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Work in groups of 4 and answer the questions. Then organise your findings in 4 categories:

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Work in groups of 4 and answer the questions. Then organise your findings in 4 categories:

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Features of the novel

Plot

The Double

Other themes in the novel and comparison to Frankenstein.

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1) How did R.L. Stevenson come to write "The strange case of dr. Jekyll and mr Hyde"

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1) How did R.L. Stevenson come to write "The strange case of dr. Jekyll and mr Hyde"

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"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was written by R. L. Stevenson.

Just like Mary Shelley before him, Stevenson was inspired by a nightmarish vision he had during a dream, in which he saw a man in a laboratory who had just swallowed a drug and turned into a different being.

After that nighmare, Stevenson had the idea of writing a story in which the connection between the Gothic aspects of this horror story and his harsh criticism of the hypocrisy and the double nature of the Victorian society become the main themes of the novel.

The Strange Case refers also to the tradition of the detective stories who became very popular at that time.

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2) Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde" is both a detective story and a Gothic novel? What elements does Stevenson's novel have in common with detective and Gothic stories?

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2) Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde" is both a detective story and a Gothic novel? What elements does Stevenson's novel have in common with detective and Gothic stories?

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The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and mister Hyde is a novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson. The novel belongs to two different genres, because it contains both elements of Gothic and detective stories.

The Gothic elements are:

- the double and the struggle between the good against the evil side of man;

- the presence of a protagonist who is an overreacher and wants to discover forbidden knowledge by penetrating the secrets of nature and going beyond God's law;

- the setting, since most of the scenes are set during the night in a small room or in some sinister parts of the city of London.

The novel is also a detective story because its plot develops also through the happening of many crimes, for example the murder of a member of the Parliament, and the investigations over Dr Jekyll, which are typically detective elements.

Stevenson anticipates with his novel what later Freud will investigate in his theories about the unconscious and psycho-analysis, while the features of the detective stories will become very popular with the novels written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

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How is the story told (setting, narrators, characters)? Why is the mistery solved only in the end?

The story is set halfway between London in England and Edimburgh in Scotland. In Victorian times, both capitals had a double face which reflected the hypocrisy of Stevenson's contemporary society. In Edimburg the rich NewTown, with its big squares and elegant palaces, was exactly the opposite of the poor districts in the Old Town, where crime was a pressing problem. In London, the respectable West End clashed with the misery and bad living conditions of the poor in the East End slums.

This ambivalence in the setting chosen by Stevenson converges in Jekyll's house, whose house has two façades. Just like the two faces of Dr. Jekyll, also his house has two doors situated on the opposite sides: while the front door is used by Dr. Jekyll, the one on the rear is used only by Mr. Hyde at night. Dr. Jekyll has a virtuous life, his face is handsome, his hands are white and well-shaped and his body is large. On the contrary, Mr. Hyde is pale and dwarfish, his hands are dark and hairy and he gives an impression of deformity.

The novel is written in third person and in first person. It has a complex structure with four narrators: Enfield, Utterson, Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll. All events are narrated through letters. Utterson is a detective and he has a strange relationship with Enfield, who is a distant relative of him. Lanyon is a superficial good man and it is a kind of mirror for Dr. Jekyll. His curiousity prevails and in the end he is tempted by forbidden knowledge and he is found dead.

The mistery is solved only in the end when Dr. Jekyll, who is the last narrator, gives his full confession about the things that he and Hyde have done in a final letter, which is is also his final testament. This narrative device, which is typical of a detective story, increases suspense and provides entertainment to the readers.

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John Barrymore as Dr. Jekyll

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4) BRIEFLY SUMMARISE THE STORY AND EXPLAIN HOW IT IS TOLD

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4) BRIEFLY SUMMARISE THE STORY AND EXPLAIN HOW IT IS TOLD

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The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is both a detective story and a Gothic story. It tells the story of Dr Jekyll, a well-reputed gentleman and doctor in Victorian London, who carries out an extraordinary experiment based on chemistry.
Dr Jekyll wants to separate the evil part of man's soul from the good one in the hope that this way all evil in the world will be eliminated. The experiment succeeds and in fact Jekyll manages to isolate the dark side of his soul in Mr. Hyde. The latter is the opposite of Dr Jekyll also from a physical point of view: while Dr Jekyll is tall and slim and has the manners of a gentleman, Mr Hyde's deformity reflects his evil nature. Mr Hyde commits several crimes and lives a vicious life at night.
Although they are aspects of the same personality, Jekyll and Hyde lead opposed lives. They also use two different doors in the same house: one on the front façade representing the Victorian values of respectability, decor and morality; the other on the rear used mainly at night by Mr Hyde, representing depravity and moral corruption hidden behind the official façade .
Unfortunately the evil part of Dr Jekyll, which at first was less developed, becomes dominant and takes over Jekyll's good side, to the point that the individual must make a final, dramatic choice. Either, he chooses a life of crime and depravity, or he must eliminate Hyde by killing himself. Jekyll's suicide is the only choice that Dr Jekyll can make as he confesses in his final statement of the case.
The narrative technique of the novel is very sophisticated. It is a mixture of a third person omniscient narrative and a first person narrative written with the epistolary technique. Stevenson never reveals more that the point of view of the characters. There are different points of view presented by the four narrators: Utterson, a detective; Enfield, an Utterson's distant relative; Lanyon, a kind of a mirror of Jekyll; and Dr Jekyll himself. Their knowledge of the case is incomplete and this increases suspense, fear, uncertainty and curiosity. The solution to the detective case is told only at the very end when Utterson finds Dr Jekyll's letter in which he gives full confession of what he has done. This increases suspense and is one of the reasons for the novel's great success already in Victorian times.

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5) In the excerpt "The story of the door" the setting reflects the double nature of Victorian society. Explain.

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5) In the excerpt "The story of the door" the setting reflects the double nature of Victorian society. Explain.

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The episode described in "The Story of the Door" reflects the double nature of the Victorian society.

While Mr. Utterson and Mr. Enfield are walking along the street they notice a weird house. The house is presented as an example of ambivalent setting because it has two facades, which are one the opposite of the other, just like the two faces of Victorian conscience.

Both facades have a door: the one on the front is used by the well-reputed doctor and Victorian gentleman who leads a very sober life; the one on the back is used only at night by the mysterious Mr Hyde, who leads a life of crimes and depravity.

The house with its double facades represents also the two opposite sides of a human being: the official one is all devoted to morality, decor and good position in society; the back door leads to mystery, corruption and vices.

The character of Dr Jekyll represents the respectable gentleman of the Victorian wealthy classes, who believes in the Victorian values of personal duty, hard work, respectability, authority, charity and philantrophy, chastity and patriotism.

Conversely, the character of Mr Hyde represents the dark side of the human being made up of animal instincts and brutality. Hyde is also a monster representing the corruption of society and its hypocrisy in hiding the big social problems of the Victorian age.
In the novel the duplicity of the individual thus reflects the duplicity of the Victorian compromise.

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1. In his final statement, Dr Jekyll gives a full account of his experiment and explains how it was carried out in his laboratory. Summarise it in your own words and mention what fields of science were involved.

2. How does Mr Hyde manage to take control over Dr Jekyll? Why?

3. The evil side of Dr Jekyll is kept under control at the beginning of the story. What happens next and why does Dr Jekyll decide to kill himself?“

4. Dr. Jekyll & Mr  Hyde” is the story of a scientific experiment. What was Dr. Jekyll’s initial dream as a scientist and what is the fundamental truth he thinks he has discovered after the experiment?

5. Most characters in the novel are men. Why do you think Stevenson did not take into consideration a female protagonist?

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PLOT: Question 6 (Lila, Maria Clara, Beatrice, Emanuele

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PLOT: Question 6 (Lila, Maria Clara, Beatrice, Emanuele

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In his final statement, Dr Jekyll gives a full account of his experiment and explains how it was carried out in his laboratory.

Jekyll discovered that in every man there live more than one identities, maybe two or even more parts of the same being. Doctor Jekyll is obsessed with the idea of separating his evil tendencies from his good side, creating two different beings: one wholly good, one wholly bad which he is going to be eliminate. He therefore started to do chemical experiments to discover a way to disassociate these two different parts.

At the beginning Dr Jekyll hesitated a lot before putting his theory into practice because he was aware that he could die. But the temptation of such a discovery was so singular that he overcame his fears. It took Jekyll a long time to prepare his potion because one ingredient was missing and it was essential for the success of the experiment: a special salt which Jekyll finally could find from a wholesale chemists.

Finally one night Jekyll put together all elements and drank off the potion which boiled in the glass. At the beginning the potion provoked great pain, a grinding in the bones and killing nausea but then these agonies began to subside. Jekyll felt different because there was something strange in his sensations, something new: he felt younger, lighter, happier in body and a sense of unknown but not innocent freedom in the soul, but he had lost his stature. He felt more wicked, tenfold more wicked. Unfortunately there wasn’t any mirror in the room so Jekyll didn’t manage to see himself and his state. The next morning after he had entered into his room, he saw for the first time Edward Hyde, his evil side.

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PLOT: Question 8 by Lila, Maria Clara, Beatrice e Emanuele

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PLOT: Question 8 by Lila, Maria Clara, Beatrice e Emanuele

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Like two sides of the same personality, Mr. Hyde represents the dark side of Dr Jekyll and the evil which is hidden inside each human being.
Dr Jekyll's aim during the experiment is to isolate his own evil side in Mr Hyde but unfortunately the potion doesn't work properly. Although Dr Jekyll manages to separate the two sides physically, the evil one will gradually take control over the good one.
Dr Jekyll becomes aware of this transformation on the day on which he sees Mr. Hyde in the mirror of his room for the first time. Immediately Jekyll drinks some more potion in the hope of turning back to himself. Although he suffers as usual, he will retain the body and face of Henry Hyde.
After this episode Jekyll understands that there are only two possible choices left to him: he can either let Mr Hyde take full control of him and indulge in a life of crimes and depravity or choose the moral way and try to eliminate Hyde. In the end - as his name suggests - Dr Jekyll will kill Hyde by committing suicide.

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PLOT: Question 9 - Lila, Maria Clara, Beatrice e Emanuele)

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PLOT: Question 9 - Lila, Maria Clara, Beatrice e Emanuele)

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In the novel “The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde”, written by Robert Louis Stevenson, the potagonists are all men and there aren’t any female characters.
This choice reflected the society of the Victorian Age, in which the women had to be submissive to men and had no official role in society.
The Victorian family was based on marriage, which was an indissoluble bound, and the central role of authority belonged to the father, who all women had to obey.
Women were seen like angels of the fire place: fragile creatures, less intelligent than men, who needed protection from men. As a result Victorian women had to be submissive wives and fruitful mothers.
The middle-class women were expected to obey a strict code of behaviour and were often confined within the family walls. Women could do a few jobs like teaching or doing social activities, for example helping the poor children. Often they were allowed no more than elementary education.
According to Darwin’s theories, which proved that women were subordinate to men, the main role given to women by nature was only reproduction and they were not required to think because they had not been equipped with a brain to think logically (unlike men who had to protect their family).
Women were excluded from public or political life. This is well reflected in the novel by Stevenson, in which the main characters are all men so as to emphasize the total absence of women in the exercise of power. Not surprisingly the male characters get involved in a "strange" case of crimes, corruption and moral decay so as to show the wrongs of society entirely dominated by men.

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1. Why are Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde complementary in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?

2. The ambivalence in the novel can be found both in the characters’ qualities and in the setting. Explain.

3. The relationship between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is highly symbolical of the human condition. Explain.

4. In “Dr. Jekyll & Mr  Hyde” there are many references to the theme of the double. Explain how this theme is dealt with in the novel with reference to its ambivalent setting?

5. Most Victorian novels are based on the presence of sound and respectable personalities. What does the ambiguous Jekyll/Hyde relationship mean in this sense?

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THE DOUBLE - Alessandra M. , Costanza C. , Giorgia R.

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THE DOUBLE - Alessandra M. , Costanza C. , Giorgia R.

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The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is based on the theme of the double, which is well represented by the ambivalent setting and by the strange relationship between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This relationship is highly symbolical of the human condition because all human beings have both good and evil in their soul. Thanks to civilisation and moral education, men and women try to control their dark, evil side but their irrational impulses sometimes gain control.

“The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is also a Gothic novel based on the presence of respectable personalities; it reflects the male-dominated, patriarchal world of Victorianism. The main characters are two: one is a lawyer and the other one is a doctor - both representing prestigious figures in society. Furthermore in the story there are no women.

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The protagonist is a respectable man, Dr. Jekyll while Mr. Hyde is an evil antagonist. These two characters are complementary because Jekyll represents the good side of man’s nature, while Hyde reflects the evil part of human beings. Moreover, while Jekyll lives a virtuous life and his face is good looking, Hyde is ugly with a deformed body and he also gets associated with Satan. He is pale and gives the impression of deformity. The evil side of Jekyll’s nature is less developed because most of his life has been devoted to “effort, virtue and control”. Therefore, while Dr. Jekyll is highly educated with good moral values, Mr. Hyde is small and represents the alter ego of Jekyll’s soul. Even the names of the two protagonists - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - are very meaningful: Hyde recalls the verb "to hide" meaning that the monster created by the doctor is well "hidden" in his inside and - to eliminate it, Jekyll will have to "kill" himself.

The theme of the double has also many references to the novel’s ambivalent setting. This seems to be placed halfway between England and Scotland, London and Edinburgh. In Victorian times, in both these capitals crime was a pressing problem and the lower classes were obliged to live in the squalor of the city slums. On the other hand, the rich lived a carefree life of entertainment in their comfortable, richly decorated palaces. This ambivalence is emphasized by the symbolism of Jekyll’s house, which has two faces: the first façade and the backyard. They are symbols of the same man: the front of this house, which is well-kept and respectable, is used by the Doctor. The rear, which is part of a sinister block of buildings, is used by Hyde.

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The novel of "Dr Jekill and Mr. Hyde" was written by Robert Luis Stevenson in 1886. The story perfectly explains the double face of the Victorian society. The doctor, indeed, who represents the perfect Victorian gentleman and a well-reputed scientist, had been anguished all his life by the double personality of his soul. It's for this reason that Dr. Jekyll tries to find a scientific method to separate the respectable, good part of his personality from the brutal one. He wishes he could one day eliminate that evil part to make the world a better place. The "Victorian Compromise" in this story consists precisely in this duplicity; Victorians lived their life on double levels: the front facade of their respectability to be shown in society and the brutal, selfish and monstruous one which had to be hidden from the public eye. For that reason also the doctor's name in his brutal and primitive state is quite meaningful: Mr Hyde is the hidden, primitive alter ego of his respectable, good twin Dr Jekyll.

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QUESTION 16: SARA C. , AMBRA, GIULIA M. , GIOVANNA

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QUESTION 16: SARA C. , AMBRA, GIULIA M. , GIOVANNA

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Both Faust and Dr.Jekill made an agreement with the devil: Faust did that to have more personal power and access forbidden knowledge. Also Dr.Jekyll infringes the rules of Nature and proves to be an overreacher. Dr. Jekill wants to separate good from evil and he creates a potion. Both are doctors and scientists and ambitious.

They are obsessed with power, because they want to go beyond the rules of the physical world and they are rebels who defy God's authority.

Dr.Jekyll and Faust are punished in the end, because they have sold their soul to monstruous forces - Henry Hyde is often referred to in Satanic terms.

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Doctor Jekyll's intentions are good in the beginning. In fact, being a reputed doctor and dedicated scientist, Dr Jekyll wants to do something good for humanity. For this reason he creates a potion using a particular salt to separate the evil part of the human soul from the good one. His wish is that one day the dark side which is present in every human being and which is the cause of much suffering and misery in the world, could be permanently eliminated.
The doctor tries this potion on himself, although he knows that he is putting his own life at risk since he doesn't know how his body will react to this drug. At first he is enthusiastic of his discovery, but later he realises that the original balance of good and evil in him has now become unstable, because all moral inhibitions have been released. The monster, called Edward Hyde, gradually takes over so that the Doctor is finally obliged to kill himself in order to eliminate Mr Hyde.
Before his final resolution, Jekyll writes a letter in which he confesses all the murders and crimes committed by Mr Hyde and in which he explains how he has come to this decision. The Doctor has discovered a fundamental truth: in each man there can be many personalities, for sure more than two!

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QUESTION 18: SARA C. , AMBRA, GIULIA M. , GIOVANNA

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QUESTION 18: SARA C. , AMBRA, GIULIA M. , GIOVANNA

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Mr.Hyde is deformed like the society in which he lives. Stevenson harshly criticizes the Victorian society because of its duplicity. The socalled Victorian Compromise was in fact based on materialism and the exploitation of the poor, although their mainstream values were that of personal duty, hard work, progress, triumph and authority. In particular, children and women were exploited simply because they were considered good sources of labour. All in all the Victorian society was characterized by hypocrisy, social injustice and inequity. While the upper classes enjoyed great economic prosperity and led a comfortable life, the vast majority of the population lived in appalling conditions and complete poverty.This dualism can be found also in Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, who represent the double aspects of the human soul and of Stevenson's contemporary society.

Dr.Jekyll in particular shows that beneath the facade of respectability, good reputations and civilised manners there is a monstruous part made up of evil, primitive instincts and violent drives.

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OTHER THEMES - COMPARISON TO FRANKENSTEIN

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OTHER THEMES - COMPARISON TO FRANKENSTEIN

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Which are the main themes dealt with in “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”?

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde suggests the myth of Faust. What justifies this association?

What is the symbolical meaning of Mr Hyde’s deformity in relation to Stevenson’s contemporary society?

Compare the figure of Mr Hyde with that of the monster created by Dr Frankenstein. Discuss their differences and similarities.

Both Dr Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll are figures of scientists. Discuss their differences and their similarities.

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QUESTION 19: SARA C. , AMBRA, GIULIA M. , GIOVANNA

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QUESTION 19: SARA C. , AMBRA, GIULIA M. , GIOVANNA

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The monsters created by Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll present some differences and some similarities.The figure of the monster in Mary Shelley's novel represents a deviation from the rules of society and from the God's law while Mr.Hyde represents the dark and devilish side which is present in every human being. While the monster created by Frankenstein is an individual being who suffers emotionally because of his great sensitivity, Mr Hyde is pure evil, in the sense that he is the personification of the evil forces and primitive insticts inside of Dr Jekyll, but they are the same person.The similarities are that both monsters are the products of their contemporary society and reflect their creator's darkside. In the end, both Dr Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll realize of their mistakes because both have gone too far. Both will try to eliminate their products and both will be punished. Victor Frankenstein will follow the monster up to the North Pole in an attempt to kill it, but will die of exhaustion.Dr.Jekyll cannot eliminate Edward Hyde if not by killing himself, because Mr Hyde is the dark part inside of him. Consequently, the only choice he can make is to commit suicide.

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PLOT: Question 7  by Lila, Maria Clara, Beatrice e Emanuele

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PLOT: Question 7  by Lila, Maria Clara, Beatrice e Emanuele

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Doctor Jekyll is obsessed with the idea of separating his evil tendencies from his good side, creating two different beings: one wholly good, one wholly bad. His initial intention was to eliminate the evil side, but things go from bad to worse.
The potion he creates works well and Dr Jekyll discovers that by drinking it he can change into a new person, physically deformed and of an evil nature, who commits every sort of crime and is called Henry Hyde.
Unfortunately Mr Hyde becomes more and more powerful. Although at the beginning Jekyll is able to keep his evil side under control, by using the drug Mr. Hyde starts to resist the filtering. At first, when Jekyll wants to return to his usual self, all he has to do is to take the drug again. With time, Hyde’s evil nature grows to the point that he takes over Jekyll’s body without needing the drug anymore.
In fact when Jekyll turns into Hyde, he commits many crimes and evil actions, which empower Hyde and let him become the dominant part.
Jekyll is frightened when he realizes that Hyde will eventually take control entirely over himself, so that he decides to commit suicide. He considers this final resolution as the only way to eliminate Henry Hyde and to save himself from a life of crimes and depravity.

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Question 20: Edita, Giulia C, Vittoria, Lisa

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Question 20: Edita, Giulia C, Vittoria, Lisa

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There are many similarities and differences between Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818) and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886).
Frankenstein, which was one of the first novel to be written in the Gothic style, deeply inspired Stevenson’s story.
Both novels seem to suggest that experimenting with science can be dangerous.
From the comparison between the two novels by Stevenson and Mary Shelley we noticed some significant analogies.
First of all, both novels present the FIGURE OF THE OVERREACHER. The two protagonists are both scientists who, led by their great ambition, try to overcome the limits and borders imposed by ethics, nature or God. Their punishment is death by exhaustion in one case, by self-destruction in the other.
Both are OVERREACHERS, because they are rebels who go beyond the limits imposed by God or Nature.
Both novels present a vey COMPLEX NARRATIVE STRUCTURE.
The stories are told by different narrators and the reader shares different points of view. Mary Shelley's work is an epistolary novel with three narrating voices, whose narration doesn't follow a chronological sequence and it is told by letters.
The same happens in Stevenson's "Jekyll and Hyde", which has a multi - narrational structure: four different narrators and a series of different points of view are proposed to the reader: 80% of the story is told by a third - person external narrator but Enfield's, Lanyon's and Jekyll's contributions are essential, to the completeness of the puzzle Mr Utterson is trying to re-compose.
Both Mary Shelley and Robert Louis Stevenson deal with the theme of FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE. Both novels reveal deep interest in science and reflect on what is now called bioethics. Both Walton and Frankenstein have the same ambitions, the wish to go beyond the limits of Nature travelling towards the unknown.
Both Shelley and Stevenson's novels contain SOCIAL CRITICISM. They both harshly criticize their own contemporary society. Both books vonvey in fact critical messages in that direction. Frankenstein highlights the social injustice which transforms an innocent creature into a murderous monster by emarginating him because of his ugly aspect. Jekyll and Hyde, instead, attacks the hypocritical duplicity of the respectable Victorian society, thus emphasizing the theme of THE DOUBLE.
In Frankenstein we can recognize two examples of these fascinating themes: Captain Walton can be considered Victor Frankenstein's "alter ego", his double, since they manifest the same ambition. Walton and Frankenstein try to go beyond human limits and are punished in the end as are all overreachers. The second example of double is Frankenstein and the creature/monster he created.
The theme of the double in Stevenson's mystery story is based on the double identity / personality of a single human being.
Finally, both novels contain elements of the socalled GOTHICISM. In fact, Gothic elements characterize both novels:
- the monster, exoticism, nocturnal scenes, bloody crimes, fear and terror in FRANKENSTEIN
- mysterious, foggy, dark setting, evil crimes, ugly devilish Mr Hyde, fear and terror in JEKYLL AND HYDE

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Question 21: Edita.Giulia C, Vittoria, Lisa

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Question 21: Edita.Giulia C, Vittoria, Lisa

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After drinking the potion, Dr. Jekyll starts to change both mentally and phisically. His body completely changes and the elegant Victorian gentleman turns into a horrible being called Edward Hyde, who is described as pale and dwarfish, with dark, hairy hands that give the impression of deformity. This metamorphosis looks like a sort of regression to a primitive state, and Mr Hyde is often described as a monstruous, uncivilised being.
Dr Jekyll, who is first of all a scientist, wants to examine this new creature, but since there is no mirror in the laboratory, he rushes into the doctor’s bedroom to watch himself in a mirror.
Besides reflecting My Hyde's image, the symbol of the mirror also evokes the theme of the double, so that Mr Hyde is presented as the primitive alter-ego of the refined Victorian doctor. The mirror shows that there is much more under the surface of hypocritical, Victorian society: behind its image of triumph and economic progress, there is ugliness, corruption and moral decay which the symbol of the mirror makes evident.