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Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly forays, saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature; thus it is in the context of the times, abhorrent to Victorian religious morality. Hyde may have simply been revelling in activities that were not appropriate to a man of Jekyll's stature. However scientists in the closing decades of the 19th century, within a post-Darwinian perspective, were also beginning to examine various ''biological'' influences on human morality, including [[drug addiction|drug]] and [[alcoholism|alcohol addiction]], [[homosexuality]], [[Dissociative identity disorder|multiple personality disorder]], and regressive animality.<ref>For an overview of contemporary theories, see Lisa Butler, [http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2006/v/n44/014000ar.html "“that damned old business of the war in the members”: The Discourse of (In)Temperance in Robert Louis Stevenson’s ''The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde''"], in ''Romanticism on the Net'', Issue 44, November 2006</ref>
Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly forays, saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature; thus it is in the context of the times, abhorrent to Victorian religious morality. Hyde may have simply been revelling in activities that were not appropriate to a man of Jekyll's stature. However scientists in the closing decades of the 19th century, within a post-Darwinian perspective, were also beginning to examine various ''biological'' influences on human morality, including [[drug addiction|drug]] and [[alcoholism|alcohol addiction]], [[homosexuality]], [[Dissociative identity disorder|multiple personality disorder]], and regressive animality.<ref>For an overview of contemporary theories, see Lisa Butler, [http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2006/v/n44/014000ar.html "“that damned old business of the war in the members”: The Discourse of (In)Temperance in Robert Louis Stevenson’s ''The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde''"], in ''Romanticism on the Net'', Issue 44, November 2006</ref>


== Characters ==
== Characters are wank ==


=== Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde ===
=== Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde ===

Revision as of 12:48, 27 February 2009

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Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Title page of the first London edition (1886)
AuthorRobert Louis Stevenson
LanguageEnglish
PublisherLongmans, Green & co.
Publication date
5 January 1886
Publication placeScotland

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde[1] is a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886. It is about a London lawyer who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll[2], and the misanthropic Mr. Edward Hyde.

The work is known for its vivid portrayal of a split personality, split in the sense that within the same person there is both an apparently good and an evil personality each being quite distinct from each other. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" coming to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was an immediate success and one of Stevenson's best-selling works. Stage adaptations began in Boston and London within a year of its publication and it has gone on to inspire scores of major film and stage performances.

History

Stevenson had long been interested in the idea of the duality of human nature and how to incorporate the interplay of good and evil into a story. While still a teenager, he developed a script for a play on Deacon Brodie, which he later reworked with the help of W. E. Henley and saw produced for the first time in 1882.[3] In late 1884 he wrote the short story "Markheim," which he revised in 1885 for publication in a Christmas annual. One night in late September or early October of 1885, possibly while he was still revising "Markheim," Stevenson had a dream, and on wakening had the intuition for two or three scenes that would appear in the story. "In the small hours of one morning," says Mrs Stevenson, "I was awakened by cries of horror from Louis. Thinking he had a nightmare, I woke him. He said angrily, 'Why did you wake me? I was dreaming a fine bogey tale.' I had awakened him at the first transformation scene ..."

Lloyd Osbourne, Stevenson's stepson, remembers, "I don't believe that there was ever such a literary feat before as the writing of Dr. Jekyll. I remember the first reading as if it were yesterday. Louis came downstairs in a fever; read nearly half the book aloud; and then, while we were still gasping, he was away again, and busy writing. I doubt if the first draft took so long as three days".

As was the custom, Mrs. Stevenson would read the draft and offer her criticisms in the margins. Louis was confined to bed at the time from a haemorrhage; therefore she left her comments with the manuscript and Louis in the bedroom. She said that in effect the story was really an allegory, but Louis was writing it as a story. After a while Louis called her back into the bedroom and pointed to a pile of ashes: he had burnt the manuscript in fear that he would try to salvage it, and in the process forcing himself to start over from nothing, writing an allegorical story as she had suggested. Scholars debate if she really burnt his manuscript or not. Other scholars suggest her criticism was not about allegory, but about inappropriate sexual content. Whatever the case, there is no direct factual evidence for the burning of the manuscript, but it remains an integral part of the history of the novella.

Stevenson re-wrote the story again in three to six days.[4] According to Osbourne, "The mere physical feat was tremendous; and instead of harming him, it roused and cheered him inexpressibly". He refined and continued to work on it for 4 to 6 weeks afterward.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the U.S. Initially stores would not stock it until a review appeared in The Times, on 25 January 1886, giving it a favourable reception. Within the next six months close to forty thousand copies were sold. By 1901 it was estimated to have sold over 250,000 copies. Its success was probably due more to the "moral instincts of the public" than perception of its artistic merits; it was widely read by those who never otherwise read fiction, quoted in pulpit sermons and in religious papers[citation needed]

Analysis

Richard Mansfield was mostly known for his dual role depicted in this double exposure. The stage adaptation opened in London in 1887, a year after the publication of the novella. Picture 1895.

This novel represents a concept in Western culture, that of the inner conflict of humanity's sense of good and evil [5]. The novel has been interpreted as an examination of the duality of human nature (that good and evil exists in all) and that the failure to accept this tension (to accept the evil or shadow side) results in the evil being projected onto others. Paradoxically in this argument, evil is actually committed in an effort to extinguish the perceived evil that has been projected onto the innocent victims. This failure to accept the tension of duality is related to Christian theology where Satan's fall from Heaven is due to his refusal to accept that he is a created being (that he has a dual nature) and is not God [6]. It has also been noted as "one of the best guidebooks of the Victorian era" because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy of the 19th century "outward respectability and inward lust" as this period had a tendency for social hypocrisy[7].

Various direct influences have been suggested for Stevenson's interest in the mental condition that separates the sinful from moral self. Among them are the Biblical text of Romans (7:20 "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."); the split life in the 1780s of Edinburgh city councillor Deacon William Brodie, master craftsman by day, burglar by night; and James Hogg's novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824), in which a young man falls under the spell of the devil.

Literary genres which critics have applied as a framework for interpreting the novel include religious allegory, fable, detective story, sensation fiction, science fiction, doppelgänger literature, Scottish devil tales and gothic novel. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has been the influence for The Hulk, Two Face and the general superhero genre for the story's ties to a double life.

Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly forays, saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature; thus it is in the context of the times, abhorrent to Victorian religious morality. Hyde may have simply been revelling in activities that were not appropriate to a man of Jekyll's stature. However scientists in the closing decades of the 19th century, within a post-Darwinian perspective, were also beginning to examine various biological influences on human morality, including drug and alcohol addiction, homosexuality, multiple personality disorder, and regressive animality.[8]

Characters are wank

Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde

A doctor who has covered up a secret life full of bad and cruel deeds. He feels as if he is always fighting within himself between what is good and what is evil, and is pushing away people dear to him. After drinking a potion of his own creation, Jekyll is transformed into the cruel, remorseless, evil Edward Hyde, representing the hidden side of Dr. Jekyll's nature brought to the fore. Dr. Jekyll has many friends and has a friendly personality, but in the nature of Mr. Hyde, he becomes mysterious, violent, and secretive and as time goes by, Mr. Hyde grows in power.

Dr. Hastie Lanyon

A former friend of Jekyll's. Lanyon disagrees with his scientific principles. He is the first person to whom Hyde's identity is revealed. Helps Utterson solve the case when he describes the letter given to him by Jekyll.

Mr. Utterson

The lawyer Gabriel John Utterson is the character the narrator follows in his quest to discover the identity of Hyde. In most adaptations of the novel, he is omitted and replaced by Dr. Lanyon. Utterson is described as a measured, and at all times emotionless, bachelor, who is nonetheless believable and trustworthy in his accounts of the events of the story.

Mr. Poole

Mr. Poole is Dr. Jekyll's butler who, upon noticing the reclusiveness and changes of his master, goes to Mr. Utterson with the fear that his master has been murdered and his murderer, Mr. Hyde, is residing in his chambers.

Richard Enfield

Enfield is Mr. Utterson's acquaintance. He is the person who mentions to the lawyer the actual personality of Jekyll's heir, Mr. Hyde. Enfield witnessed Hyde walking over a little girl in the street, and he, with the girl's parents and other residents force Hyde into writing a cheque for the girl's family. Enfield discovers that the cheque was signed by Dr. Jekyll.

Inspector Newcommen

This Scotland Yard inspector is joined by Mr. Utterson, after the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. They explore Hyde's loft in Soho and discover evidence of his depraved life.

Sir Danvers Carew

A kind old man and important member of Parliament. He was killed in the streets of London by Mr. Hyde in a murderous rage. In most adaptations, Sir Danvers is the father of Jekyll's fiancée. The book makes no such connection and Hyde's murder of Sir Danvers is described as a wanton act of violence.

Adaptations

Poster from the 1880s.

There have been dozens of major stage and film adaptations. Most adaptations of the work omit the reader-identification figure of Utterson, instead telling the story from Jekyll's and Hyde's viewpoint, thus eliminating the mystery aspect of the tale about who Hyde is; indeed there have been no major adaptations to date that remain faithful to Stevenson's original work, almost all adaptations introducing some form of romantic element.

There have been over 123 film versions, not including stage, radio etc. This is not an inclusive list, but includes major and notable adaptations listed in chronological order:

The English rockband "The Who" releases a song called Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, it's the third song on their album Magic Bus

File:Winters-DrJekyl.jpg
Kirk Douglas (center) under the direction of David Winters (right) (1973) (TV).

Spoofs and parodies

References

  1. ^ Stevenson published the book as Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (without "The"), for reasons unknown, but it has been supposed to increase the "strangeness" of the case (Richard Drury (2005)). Later publisher added "The" to make it grammatically correct, but it was not the author's original intent. The story is often known today simply as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde or even Jekyll and Hyde.
  2. ^ (IPA: [ˈdʒiːkəl]) is the correct Scots pronunciation of the name, but (IPA: [ˈdʒɛkəl]) remains an accepted and common pronunciation.
  3. ^ Swearingen, Roger G. The Prose Writings of Robert Louis Stevenson. London: Macmillan, 1980. (ISBN) p. 37.
  4. ^ Possibly with the help of of cocaine, according to William Gray's revisionist history Robert Louis Stevenson: A Literary Life (2004). ISBN 978-0333984000
  5. ^ a b Nightmare: Birth of Victorian Horror (TV series) Jekyll and Hyde (1996)
  6. ^ Sanford, John A. Evil The Shadow Side of Reality. Crossroad (1981)
  7. ^ Nightmare: Birth of Victorian Horror (TV series) Jekyll and Hyde (1996)
  8. ^ For an overview of contemporary theories, see Lisa Butler, "“that damned old business of the war in the members”: The Discourse of (In)Temperance in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", in Romanticism on the Net, Issue 44, November 2006
  • Borinskikh L.I. (1990c). ‘The method to reveal a character in the works of R.L.Stevenson [The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]’/. In *** (ed.) The Problem of character in literature. Tchelyabinsk: Tchelyabinsk State University. Pp. 31-32. [in Russian, German and Hindi].
  • Richard Dury, ed. (2005). The Annotated Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. ISBN 88-7544-030-1, over 80 pages of introduction material, extensive annotation notes, 40 pages of derivative works and extensive bibliography.
  • Paul M. Gahlinger, M.D., Ph.D. (2001). Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to their History, Chemistry, Use, and Abuse. Sagebrush Medical Guide. Pg 41. ISBN 0-9703130-1-2.
  • Kathrine Linehan, ed. (2003). Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Norton Critical Edition, contains extensive annotations, contextual essays and criticisms. ISBN 0-393-97465-0
  • Warlock was Dr Jekyll prototype BBC News
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