Scarica THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! STEVENSON Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850. When he was a child, he was often ill so he stood most of his childhood in bed. He got the influence of his family’s Calvinism and for this reason during his life he had a rejection of all kinds of religions. He had a contradictory personality compared to the society of that times: he hated Victorian society because they believed that there was only the good in man while he belived that there was both the bad and the good side. He studied Engineering at the university, but he gave up and graduated in Law, becoming a popular novelist and his most famous work is the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He died of a brain haemorrhage in 1894. |He disliked the repression of the duality of human nature, and he shows it in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide where he shows the reality of duality and attacks the society that prefers seeing the virtues in someone, decided by the norms of that time. THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (Psychological novel, it shows the dualism of society) Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a narrative about the complexities of science and the duplicity of human nature. Dr Jekyll is a kind, well-respected and intelligent scientist who meddles with the darker side of science, as he wants to bring out his 'second' nature. He does this through transforming himself into Mr Hyde - his evil alter ego who doesn't repent or accept responsibility for his evil crimes and ways. Jekyll tries to control his alter ego, Hyde, and for a while, Jekyll has the power. However, towards the end of the novel, Hyde takes over and this results in their deaths. PLOT The characters of this novel are Mr. Utterson (a respectable lawyer) and his friend Dr Jekyll. Utterson begins to notice the strange behaviour of his friend, and he discover that Dr Jekyll created a potion able to free his evil side, Mr. Hyde. His evil side is a criminal and the only way to eliminate him is killing him, so in the end Jekyll understands that the suicide is the only way. This novel reflected the dualism of human nature and also the double nature of the victorian society. This double nature is represented in the story by different ways: -In the setting of London (west london was the rich part while east london was the poor one) and reflected the hypocrisy of Victorian society. - Dr Jekyll’s house because it has two sides: the front of the house is used by Dr Jekyll is fair and handsome, while the rear side is used by Hyde and it’s ugly and sinister with no windows. Most scenes take place at night and the setting is dark and foggy. - In the character of Dr Jekyll: handsome. His hands are white and well-shaped, his body is larger and proported than Hide’s, well-dressed. While Mr. Hide is deformed, his hands are dark and hairy and he is smaller. Dr. Jekyll represent the good part of our nature while Mr. Hyde represents the evil part (is a stereotypical vision because not always what is beautiful is good). This dualism is reflected also in the name of Dc. Jekyll because Jack was the most famous name and kill because at the end he kills himself, and in the name Mr. Hyde because hyde was the famous play “hide and seek”, and this refers to Mr Hyde hiding behind Jekyll.
