Robert Louis Stevenson: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

​​In a nutshell

Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish writer who introduced the dichotomy between good and evil through the double, or doppelgänger, in his novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

The Author's Life

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850 in the heart of a Calvinist family. He was homeschooled and spent most of his childhood in bed due to his poor health. Later, he decided to study engineering like his father, though he was not so convinced. Stevenson was one of the first figures to represent the bohemian in Britain, he had eccentric manners, grew his hair long, and rejected his family's religious beliefs.

As the years passed, he dropped out of engineering and in 1875 he graduated in law and dedicated himself to writing. He got married to an American woman and moved out to Samoa. Unfortunately, Robert Louis Stevenson died in 1894 of a brain haemorrhage. Stevenson became famous as a novelist in the 1880s. His most popular works are Treasure Island (1883), The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Kidnapped (1886), The Master of Ballantrae (1889), and New Arabian Nights (1882).

Main Topics

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote about topics such as good and evil, suspense, and the supernatural. However, his most predominant topic was good and evil.

GOOD AND EVIL

Stevenson's most important representation of the good and evil theme is depicted in his novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, in which hypocrisy is brought to life by the double (also called alter ego or doppelganger). The double is a second self that depends on the original being, even if the alter ego is not a dominant part of the self, sometimes it takes over and usurps the functions of the subject. 

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson and published in 1886. This novel deals with the complexities of human nature and science. As well as, the fine line between good and evil in the personality of the individual. 

THE PLOT

The plot of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde centres on a man who is split into two different characters. On the one hand, there is Jekyll, a trustworthy and respectable man; on the other hand, there is Hyde, an evil and depraved genius. These two individuals are in constant struggle, and it is the same chemistry experiment that releases or restores one or the other. 

Once Hyde is released, he takes over Jekyll's aspect, so the individual has to make a choice, whether to have a life of crime and evil, or Jekyll must get rid of Hyde in the only option left: killing himself. So, the novel ends with Jekyll's suicide as the final choice. 

HUMAN NATURE AND SOCIETY

The last chapter of the novel concludes the entire dichotomy of the nature of man and his corruption. It depicts that man's salvation can only be possible through the annihilation of one part of his nature if he lives in a civilized society. 

The following text is an extract of Chapter 1 'The story of the door', The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:

In this quotation, Enfield, a lawyer who is a friend of Jekyll,  tells his friend Utterson how he saw Hyde trample a kid underfoot. Utterson asks Enfield to describe Hyde's look, however, Enfield cannot formulate a clear portrait, he can only affirm that Hyde is deformed, ugly, and repulsive, but he cannot tell why.