Scarica the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON • Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850 • Because of his poor health he spent most of his childhood in bed, terrified of the dark room he was kept in and tutored at home, under the influence of his family’s Calvinism • He travelled a lot in search of a friendlier climate -> he lived in the South of England, Germany, France and Italy • He was in conflict with his social environment, the respectable Victorian world • After giving up Engineering, he graduated in law in 1875 and decided to devote himself to writing • He married an American woman and since his health was deteriorating, they moved to Australia and Tahiti, settling down at Vailima in Samoa • He died of a brain haemorrhage in 1894 • Stevenson became popular as a novelist in the 1880s, when he published: 1. Treasure Island 2. The Strange of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 3. Kidnapped 4. The Master of Ballantrae PLOT • Mr. Utterson is a respectable London lawyer and friend to the brilliant scientist Dr. Henry Jekyll • After relating a disturbing tale of a sinister man assaulting a small girl, Utterson begins to question the odd behaviour of his friend • He discovers a story so horrific, so terrifying, that he can hardly believe it -> in fact, his friend has created a potion able to release his evil side, Mr. Hyde • These two begins are in a perpetual struggle; once Hyde is released from hiding, he achieves domination over the Jekyll aspect, so that the individual has only two choices • On the one hand, the man may choose a life of crime and depravity or, on the other hand, Jekyll must eliminate Hyde in the only way left, by killing him • Hance Jekyll’s suicide is the final and only choice THE DOUBLE NATURE OF THE SETTING • The story takes place in London in the 1870s. at the time London ha a ‘double’ nature and reflected the hypocrisy of Victorian society: the respectable West End was in contrast with the appalling poverty of the East End slums • This ambivalence is reinforced by the symbolism of Jekyll’s house, whose two facades represent the faces of the two opposed sides of the same man • Most scenes of the novel take place at night: there is no natural daylight, but only the artificial lighting of Jekyll’s house and of the nightmarish street lamps • The most important events are wrapped up in darkness and fog: when Hyde tramples over the child, it is three in the morning; the murder of a respectable Member of Parliament, Sir Danvers Carew, happens at night, as well as Jekyll/Hyde’s suicide. STYLE • The book has a multi-narrative structure, in which a complex series of points of view is presented • There are four narrators (through whom almost the whole action is seen and filtered) -> Utterson, Enfield, Dr. Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll himself • Utterson has the role of a detective since he follows clues and draws hypotheses • He has a strange relationship with Enfield -> the walks of these two very different men may be a metaphor for the dual nature of every human being, which man must accept to live with and which Jekyll refuses • The other narrator, Dr. Lanyon, is the first person to see his friend enact his transformation • Since he witnesses a physically impossible phenomenon, he prefers to die rather than go on living in a world that he thinks has been turned upside down • The last narrator is Jekyll himself, who speaks in the first person. His narrative and final confession takes up the last chapter
