Stevenson: the man and the writerStevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850. Because of his poor health he spent most of his childhood in bed tutored at home under the influence of his familys Calvinism. He took up engineering at University but he graduated in law. During his adolescence he travelled a lot; he lived in England, Germany, France and Italy and then moved from Australia to Tahiti. All the time he was in conflict with his social environment: the respectable Victorian world. Then he became a bohemian openly rejecting his familys religious principles and love for respectability. Stevenson became popular when he published Treasure Island and The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.. In the end he died of a brain haemorrhage in 1894.

The origin of the novelThis novel had its origin in a dream: Stevenson wrote down in this diary that he had dreamed of a man in a laboratory who had swallowed a drug and turned into a different being, so he produced a first draft that depicted the double nature of Victorian society. Also Stevenson was concerned with the duality of mans nature, the good and evil sides. The Calvinism of his mother gave him a sense of mans divided self and he despised the religion.

The plotThe story is told from the point of view of Mr Utterson, a lawyer and friend of the scientist Dr Jekyll. Utterson is who begins to question the odd behaviour of his friend. He also discovers that Jekyll has created a potion able to release his evil side, Mr Hyde. Jekyll is a good genius while Hyde an evil genius. These two beings are in perpetual struggle and finally the individual has two choices:1)to conduced a life made of crime and depravityor2)to eliminate Hyde in the only way left: by killing him.So Jekylls suicide is the finally and only choice.

The double nature of the settingThe setting of the novel seems to be halfway between England and Scotland, London and Edinburgh. In fact in London there are the respectable West End and the East End slums, while Edinburgh had the New town of Georgian and the Old town where there is the crime. So both capitals had a double nature. This ambivalence is reinforced by the symbolism of Jekylls house whose two facades are symbolically the faced of the two opposed sides of the same man. Most scenes of the novel take place at night in fact the most important events are wrapped up in darkness and fog. So the bleakness of this setting is reflected to the character who inhabit it: there are no women, wives and the only ties between people are professional.

Good and evilThe novel Is the portrayal of good and evil and its characters Jekyll and Hyde, are the stereotypes of people who are good and evil. Jekyll has lived a virtuous life, his face and his body larger than Hydes. Hyde is pure hate and evil he is pale and dwarfish.. Though the evil side of Jekylls nature is initially less developed, Hyde gradually spoils his good twin, threatening and overthrowing the original balance of good and evil in Jekylls nature.

A multi-narrative techniqueDr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has a multi-narrative structure. There are four narrators, though whom almost the whole action is seen and filtered: Enfield, Utterson, Dr Lanyon and finally Dr Jekyll himself. Utterson has the role of detective and he has a strange relationship with his distant relative Enfield. Also Lanyon is a kind of mirror for Jekyll, in the end the last narrator is Jekylls himself whose narrative and final confession take up the last chapter.INFLUENCES AND ISPIRATIONS: Stevenson drew inspiration from Darwins studies about the animal world. The small stature of Hyde indicates that his body is not exercised. Hyde is the primitive and the civilised man since he is described in terms of grotesque. Jekyll has projected his hidden pleasure onto Hyde so Dr Jekyll is as guilty as Mr Hyde. Jekyll is a Victorian Faustand has a sort of pact with an interior evil. This novel is considered a reflection on art itself.