Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, adapted by Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy

Resource created by Michael Stephenson

Contents

Introduction

Timesavers/Useful Links

Activity 1 – Introduce your pupils to Graphic Novels

Handout for Activity 1

Activity 2 – Utterson’s Dream – Handout to give to pupils

Activity 2 – Utterson’s Dream – notes for teachers

Activity 2 – Utterson’s Dream – pupil worksheet

Activity 3 – Meeting Mr. Hyde – Notes for Teachers

Activity 3 – Meeting Mr. Hyde – pupil worksheet

Activity 4 – Mr. Hyde Character Analysis – pupil worksheet

List of recommended Graphic Novels for the classroom

Introduction

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson was published in 1886. The book follows the lawyer Utterson’s entanglement in the affairs of Dr. Henry Jekyll, an upstanding gentleman who masks his infernal alter ego Mr. Hyde. It is a dark, gothic tale of the duality in human nature. The inspiration for the book was conceived from the duality of Edinburgh, a vibrant city with a dark heart, although the story is set in London.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was adapted into a graphic novel by Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy in 2008. The graphic novel stays almost entirely faithful to the original dialogue of Stevenson’s novella. It is an excellent text for reluctant readers, and there are also versions available in Gaelic and Scots. The text is suitable for a wide range of ages and abilities. This resource is mainly aimed at pupils working towards level 4.

This resource was developed by Michael Stephenson of Inveralmond Community High School. It is available in Word or PDF format. To help you use the resource, you may want to refer to Michael’s blog about his experiences: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/blog/teacher-in-residence/2010/03/michael-stephenson-graphic-novel-ideas.

Michael has also produced two other units on adapting text, using the novella Coraline by Neil Gaiman. This novella is also available as a graphic novel – see the final page of this resource for details.

This resource should be used in conjunction with Michael’s powerpoints, which are available on Scottish Book Trust’s website. Where an activity has a connection to one of the powerpoints, this has been indicated.

Timesavers/useful links

Edinburgh’s UNESCO City of Literature campaign:

http://www.cityofliterature.com/ecol.aspx?sec=6&pid=215

This is an excellent starting point for those unfamiliar with the conventions of graphic novels. There are lots of resources on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which give an insight into how a narrative is put together in a graphic novel.

Duke University’s Writing About Graphic Novels handout:

http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/files/Duke%20University%20Comics%20and%20Visual%20Literacy.pdf

Again, a good resource for those who want to get to grips with how to deconstruct graphic novels.

National Centre for Technology in Education’s Guide to Terminology:

http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/files/comics%20terminology_0.pdf

A very useful resource which explains the meaning of important terminology.

Activity 1 – Introduce your pupils to Graphic Novels

The pupils will need to familiarise themselves with the conventions of graphic novels.

The Powerpoint entitled ‘Making a Graphic Novel’ provides an introduction to graphic novels, including their structure, artwork and dialogue.

You can find the Powerpoint on Scottish Book Trust’s website at http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/teaching-resources/upper-secondary

The handout on the next page is very useful for pupils as they attempt to familiarise themselves with how text is presented in a graphic novel.

Activity 2 – Utterson’s Dream – extract to hand out to pupils

Activity 2 – Utterson’s Dream – Notes for Teachers

In this activity, pupils will analyse and deconstruct a page of the text. The handout and the worksheet are on the following pages.

The Powerpoint presentation entitled ‘Utterson’s Dream’ will be a useful accompaniment to this lesson. You can find the Powerpoint on Scottish Book Trust’s website at http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/teaching-resources/upper-secondary.

These notes are designed to give teachers suggested answers to the questions on the worksheet. They are by no means exhaustive!

The three categories for analysis are taken from the great resource on graphic novels and visual literacy which Duke University have made available online at http://uwp.duke.edu/wstudio/documents/comics.pdf .

Page layout

First quarter-page panel establishes situation (long shot of Utterson’s bedroom, Utterson asleep) – central panels develop narrative of his dream by presenting four images from his dream in sequence, final panel gives emphasis (graphic weight) to figure of Hyde.

Central panels’ overlapping, circular layout suggests Utterson’s mind locked in a cycle – no escape from these thoughts and images...

Final ‘bleed’ – borderless panel sees Hyde’s shadowy form extending beyond page – an imminent and threatening image, perhaps suggesting how Hyde envelops Utterson’s mind...

Art Style

Colour – background transition from blue (cold, nocturnal) to red and its connotations of danger, blood etc. Blue/black palette in central images to evoke ‘nocturnal city’.

Light and shadow – black shadow associated with Hyde – mysterious, sinister, threatening etc. Adds to text...’The figure had NO FACE!’

Impressionistic style of lamplight, Hyde’s figure – evocative of dream but also of intangible fears, lurking danger...

Something bat-like in Hyde’s figure?

Text

Captions used for narration, as opposed to speech balloons for dialogue

Text adds to image in terms of detail of situation and event, sound (girl’s screams) and imagery – scroll of lighted pictures; great field of lamps of a nocturnal city; human juggernaut...

Activity 2 – Utterson’s Dream – pupil worksheet (Understanding, Analysing and Evaluating: Eng 4-17a, Eng 4-19a).

In this extract from chapter one, Mr Utterson has a troubled night after hearing his

friend talk about Mr. Hyde.

In this activity, you will analyse how various aspects of the page help to convey

Utterson’s “toiling mind”.

Page Layout

How do the panels establish situation and then develop a narrative?

Why is the design of the four central panels effective?

What is the effect of the bleed at the bottom of the page?

Art Style

How do the following affect the impact of the page?

Choice of image

Colour

Light and shade

Level of detail – realistic? Impressionistic?

Text

Why are captions used, rather than speech balloons?

What does the text add to our understanding of the images?

Which words and phrases do you find most effective? Can you comment on

the use of metaphor?

Which words are lettered in bold, and why?

Overall, how effectively do you feel Grant & Kennedy have brought the scene to life

and created the anxious, troubled mood of Utterson’s dream?

Activity 3 – Meeting Mr. Hyde – notes for teachers (Understanding, Analysing and Evaluating: Eng 4-19a, Finding and Using Information: Lit 4-15a, Tools for Reading: Lit 4-13a)

The Powerpoint entitled ‘Meeting Mr. Hyde’ is useful as an accompaniment to this lesson and can be found on Scottish Book Trust’s website at http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/teaching-resources/upper-secondary.

Below, suggested answers to the worksheet for this activity have been highlighted. Again, these are by no means exhaustive.

All at once, I saw two figures: one a little man who was stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe eight or ten who was running as hard as she was able down a cross street. Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground. It sounds nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see. It wasn’t like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut. I gave a view-halloa, took to my heels, collared my gentleman, and brought him back to where there was already quite a group about the screaming child. He was perfectly cool and made no resistance, but gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running.

“Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice; all these were points against him, but not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing, and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him. “There must be something else,” said the perplexed gentleman. “There is something more, if I could find a name for it. God bless me, the man seems hardly human! Something troglodytic, shall we say? Or can it be the old story of Dr. Fell? Or is it the mere radiance of a foul soul that thus transpires through, and transfigures, its clay continent? The last, I think; for, O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan’s signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend.”

Activity 3 – Meeting Mr. Hyde – pupil worksheet

In these two extracts from Robert Louis Stevenson’s original novel, highlight the key words and phrases from which you learn something about the character of Mr Hyde...

All at once, I saw two figures: one a little man who was stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe eight or ten who was running as hard as she was able down a cross street. Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground. It sounds nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see. It wasn’t like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut. I gave a view-halloa, took to my heels, collared my gentleman, and brought him back to where there was already quite a group about the screaming child. He was perfectly cool and made no resistance, but gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running.

“Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice; all these were points against him, but not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing, and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him. “There must be something else,” said the perplexed gentleman. “There is something more, if I could find a name for it. God bless me, the man seems hardly human! Something troglodytic, shall we say? Or can it be the old story of Dr. Fell? Or is it the mere radiance of a foul soul that thus transpires through, and transfigures, its clay continent? The last, I think; for, O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan’s signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend.”

Activity 4 – Mr. Hyde Character Analysis – pupil worksheet (Understanding, Analysing and Evaluating: eng 4-19a, Finding and Using Information: Lit 4-16a)

Comics & Graphic Novels

Recommended Reading ListThis suggested graphic novels reading list for teachers has been compiled as a result of Michael Stephenson’s module on Adaptation.

These suggestions have been gathered verbally from a number of sources, and are intended as a point of departure for teachers interested in using comics and graphics novels in the classroom.

1. Jekyll & Hyde comic by Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy2. Jekyll & Hyde Scots version translated by James Spence3. Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped by Grant & Kennedy. 4. Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped Scots version translated by Mathew

Fitt.5. Nevermore - A Graphic Novel Anthology of Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories -

Various, Dan Whitehead (ed) 6. The Classical Comics range offering adaptations of classic horror -

Frankenstein, Dracula - as well as classic novels like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.

7. Metaphrog's First Men on Mercury strip, too, obviously. Brilliant, faithful version and it can be downloaded free at their website along with teachers' notes from ASLS.

8. Coraline, adapted P Craig Russell from Neil Gaiman's novel.9. Maus Art Spiegelman10.Safe Area Gorazde Joe Sacco11.Palestine Joe Sacco12.Persepolis Marjane Satrapi13.Resistance  Carla Jablonski and Leland Purvis14.Watchmen Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons15.V for Vendetta Alan Moore, David Lloyd16.Batman: The Killing Joke Alan Moore17.Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Frank Miller18.Ghost World by Daniel Clowes19.True Swamp - The Memoirs of Lenny the Frog – by Jon Lewis20.Relentless (Cat Woman) by Ed Brubaker21.The Nikopol Trilogy by Enki Bilal22.Bone by Jeff Smith23.From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell24.Frank by Jim Woodring25.Through the Habit Rails by Jeff Nicholson26.Domu by Katsuhiro 27.Otomo and Adolph by Tezaku