- Robert Louis Stevenson was born November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland - His father, Thomas, was from a long line of civil engineers, and invented, among others, the marine dynamometer, which measures the force of waves. Robert didn’t have any brothers and/or sisters because he was an only child

- Throughout his childhood, he suffered chronic health problems that confined him to bed, the worst of them being tuberculosis.

- He started writing stories at an early age. The strongest influence during his childhood was that of his nurse, Allison Cunnigham, who often read aloud Pilgrim's Progress and The Old Testament, his most direct literary influences during this time .- He didn’t want to become an engineer like his father because his love was in writing. - Among Stevenson's own early favorite books were Shakespeare's Hamlet, Dumas's adventure tale of the elderly D'Artagan and Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

- It’s a Gothic mystery novel

- The story takes place in nineteenth century England

Characters

• Dr. Jekyll:– He is interested in the dual nature of human

beings.– He devices a drug that separates and releases

his evil side.– He decides to fight his evil side after Mr. Hyde

kills a member of the Parliament.– His scientific discovery leads to a tragic death

when he realises that he no longer can control Mr. Hyde.

• Mr. Hyde:– He’s Dr. Jekyll’s evil part and the

antagonist of the novel

– He’s pursued by the police after he kills Sir Danvers Carew, a member of the Parliament.

– He commits suicide when he realises that he is going to be captured by the police

– His physical ugliness symbolizes his moral hideousness and warped ethics

• Mr. Utterson: respectable lawyer and friend of Dr. Jekyll, who uncovers the mystery surrounding the doctor’s experiments.

• Dr. Lanyon: another doctor who thinks that Jekyll’s experiments are unscientific, thus dismissing them.

Major Themes

• Duality of human nature and the co-existence of good and evil in all of us.

• Importance of reputation and keeping appearances so as not to ruin one’s respectability.