyll concocts represents alcohol, and Jekyll, upon imbibing the draught, becomes a violent, unpredictable person unknown even to himself. (This reading has been most thoroughly explored in Thomas L. Reed’s 2006 study The Transforming Draught .)

Note how often wine crops up in this short book: it turns up first of all in the second sentence of the novella, when Utterson is found sipping it, and Hyde, we learn, has a closet ‘filled with wine’. Might the continual presence of wine be a clue that we are all Hydes waiting to happen? Note how the opening paragraph informs us that Utterson drinks gin when he is alone.

This thesis – that the novella is about alcohol and temperance – is intriguing, but has been contested by critics such as Julia Reid for being too speculative and reductionist: see her review of The Transforming Draught in The Review of English Studies , 2007.

The ‘drugs’ interpretation

Similarly, the idea that the ‘draught’ is a metaphor for some other drug, whether opium or cocaine . Scholars are unsure as to whether Stevenson was on drugs when he wrote the book: some accounts say Stevenson used cocaine to finish the manuscript; others say he took ergot, which is the substance from which LSD was later synthesised. Some say he was too sick to be taking anything.

You could purchase cocaine and opium from your local chemist in 1880s London (indeed, another invention of 1886, Coca-Cola, originally contained cocaine, as the drink’s name still testifies: don’t worry, it doesn’t any more).

This is essentially a development of the previous interpretation concerning alcohol, and arguably has similar limitations in being too restrictive an interpretation. However, note the way that Jekyll, in his ‘full statement’ becomes reliant on the ‘draught’ or ‘salt’ towards the end.

A religious analysis

essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde

As such, the story has immediate links with the story Stevenson would write sixty years later. Stevenson was an atheist who managed to escape the constrictive religion of his parents, but he remained haunted by Calvinistic doctrines for the rest of his life, and much of his work can be seen as an attempt to grapple with these issues which had affected and afflicted him so much as a child.

The sexuality interpretation

Some critics have interpreted Jekyll and Hyde in light of late nineteenth-century attitudes to sexuality : note the almost total absence of women from the story, barring the odd maid and ‘old hag’, and that hapless girl trampled underfoot by Hyde.

Some critics have suggested that the idea of blackmail for homosexual acts lurks behind the story, and the novella itself mentions this when Enfield tells Utterson that he refers to the house of Mr Hyde as ‘Black Mail House’ as a consequence of the girl-trampling scene in the street.

essay on dr jekyll and mr hyde

As such, the novella becomes an allegory for the double life lived by many homosexual Victorian men, who had to hide (or Hyde ) their illicit liaisons from their friends and families. The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote to his friend Robert Bridges that the girl-trampling incident early on in the narrative was ‘perhaps a convention: he was thinking of something unsuitable for fiction’.

Some have interpreted this statement – by Hopkins, himself a repressed homosexual – as a reference to homosexual activity in late Victorian London.

Consider in this connection the fact that Hyde enters Jekyll’s house through the ‘back way’ – even, at one point ‘the back passage’. 1885, the year Stevenson wrote the book, was the year of the Criminal Law Amendment Act (commonly known as the Labouchere Amendment ), which criminalised acts of ‘gross indecency’ between men (this was the act which, ten years later, would put Oscar Wilde in gaol).

However, we should be wary of reading the text as about ‘homosexual panic’, since, as Harry Cocks points out, homosexuality was frequently ‘named openly, publicly and repeatedly’ in nineteenth-century criminal courts. But then could fiction for a mass audience as readily name such things?

A Darwinian analysis

Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species , which laid out the theory of evolution by natural selection, had been published in 1859, when Stevenson was still a child. In this reading, Hyde represents the primal, animal origin of modern, civilised man.

Consider here the repeated uses of the word ‘apelike’ in relation to Hyde, suggesting he is an atavistic throwback to an earlier, more primitive species of man than Homo sapiens . This reading incorporates theories of something called ‘devolution’, an idea (now discredited) which suggested that life forms could actually evolve backwards into more primitive forms.

This is also linked with late Victorian fears concerning degeneration and decadence among the human race. Is Jekyll’s statement that he ‘bore the stamp, of lower elements in my soul’ an allusion to Charles Darwin’s famous phrase from the end of The Descent of Man (1871), ‘man […] bears […] the indelible stamp of his lowly origin’?

In his story ‘Olalla’, another tale of the double which Stevenson published in 1885, he writes: ‘Man has risen; if he has sprung from the brutes he can descend to the same level again’.

This Darwinian analysis of Jekyll and Hyde could incorporate elements of the sexual which the previous interpretation also touches upon, but would view the novel as a portrayal of man’s – and we mean specifically man ’s here – repression of the darker, violent, primitive side of his nature associated with rape, pillage, conquest, and murder.

This looks back to a psychoanalytic reading, with the ‘id’ being the home of primal sexual desire and lust. The girl-tramping scene may take on another significance here: it’s a ‘girl’ rather than a boy because it symbolises Hyde’s animalistic desire to conquer and brutalise someone of the opposite, not the same, sex.

There have been many critical readings of the novella in relation to sex and sexuality, but it’s important to point out that Stevenson denied that the novella was about sexuality (see below).

A study in hypocrisy?

Or perhaps not: perhaps there is something in the idea that hypocrisy is the novella’s theme , as Stevenson himself suggested in a letter of November 1887 to John Paul Bocock, editor of the New York Sun : ‘The harm was in Jekyll,’ Stevenson wrote, ‘because he was a hypocrite – not because he was fond of women; he says so himself; but people are so filled full of folly and inverted lust, that they can think of nothing but sexuality. The Hypocrite let out the beast’.

This analysis of Jekyll and Hyde sees the two sides to Jekyll’s personality as a portrayal of the dualistic nature of Victorian society, where you must be respectable and civilised on the outside, while all the time harbouring an inward lust, violence, and desire which you have to bring under control.

This was a popular theme for many late nineteenth-century writers – witness not only Oscar Wilde’s 1891 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray but also the double lives of Jack and Algernon in Wilde’s comedy of manners, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). This is a more open-ended interpretation, and the novella does appear to be about repression of some sort.

In this respect, this interpretation is similar to the psychoanalytic reading proposed above, but it also tallies with Stevenson’s own assertion that the story is about hypocrisy. Everyone in this book is masking their private thoughts or desires from others.

Note how even the police officer, Inspector Newcomen, when he learns of the murder of the MP, goes from being horrified one moment to excited the next, as ‘the next moment his eye lighted up with professional ambition’. He can barely contain his glee. The maid who answers the door at Hyde’s rooms has ‘an evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy; but her manners were excellent’.

From these clues, we can also posit a reading of the novel which sees it as about the class structure of late nineteenth-century Britain, where Jekyll represents the comfortable middle class and Hyde is the repressed – or, indeed, oppressed – working-class figure.

Note here, however, how Hyde is repeatedly described as a ‘gentleman’ by those who see him, and that he attacks Danvers Carew with a ‘cane’, rather than, say, a club (though it is reported, tellingly, that he ‘clubbed’ Carew to death with it).

A scientific interpretation

The reference to the evil maid with excellent manners places Jekyll’s own duality at the extreme end of a continuum, where everyone is putting on a respectable and acceptable mask which hides or conceals the evil truth lurking behind it. So we might see Jekyll’s scientific experiment as merely a physical embodiment of what everyone does.

This leads some critics to ask, then, whether the novella about the misuse of science . Or is the ‘tincture’ merely a scientific, chemical composition because a magical draught or elixir would be unbelievable to an 1880s reader? Arthur Machen, an author who was much influenced by Stevenson and especially by Jekyll and Hyde , made this point in a letter of 1894, when he grumbled:

In these days the supernatural per se is entirely incredible; to believe, we must link our wonders to some scientific or pseudo-scientific fact, or basis, or method. Thus we do not believe in ‘ghosts’ but in telepathy, not in ‘witch-craft’ but in hypnotism. If Mr Stevenson had written his great masterpiece about 1590-1650, Dr Jekyll would have made a compact with the devil. In 1886 Dr Jekyll sends to the Bond Street chemists for some rare drugs.

This is worth pondering: the use of the ‘draught’ lends the story an air of scientific authenticity, which makes the story a form of science fiction rather than fantasy: the tincture which Jekyll drinks is not magical, merely a chemical potion of some vaguely defined sort. But to say that the story is actually about the dangers of misusing science could be a leap too far.

We run the risk of confusing the numerous film adaptations of the book with the book itself: we immediately picture wild-haired soot-faced scientists causing explosions and mixing up potions in a dark laboratory, but in fact this is not really what the story is about , merely the means through which the real meat of the story – the transformation of Jekyll into Hyde – is effected.

It’s only once this split has been achieved that the real story, about the dark side of man’s nature which he represses, comes to light. (Compare Frankenstein here .)

All of these interpretations of Jekyll and Hyde can be – and have been – proposed, but it’s worth bearing in mind that the popularity of Stevenson’s tale may lie in the very polyvalent and ambiguous nature of the text, the fact that it exists as a symbol without a key, a riddle without a definitive answer.

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Robert louis stevenson, everything you need for every book you read..

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Introduction

Dr. jekyll and mr. hyde: plot summary, dr. jekyll and mr. hyde: detailed summary & analysis, dr. jekyll and mr. hyde: themes, dr. jekyll and mr. hyde: quotes, dr. jekyll and mr. hyde: characters, dr. jekyll and mr. hyde: symbols, dr. jekyll and mr. hyde: literary devices, dr. jekyll and mr. hyde: quizzes, dr. jekyll and mr. hyde: theme wheel, brief biography of robert louis stevenson.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde PDF

Historical Context of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Other books related to dr. jekyll and mr. hyde.

  • Full Title: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
  • When Written: 1885
  • Where Written: Bournemouth, England
  • When Published: 5th January 1886
  • Literary Period: Victorian
  • Genre: Horror, Drama, Victorian Gothic
  • Setting: The streets of London
  • Climax: Utterson reads the narrative written by Lanyon before his death, which describes the horrific bodily transformation of Mr. Hyde into Dr. Jekyll, explaining everything that has happened so far in an absolutely incredible way.
  • Antagonist: Mr. Hyde forms the antagonist of the tale until we realize that he is in fact the double of Dr. Jekyll.
  • Point of View: A third person narrator tells the story with an omniscient view of characters but stays mostly with Mr. Utterson, which allows Stevenson to reveal things to the reader with suspense.

Extra Credit for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Strange Beginnings. Robert Louis Stevenson reportedly wrote the draft of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in an astonishing three days in a drug-induced fever.

Expensive Taste. Robert Louis Stevenson was known as “Velvet Jaket” as a young man because of his dandy-fied taste in clothes.

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  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson

  • Literature Notes
  • Essay Questions
  • Book Summary
  • Character List
  • Summary and Analysis
  • Character Analysis
  • Dr. Henry (Harry) Jekyll
  • Edward Hyde
  • Gabriel John Utterson
  • Dr. Hastie Lanyon
  • Robert Louis Stevenson Biography
  • Cite this Literature Note

Study Help Essay Questions

1. What is the nature of the relationship between Mr. Utterson and Mr. Enfield?

2. How is Jekyll's house and laboratory physically situated so as to suggest a symbolic significance to the arrangement?

3. After reading the first Chapter, how do you account for the reader's intense interest in such an evil man as Edward Hyde?

4. Describe the basic physical appearance of Henry Jekyll, and then describe the physical appearance of Edward Hyde.

5. What qualities does Mr. Utterson possess that make him such an excellent narrator, or the "central intelligence," or "consciousness" through which most of the novel is presented?

6. Discuss the significance of the names of Utterson, Jekyll and Hyde.

7. Discuss Jekyll's and Lanyon's relationship with one another.

8. Justify Utterson's reluctance to read Lanyon's statement until after "the death or disappearance" of Jekyll.

9. What, in your opinion, did Utterson and Enfield see in Jekyll's face that so astounded or horrified them?

10. Could Dr. Jekyll's entire confession be written by Hyde? Explain.

11. At the beginning of the novel, Dr. Jekyll is in total control of Mr. Hyde, yet at the end of the novel, Mr. Hyde is in control of Dr. Jekyll. Show how this reversal came about.

12. Utterson as a narrator is objective and honest, and yet he often comes to the wrong conclusion about matters such as forgery, Hyde's existence, Jekyll's motives, and other matters. Discuss the character of Utterson and how he is so often misled in his opinions.

13. Contrast Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Lanyon in their basic responses to scientific medicine, to metaphysics, to the basic nature of evil itself, and to man's duality.

14. Discuss this novel as a "mystery story" and demonstrate how there are many clues that lead the reader to solve the "mystery" before the solution is revealed to us in the final Chapters.

15. Using this novel as your basis, discuss the nature of "good" and "evil," or "the double" and the duality of man's nature, as presented in this novel.

16. What qualities does Utterson possess that allow so many prominent men (Jekyll, Lanyon, Sir Danvers, etc.) to trust him so completely?

17. Why is the novel more effective by having all the main characters — Utterson, Jekyll, Lanyon (and maybe Enfield and Sir Danvers) — be prominent, well known, respected men?

18. There are many narrators — among them, Enfield, Utterson, Poole, Lanyon, and Jekyll — in this novel. Discuss what each narrator contributes to the novel.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — Duality in “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”

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Analysis of Jekyll and Hyde Duality in Stevenson's Novel

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  • Edley, N., & Wetherell, M. (2001). Jekyll and Hyde: Men's constructions of feminism and feminists. Feminism & Psychology, 11(4), 439-457. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959353501011004002)
  • Doane, J., & Hodges, D. (1989, October). Demonic Disturbances of Sexual Identity: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr/s Hyde. In NOVEL: a Forum on Fiction (Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 63-74). Duke University Press.(https://www.jstor.org/stable/1345579)
  • Rose, B. A. (1996). Jekyll and Hyde Adapted: Dramatizations of Cultural Anxiety (No. 66). Greenwood Publishing Group. (https://www.worldcat.org/title/jekyll-and-hyde-adapted-dramatizations-of-cultural-anxiety/oclc/32921958)
  • Becchio, C., Sartori, L., Bulgheroni, M., & Castiello, U. (2008). The case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: a kinematic study on social intention. Consciousness and cognition, 17(3), 557-564. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810007000207)
  • Lacey, N. (2010). Psychologising Jekyll, demonising Hyde: The strange case of criminal responsibility. Criminal Law and Philosophy, 4, 109-133. (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11572-010-9091-8)

Should follow an “upside down” triangle format, meaning, the writer should start off broad and introduce the text and author or topic being discussed, and then get more specific to the thesis statement.

Cornerstone of the essay, presenting the central argument that will be elaborated upon and supported with evidence and analysis throughout the rest of the paper.

The topic sentence serves as the main point or focus of a paragraph in an essay, summarizing the key idea that will be discussed in that paragraph.

The body of each paragraph builds an argument in support of the topic sentence, citing information from sources as evidence.

After each piece of evidence is provided, the author should explain HOW and WHY the evidence supports the claim.

Should follow a right side up triangle format, meaning, specifics should be mentioned first such as restating the thesis, and then get more broad about the topic at hand. Lastly, leave the reader with something to think about and ponder once they are done reading.

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Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Essay Plans GCSE English Literature (Characters and Themes)

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Essay Plans GCSE English Literature (Characters and Themes)

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Assessment and revision

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7 ESSAY PLANS IN THIS BUNDLE These essay plans summarise the key aspects of the many themes and characters that appear in Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. The specific essay plan themes/characters included in this bundle are: Mr Hyde, Mr Utterson, Duality, Violence, Secrets & the Unknown, Reputation, Evil.

There are also several practice essay questions, as well as an essay tip published at the end of the bundle.

These essay plans feature topic sentences, quotes, techniques, analysis and context .These essay plans are very detailed and can be used in isolation to revise for different possible essay questions. It is designed to be a practical revision resource for the exam. I am a former student on the AQA specification and achieved an 9 in English Literature as a result of creating this resource.

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DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE REVISION PACK- Essay Plans, A Quote Bank , Character Profiles, Theme Summaries,Context,Exemplar Essay and Plot Summary

**OVER 40 PAGES WORTH OF WORK! 7 ESSAY PLANS, 4 THEME ANALYSIS MAPS, 4 CHARACTER PROFILES, 5 PAGE QUOTE BANK, 2 PAGE ESSAY EXEMPLAR, 2 PAGE CONTEXT GUIDE AND BOOK SUMMARY.** This pack has all the materials that I used to get a Grade 9 in GCSE English Literature. This pack has 7 essay plans (analysis, quotes, literary and historical context, topic sentences, technique identification) on the main themes and characters in Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (with practice questions included). The specific essay plan themes/characters included in this bundle are: Mr Hyde, Mr Utterson, Duality, Violence, Secrets & the Unknown, Reputation, Evil There are character profiles (Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde, Utterson, Dr Lanyon), detailing each character's role in the book, key quotes, development in the book and context relating to them. I have included a context guide which details the social and literary context of the book. The plot summary is a quick description of everything that happens in the book, perfect for revision. The theme analysis maps offer a detailed analysis on the 4 main themes of the book (science, the supernatural, reputation and duality). The quote bank includes the most important quotes for each character and the main themes of the book. Each quote has a technique and specific analysis paired with it. I have also included a grade 9 exemplar essay.

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  1. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Mini Essays

    At various junctures in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson uses vivid descriptions to evoke a sense of the uncanny and the supernatural, and of looming disaster. He first employs this technique in the opening scene, when Enfield relates his story of witnessing Hyde trample a little girl—a night when the streets were so empty that he began "to long for the sight of a policeman."

  2. Essays on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    What Makes a Good The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essay Topics. When it comes to writing an essay on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, choosing the right topic is crucial.A good essay topic should be thought-provoking, unique, and analytical.

  3. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is perhaps the purest example in English literature of the use of the double convention to represent the duality of human nature. That Dr. Jekyll ...

  4. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Suggested Essay Topics

    Suggestions for essay topics to use when you're writing about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

  5. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Analysis and Themes

    The story is part detective-story or mystery, part Gothic horror, and part science fiction, so it's worth analysing how Stevenson fuses these different elements. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: analysis. Now it's time for some words of analysis about Robert Louis Stevenson's classic 1886 novella. However, perhaps 'analyses ...

  6. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Study Guide

    The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1886, is a classic tale of duality and the consequences of unchecked scientific experimentation.It is now more commonly known as just Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.Set in Victorian London, the novella tells the story of Dr. Henry Jekyll, a well-respected scientist, and his mysterious and malevolent alter ego ...

  7. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    The visionary starkness of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde anticipates that of Freud in such late melancholy meditations as Civilization and Its Discontents (1929-30): there is a split ...

  8. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    The Definitive "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" Companion. New York: Garland, 1983. New York: Garland, 1983. An anthology offering a wide spectrum of approaches from commentary to parodies and sequels.

  9. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Study Guide

    Historical Context of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Victorian Era saw technology and science soar to heights never dreamed of in prior years - Stevenson's world was being influenced by new and unknown ideas, and some of this uncertainty definitely comes across in both Jekyll's experimentation with the nature of man and Lanyon's distrust ...

  10. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

    ISBN. 978--553-21277-8. Text. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at Wikisource. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde [1] is an 1886 Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry ...

  11. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Essay Writing Guide for GCSE (9-1)

    This is a very good study guide and beneficial for students and teachers. This new guide from Accolade Press will walk you through how to plan and structure essay responses to questions on Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. By working through seven mock questions, these essay plans will show you how to go about ...

  12. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essay Questions

    Identify these specific moments and analyze the aspects of Jekyll's character that force him to continue with his experiments. 2. Discuss the physical descriptions of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and their respective homes (Jekyll's main house vs. Hyde's neglected laboratory cabinet) as they relate to major themes of the novel. 3.

  13. Sample Answers

    The concept of the 'double' is central to 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'. There are several types of duality - the most important is the mix of good and evil in human nature. Other types of duality include appearance and reality, and science and the supernatural. This passage focuses most on the duality of 'good and ill ...

  14. Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

    Exclusively available on IvyPanda. Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, speaks about a person with a split personality. It tells of a person leading two parallel ways of life. At one time, he is a being but at other times, he has a different personality all together.

  15. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Questions & Answers

    If you are looking for a comprehensive guide to the classic novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, SparkNotes has you covered. In this webpage, you will find the most important questions and answers about the plot, the characters, the themes, and the symbols of the story. Whether you need to prepare for a test, write an essay, or simply enjoy the literary analysis, this webpage will help you ...

  16. Essay Topics for Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

    Essay Topics for Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Dr. Rachel Tustin has a PhD in Education focusing on Educational Technology, a Masters in English, and a BS in Marine Science. She has taught in K-12 for ...

  17. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essay

    Essays. English Literature. The main theme of the novela, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, is about man's double being and between good and evil. The book represents a double life of a person who is sick and tired of his normal life. Dr. Jekyll, a doctor and a well-liked member of a society of successful bachelors, that values his perfect reputation ...

  18. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    At the beginning of the novel, Dr. Jekyll is in total control of Mr. Hyde, yet at the end of the novel, Mr. Hyde is in control of Dr. Jekyll. Show how this reversal came about. 12. Utterson as a narrator is objective and honest, and yet he often comes to the wrong conclusion about matters such as forgery, Hyde's existence, Jekyll's motives, and ...

  19. Duality in "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde": [Essay

    Introduction: Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde is a novel which is arguably entirely about duality. The most obvious example is of course that of Jekyll and Hyde duality discussed in this essay, but underneath that is a multitude of smaller oppositions, such as dark and light; private and public; and animal and man, which collectively underline and ...

  20. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essay

    Uncovering Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was published in 1886 by Robert Louis Stevenson. The story is based on a London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson, who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and the evil Edward Hyde. This novel was composed as a "shilling shocker ...

  21. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Themes

    The Duality of Human Nature. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde centers upon a conception of humanity as dual in nature, although the theme does not emerge fully until the last chapter, when the complete story of the Jekyll-Hyde relationship is revealed. Therefore, we confront the theory of a dual human nature explicitly only after having witnessed all of the events of the novel, including Hyde's ...

  22. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Essay Plans GCSE English Literature (Characters

    DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE REVISION PACK- Essay Plans, A Quote Bank , Character Profiles, Theme Summaries,Context,Exemplar Essay and Plot Summary **OVER 40 PAGES WORTH OF WORK! 7 ESSAY PLANS, 4 THEME ANALYSIS MAPS, 4 CHARACTER PROFILES, 5 PAGE QUOTE BANK, 2 PAGE ESSAY EXEMPLAR, 2 PAGE CONTEXT GUIDE AND BOOK SUMMARY.** This pack has all the materials ...

  23. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Full Book Summary

    Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Full Book Summary. On their weekly walk, an eminently sensible, trustworthy lawyer named Mr. Utterson listens as his friend Enfield tells a gruesome tale of assault. The tale describes a sinister figure named Mr. Hyde who tramples a young girl, disappears into a door on the street, and reemerges to pay off her relatives ...

  24. Why does Dr. Jekyll give Utterson the letter?

    I assume that you are asking about the letter that Dr. Jekyll gives to Mr. Utterson in Chapter 5, "The Incident of the Letter." If that is what you are asking, the answer seems to be that Jekyll ...