Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

By Robert Louis Stevenson

With an Introduction and Notes by Dr Tim Middleton, Head of English Studies, University of Ripon and York.

In seeking to discover his inner self, the brilliant Dr Jekyll discovers a monster. First published to critical acclaim in 1886, this mesmerising thriller is a terrifying study of the duality of man's nature, and it is the book which established Stevenson's reputation as a writer.

Also included in this volume is Stevenson's 1887 collection of short stories, The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables.

The Merry Men is a gripping Highland tale of shipwrecks and madness; Markheim, the sinister study of the mind of a murderer; Thrawn Janet, a spine-chilling tale of demonic possession; Olalla, a study of degeneration and incipient vampirism in the Spanish mountains; Will O' the Mill, a thought-provoking fable about a mountain inn-keeper; and The Treasure of Franchard, a study of French bourgeois life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
• Release date: Oct 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781848703667

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a Scottish poet, novelist, and travel writer. Born the son of a lighthouse engineer, Stevenson suffered from a lifelong lung ailment that forced him to travel constantly in search of warmer climates. Rather than follow his father’s footsteps, Stevenson pursued a love of literature and adventure that would inspire such works as Treasure Island (1883), Kidnapped (1886), Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879).

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Contents

General Introduction

Introduction

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables

Notes to the Introduction

Bibliography

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables

The Merry Men

Will o’ the Mill

Markheim

Thrawn Janet

Olalla

The Treasure of Franchard

Notes

Glossary

General Introduction

Wordsworth Classics are inexpensive editions designed to appeal to the general reader and students. We commissioned teachers and specialists to write broad-ranging, jargon-free Introductions and to provide Notes that would assist the understanding of our readers, rather than interpret the stories for them. In the same spirit, because the pleasures of reading are inseparable from the surprises, secrets and revelations that all narratives contain, we strongly advise you to enjoy this book before turning to the Introduction.

Keith Carabine

General Adviser

Introduction

Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson was born in Edinburgh on Friday 13 December 1850. The only child of Thomas Stevenson, engineer and lighthouse builder, and Margaret Balfour, daughter of a Scottish clergyman, he was largely raised by his nanny, Alison Cunningham (known as ‘Cummy’). Her stern Protestantism and fund of folk-tales are often cited as major sources of inspiration. [1] Stevenson studied law at Edinburgh University and was admitted to the bar in 1875. He never practised, turning instead to authorship with essays in The Cornhill Magazine in 1874 and 1875. His first major publications were books of travel writing; An Inland Voyage(1878) was based upon a canoe journey along canals in Belgium and northern France, and Travels with a Donkey (1879) was derived from his walking trip in the Cévennes region of France. It was in 1876, whilst travelling in France, that he met Fanny Osbourne, a 36-year-old American woman who had fled a philandering husband with her two children. [2] Fanny was to become Stevenson’s wife in 1880 after a prolonged ‘courtship’ during which she attempted reconciliation with her husband and Stevenson appears to have had other relationships. The Stevensons married in America, honeymooning in the decrepit ex-mining town of Silverado, an experience written up rather idealistically in The Silverado Squatters (1883). They returned to England later in the same year, initially living in Braemar and also spending time at Davos in Switzerland on account of Stevenson’s persistent ill health. Treasure Island, written for his stepson Lloyd, was published in 1883 and provided him with his first real success. In 1885 the Stevensons settled in Bournemouth where Stevenson produced some of his most important works, including The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) and Kidnapped (1886). In 1887 Stevenson’s father died and his inheritance was enough to allow him to move abroad in search of a climate which would not aggravate his chronic respiratory condition. After a further period in America, where he wrote The Master of Ballantrae (1889) and the boy’s adventure story The Black Arrow (1888), the Stevensons travelled in the South Seas, settling in Samoa in 1889–90. Here Stevenson wrote a number of important late works, including ‘The Beach at Falesá’ (1892), [3] Catriona (1893), ‘The Ebb Tide’ (1894) and the (unfinished) masterpiece of his final years, Weir of Hermiston (1896).

Stevenson died of a cerebral haemorrhage on the evening of 3 December 1894. He was buried on the summit of Mount Vaea on the following day. Fanny Stevenson died of a stroke in 1914 whilst in Santa Barbara, California, and her ashes were taken to Samoa and buried alongside her husband.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Stevenson’s novella was first published by Longmans, Green in January of 1886 and sold 40,000 copies in six months in Britain and an estimated 250,000 pirated copies in the United States (McLynn, op. cit., p. 263). Stevenson claims that the central idea of the story came to him in a dream and he expanded it into a first draft in three hectic days. [4] His wife criticised the story for its reliance upon gothic conventions and, after a fierce argument, Stevenson burnt the manuscript and wrote the final version in another three-day burst of creative energy.

The story itself focuses upon male friendship, opening with the unlikely but enduring liaison between the sober lawyer, Mr Utterson, and the flamboyant man about town, Mr Richard Enfield. Utterson’s approach to friendship is cautious, his friends are drawn from his ‘own blood’ and ‘those whom he had known the longest’ (p. 3). We know that Stevenson had a number of friendships with men more flamboyantly masculine than his own health and temperament allowed him to be. Enfield and Utterson may be a reflection of their author’s propensity to form what, from the outside, may have appeared to be unlikely friendships. Central to the story which unfolds is Utterson’s deep friendship for Henry Jekyll; this bond inspires him to assume the role of Mr Seek in his dogged pursuit of the truth about the nature of the relationship between Jekyll and Mr Edward Hyde. Utterson assumes that the repellent Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll over some youthful indiscretion since a clause in the doctor’s will makes Hyde the beneficiary of his estate. The sane and rational lawyer is distressed by Jekyll’s odd will, just as their mutual friend Dr Lanyon is unhappy about Jekyll’s divergence from scientific orthodoxy. [5] These markers of Jekyll’s difference from the practices and beliefs of his male circle are part of the way in which Stevenson sows seeds of doubt about the doctor.

The key relationship between the men at the centre of this tale is that between Jekyll and Hyde. Strangely, it is compared to that of a father and son (‘Jekyll had more than a father’s interest; Hyde had more than a son’s indifference’ – p. 48) and also that of a mother and son (Hyde is said to be a thing ‘caged’ in Jekyll’s flesh, ‘where he heard it mutter and felt it struggle to be born’ – p. 53). Their relationship is said to be closer than that of husband and wife and, in a striking image, ‘closer than an eye’ (ibid.). This intimacy between the respectable and the base is used by Stevenson to raise questions about the nature of identity. Early in his statement Jekyll comments upon the ‘profound duplicity of life’ (p. 42) and asserts that:

man is not truly one, but truly two. I say two, because the state of my own knowledge does not pass beyond that point. . . . I hazard a guess that man will ultimately be known for a mere polity of multifarious, incongruous, and independent denizens. [ibid.]

This is a peculiarly modern claim, one which runs counter to many of the cherished tenets of Victorian belief. For a culture which sought to fix and pin down events, facts and meanings in order to feel that the rapidly changing world remained a knowable place such a claim is profoundly troubling. [6] Stevenson sets his story in the heart of London, seat of the British Empire, in the domestic interiors of such respectable professional people as lawyers, doctors and men of science, yet what he shows us is a city fraught with divisions and homes which, far from being castles, are disrupted by mysterious and uncanny occurrences.

The powerful bonds of affection and mutual support between men which are at the heart of this novella – when women do appear they are in subservient roles or victims – can be read as a representation of the social bonds which held together a male-dominated late-nineteenth-century society. Whether this is a reflection of a particular social milieu, a celebration of an all-male coterie or an occasion for a thinly veiled diatribe about the threat of homosexuality or independent-minded women to patriarchal society is left very much for the reader to decide. [7] The critic Andrew Lang, in an early review, implied that the marginalisation of women was a necessary precursor to an adventure story but does comment that middle-aged professional men are not often heroes of such tales. [8] That the novella relies upon such unlikely juxtaposition is one of the ways in which it draws upon the conventions of gothic fiction to achieve its ends. In order to understand some of the reasons why this troubling tale appears to have struck such a chord with its contemporary readership it is necessary to give some consideration to the wider contexts, literary and cultural, against which it was read.

Gothic fiction emerged as a popular literary mode in the eighteenth century, in part as a reaction to the epoch’s celebration of such Enlightenment values as rationality, order and social progress. It deals in irrationality, excess and transgression, frequently involving madness, the supernatural and the macabre and is set in castles, ruins, graveyards and wild landscapes. It is a literature which exposes the fears and foibles of mainstream society, delighting in unlikely juxtapositions and uncanny coincidences. It is also a writing which is interested in the relationship between past and present, largely, though not exclusively, in terms of repressed histories and hidden family secrets. The mood of much gothic fiction is one of questioning of accepted order and of the re-vision of apparently secure and established truths. Gothic fiction flourished once more in the late nineteenth century when the looming fin de siècle occasioned great cultural ferment as the seemingly solid certainties of Victorian Britain withered and mutated. [9] Imperialists, like the adventure-story writer Rider Haggard, drew upon gothic conventions to create tales of white degeneration that conjured fears of the waning of British power whilst decadent and avant-garde authors, like Oscar Wilde in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), drew upon gothic codes to critique middle-class mores.

Gothic fictions tapped a vein of late-nineteenth-century anxiety regarding what was increasingly perceived as the perilously narrow line between civilisation and barbarism. The late nineteenth century was a time of heightened awareness of a number of deep contradictions inherent in the dominant ‘Victorian’ account of society. [10] Many of these were centred upon the experience of urban living and London, setting for Stevenson’s novella, was particularly replete with stark juxtapositions of class and privilege; Laynon’s Mayfair butts up against Hyde’s Soho; respected men about town like Richard Enfield spend time in the warrens of the East End. In London, as in many other cities, prostitution was a national scandal and the widespread occurrence of venereal disease, often brought into middle-class homes by seemingly respectable men, was regarded as a threat to national identity and Britain’s (increasingly threatened) status as chief among the imperial powers. [11]

Gothic fiction also throws into question the idea of a fixed, stable individual identity because it insists that civilisation is merely a thin veneer of custom through which the uncanny and irrational can erupt at any moment. Thus Stevenson writes a story in which Jekyllian respectability and Hydean corruption exist simultaneously in one and the same body and the good doctor is able to live his dual life because of the division of the city into various socially differentiated districts. We should also note the way in which the structure of Jekyll’s house foregrounds his ambi-valent position in society and foreshadows the dual-identity theme. The novella begins with the ‘Story of the Door’ and Utterson’s anxiety over the apparent ease of access to Dr Jekyll’s back passage enjoyed by the repugnant Hyde. [12] The ‘blistered and disdained’ doorway is the starting point for Enfield’s story and the site of Utterson’s first encounter with Hyde and this door gives entry to a ‘block of building’(p. 4) in which it is impossible to distinguish separate dwellings.

Stevenson also draws upon the social distinctions central to late-Victorian culture in his placing of Jekyll’s house. The house is in a square said to be ‘decayed’ from a previously ‘high estate’ and the other houses are divided into apartments occupied by ‘all sorts and conditions of men’ [13] including ‘shady lawyers’ and ‘the agents of obscure enterprises’ (p. 12). Jekyll’s house stands out as the only one which is ‘occupied entire’ and emits ‘a great air of wealth and comfort’ (ibid.). However, the reader arrives at this description having already learnt of its other aspect, thus the placing of the house amongst dwellings which are subdivided and let to shady folk may well create further doubts about the respectability of the doctor.

In the creation of Jekyll’ s alter ego, Edward Hyde, Stevenson taps another aspect of the era’s class phobias. Hyde’s brutishness and capacity to make respectable men feel disgust draws upon the period’s growing fear of the urban working class and of unbridled pursuit of (sexual) pleasure. [14] Hyde is the evil side of Jekyll, the vices he indulges – and Stevenson is careful never to specify what these are – are not alien to the doctor but are desires which he has repressed in order to adhere to the middle-class standards of respectability expected of so eminent a physician. Whether Hyde’s tastes run to child prostitutes, rent boys or opium dens is not really the issue; what is significant is that his depravity is part and parcel of the seemingly civilised doctor. As Jekyll puts it, through becoming Hyde he can cast off his public persona of ‘genial respectability’ and ‘spring headlong into the sea of liberty’ (p. 46). The Jekyll/Hyde persona is a means of exploring the hypocrisy of an increasingly unstable Victorian value system which preached, but increasingly failed to practise, a rigid demarcation between proper pleasures and dangerous liberties. Given the availability of gothic codes to both conservative and avant-garde accounts of society, the novella can equally be read as a confirmation of a suburban (Bournemouth) clique’s fears and fantasises about the city of dreadful night some miles up the railway line or as a critique of bourgeois morality; as a tale in which Stevenson rebels against Fanny’s attempts to inveigle the Stevensons into the Bournemouth set or as a story designed to pander to Fanny’s desire for social respectability. This indeterminacy is not the result of Stevenson’s refusing to make up his mind, or simply the product of the novella’s reliance upon gothic codes. It is very much a product of Stevenson’s narrative technique. The reader is drawn into the tale and collaborates in the production of meaning in ways which are fundamentally modern. [15] Yet the story also retains much of the classic suspense of a gothic ‘crawler’. Just as Utterson pieces together his version of the strange case so the reader gradually builds up an account of the public perceptions of Jekyll’s odd behaviour and strange friendship with Hyde only to have to square this with the private facts presented in Jekyll’s statement of the case. Stevenson strains the reader’s credulity but does not break it since against Jekyll’s statement we have the sober testimony of the impartial Dr Lanyon. By using a credible man of science as a key witness Stevenson encourages his late-nineteenth-century readers to take the dual Jekyll/Hyde persona seriously, shifting the tale out of gothic melodrama and over into a profound meditation upon human nature.

The cunning structure of the novella is inseparable from its peculiarly Scottish insistence upon paradox and duality. Readers overlook Stevenson’s Scottishness at their peril; the early inspiration for a Jekyll/Hyde scenario came from the tales of Deacon Brodie’s double life in Edinburgh and are also informed by the division of that city into the warren-like Old Town and respectable New Town. It may also be the case that a child raised on an unrelieved diet of Calvinist dogma had a peculiarly developed eye for slippages from the moral high ground. The yoking together of apparent polar opposites in the single (yet double) persona of Jekyll/Hyde may also be seen as part of that trait of modern Scottish literature glossed by Gregory Smith in his enduring phrase ‘Caledonian antisyzygy’. [16] Syzygy refers to a yoking together of opposites in which the two elements remain distinct but an antisyzygy would be a pairing in which distinctions are lost, as Jekyll puts it, ‘My two natures had memory in common, but all other faculties were most unequally shared’ (p. 48) . The novella thus provides a classic illustration of the kind of Scottish literature which Smith describes in terms of its ‘strange combination of things unlike’ (p. 35), noting its easy movement ‘between the natural and the supernatural’ (p. 36) and sums this up in the claim that Scottish writers can readily see ‘the absolute propriety of a gargoyle’s grinning at the elbow of a kneeling saint’ (p. 35). Such syzygytic juxtapositions are very evident in many of Stevenson’s works, as the stories in The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables demonstrate.

The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables

All of the stories in this 1887 collection had been previously published in magazines and Stevenson felt that they comprised a rather ‘awkward’ group (Maixner, op cit., p. 250). [17] His Note to readers declared that ‘the stories here got together are somewhat of a scratch lot’ (Maixner, ibid.) and reviewers and later commentators have, by and large, taken Stevenson at his word. Very few readers have shared his high estimation of ‘Will o’ the Mill’ but many have praised ‘Thrawn Janet’ and ‘Markheim’.

‘The Merry Men’ is set on the Inner Hebridean island of Aros, based upon Erraid, off Mull, which Stevenson visited with his father whilst a young man. The narrator returns to the island from his studies at Edinburgh for the summer vacation to find the simple farmhouse he left filled with the gleanings from a shipwreck. Gradually it is revealed that the youth’s uncle, Gordon Darnaway, has been involved in drawing ships on to the raging breakers known locally and facetiously as the Merry Men. The uncle, once a devout Christian, is haunted by fears of retribution and when a black sailor is found upon the island he runs mad, believing that it is the devil come to take him to hell. The tale is a study of madness which offers points of comparison with Jekyll’s struggle with Hyde. The story also shows some of the evocative use of Scottish locales and extensive use of the Scottish language which are a feature of Stevenson’s better known works, Kidnapped and Weir of Hermiston.

‘Will o’ the Mill’ is set in the Brenner Pass but is more of a fable than a tale grounded in a real-world milieu. Stevenson’s biographers have made much of its significance as a key to the author’s philosophy. Will is a personable young man who grows up in the mountains and yearns for the bright lights of the plains. However, an encounter with a world-weary traveller convinces him that human life is constrained and limited and that travel will simply reveal that this is the case wherever one looks, since all humanity is ‘in a rat-trap’ (p. 103). Will rejects a roving life but also refuses convention by rejecting marriage with Marjory, the local parson’s daughter. The story’s bitter-sweet ending, in which Death arrives to take Will and is heartily welcomed, is not intended as pessimistic. Rather it dramatises, but leaves unresolved, tensions evident in much of Stevenson’s work, in particular that between the call of action and adventure and the countering constraints of convention and propriety. [18] Making the reader the final arbiter of the tale’s moral recalls the strategy of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, with its narrative made up of various witness statements which come together to allow the reader to make up their own mind about the implications of Utterson’s strange case.

‘Markheim’ is a troubling study of a criminal mind which owes a debt to the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky’s study of a murderer in Crime and Punishment. [19] Markheim kills an antique dealer in a frenzy and then, dazzled by the multiple reflection of his blood-spattered person in the mirrors of the dealer’s shop and troubled by the din of its chiming clocks (p. 122), encounters (or imagines he encounters) a strange visitor. This person, who might be the Devil, Markheim’s own alter ego or some kind of hallucination, offers escape only if Markheim will murder the dealer’s maid. The story dramatises the allure of evil and develops a wonderful atmosphere of disorientation; it ends with Markheim choosing to confess his sin. The apparent triumph of order here might profitably be compared with Jekyll’s ‘success’ in constraining the demonic Hyde.

‘Thrawn Janet’ is a far less optimistic tale for whilst the Reverend Murdoch Soulis vanquishes the devil he is left a broken man. Janet is a marginalised figure in the village of Balweary and after the idealistic minister intervenes in a row between her and the village women he takes the misunderstood woman as his housekeeper. To prove that village gossip is unfounded Janet is made to swear to God that she renounces the devil. However, on the next day she appears with a ‘thrawn’ (twisted) neck which the minister declares is a palsy caused by her persecution but which the villagers know to be evidence of her corruption. The story builds to a wonderfully dramatic climax in which the Reverend Soulis, as conduit for God’s power, drives the devil from Janet allowing her to rest in peace. The tale is given added character by being cast as a tale told in Scots by one of the village elders who witnessed the events; it is one of only two stories in which Stevenson writes (almost) completely in the Scottish language. [20]

‘Olalla’ is a tale of familial degeneration and incipient vampirism set in the Spanish mountains as witnessed by a young Scottish soldier sent to recuperate in the hills after fighting in the Peninsular Wars. [21] It shares with ‘Will o’ the Mill’ a concern with the tensions between following one’s desires and doing what’s socially right and effectively dramatises the narrator’s growing attraction to Olalla, the daughter of the house, and his recognition that to become involved with her would run counter to her choice of withdrawal into Catholicism. Because Stevenson employs a narrator who is caught up in the midst of events the tale works through hints and ambiguities and he feared that the ‘multi-layered’ tale might overwhelm readers (McLynn, op. cit., p. 249). The central paradox – how can this brutish and degenerate family contain within it the pure and devout Olalla – is another example of Stevenson’s interest in the yoking together of apparent opposites.

The final tale, ‘The Treasure of Franchard’, is rather at odds with the focus upon the supernatural evident elsewhere in the collection. This tells the story of a French provincial doctor, his wife, and their adopted child. The doctor is a spendthrift and his wife has moved them out of Paris to keep him from temptation; like Will he is something of a philosopher but lacks the inn-keeper’s sceptic profundity. The tale turns around the discovery of the treasure and the doctor’s grandiose plans to break up the family’s settled life and return to Paris to live in luxury. His adopted son hides the treasure in order to save the doctor from himself and, after various tribulations, restores the treasure once the doctor appears to have learnt the error of his ways. The story’s strengths are in its evocation of the small-town life of Franchard, drawn from first-hand knowledge, and the creation of the doctor’s wife.

Dr Tim Middleton

Head of English Studies at the

University College of Ripon & York

Notes to the Introduction

1. See the dedicatory poem, ‘To Alison Cunningham, from her boy’, in A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885), reprinted in Janet Adam Smith (ed.), Robert Louis Stevenson: Collected Poems (London 1971), p. 361. For an insight into Cummy, see Robert T. Skinner (ed), Cummy’s Diary (London 1926).

2. Fanny had a third child, Hervey, by Sam Osbourne but he had died in 1876 of scrofulous tuberculosis and malnutrition whilst Fanny sought to eke out a living in Europe (McLynn, Robert Louis Stevenson, London 1993, p. 111. Further references to this work are attributed in the text.)

3. The story was published in 1892 under the title ‘Uma’ in the Illustrated London News, July–August 1892. It was published as ‘The Beach at Falesá’ in Island Nights’ Entertainments (1893).

4. See the essay ‘A Chapter on Dreams’, first published in Scribner’s Magazine in January 1888, collected in Across the Plains (1892). It can also be found in Volume 12 of the Vailima Edition of Stevenson’s work (pp. 231–49).

5. Utterson is not alone in being vexed by the will; many period reviewers pointed out that the clause was a legal nonsense and, as such, made the supposedly knowledgeable lawyer’s fears look groundless. On this see Maixner, Robert Louis Stevenson: The Critical Heritage (London 1981), pp. 202–03. Further reference to Maixner’s work are attributed in the body of the text.

6. It is notable that the 1880s saw the commencement of two peculiarly Victorian projects: the New English Dictionary (1884–1928) and the Dictionary of National Biography (1885–1900).

7. For a variety of recent readings see the Bibliography at the end of this Introduction.

8. Lang’s Saturday Review piece on the novella, 9 January 1886, is reprinted in Maixner (ed.), op. cit., p. 199–202.

9. For a helpful introduction to the epoch, see Sally Ledger and Scott McCracken (eds), Cultural Politics at the Fin de Siècle (Cambridge 1995)

10. For accessible coverage of Victorian attitudes, grounded in the fiction of the era, see John R. Reed, Victorian Conventions (Ohio University Press 1975). On the tensions of late-Victorian Britain, see Robert Colls and Philip Dodd (eds), Englishness: Politics and Culture 1880–1920 (Croom Helm, London 1986)

11. For a compelling account of the period’s urban sexual anxieties, see Judith Walkowitz, City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late Victorian London (London 1992). On Britain’s imperial power, see Bernard Porter, The Lion’s Share: A Short History of British Imperialism 1850–1983 (London 1984). See especially Chapter 4.

12. This fact has led to a number of readings which explore possible homosexual aspects. See the essays by Kostenbaum and Heath (see Bibliography).

13. There may be an allusion here to Walter Besant’s 1882 novel of the East End, All Sorts and Conditions of Men.

14. The background to these twin concerns is explored in several of the essays in Mica Nava and Alan O’Shea (eds), Modern Times: Reflections upon a Century of English Modernity (London 1996). Also see Michael Mason, The Making of Victorian Sexuality (Oxford 1994)

15. On Stevenson and modernism, see Sandison (see Bibliography)

16. Smith, Scottish Literature: Character and Influence (London 1919), p. 4. Further reference to this work are cited in the text. There are some tensions in this term when its etymology is teased out; see the discussion in my essay ‘Constructing the Contemporary Self: The Works of Iain Banks’, in T. Hills and W. Hughes (eds), Contemporary Writing and National Identity (Sulis Press, Bath 1995), pp. 18–28 (19–21).

17. ‘The Merry Men’ first appeared in The Cornhill Magazine’s June and July 1882 numbers; ‘Will o’ the Mill’ was first published in The Cornhill Magazine of January 1878; ‘Markheim’ first appeared in ‘The Broken Shaft’, Unwin’s Annual Christmas number of 1885; ‘Thrawn Janet’ was first published in The Cornhill Magazine, October 1881; ‘Olalla’ was first published in the Court and Society Review, Christmas number, 1885, and ‘The Treasure of Franchard’ first appeared in Longman’s Magazine, April and May 1883.

18. McLynn puts a Scottish gloss on these when he talks of the story’s dramatising of the tension between the Jacobite and Calvinist strains in Stevenson’s life (McLynn, op. cit., p. 262).

19. J. R. Hammond, in A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion (London 1984), notes that Stevenson declared that Dostoevsky’s novel was ‘easily the greatest book I have read in ten years’ (p. 80).

20. Kenneth Gelder, ‘Stevenson and the Covenanters’, Scottish Literary Journal, Vol. 11, No.2 (1984), pp. 56–70 (66).

21. An adjunct of the wider Napoleonic conflict in Europe in the early nineteenth century, the Peninsular Wars between France and Britain over Spanish and Portuguese territory were particularly bloody and, even with support from the Iberian nations, dragged on from 1808 to 1814.

Bibliography

Collected Editions

Stevenson’s work exists in a number of Collected Editions, these include: The Edinburgh Edition, edited by Sidney Colvin (1894–8)

The Pentland Edition, with notes by Edmund Gosse (1906–7)

The Vailima Edition, with notes by Fanny van de Grift Stevenson (1922–3)

The Tusitala Edition (1923–4)

A much needed critical edition is currently being produced by Edinburgh University Press under the general editorship of Catherine Kerrigan.

Letters

Bradford A. Booth & E. McLeir, eds., The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson in 8 volumes (New Haven 1994–5)

Janet Adam Smith (ed.), Henry James and Robert Louis Stevenson: A Record of Friendship and Criticism (London 1948)

Biography

Ian Bell, Robert Louis Stevenson: Dreams of Exile, London 1992

Jenni Calder, RLS: A Life Study, London 1980

David Daiches, Robert Louis Stevenson and His World, London 1973

James Pope Hennessy, Robert Louis Stevenson, London 1974

Frank McLynn, Robert Louis Stevenson: A Biography, London 1993

Cultural & Historical Contexts

Fred Botting, Gothic, London 1996

Jenni Calder (ed.), Stevenson and Victorian Scotland, Edinburgh 1981

David Daiches, Stevenson and the Art of Fiction, New York 1951

David Daiches (ed.), The New Companion to Scottish Culture, Edinburgh 1993

Douglas Gifford (ed), The History of Scottish Literature, Volume 3: The Nineteenth Century, Aberdeen 1988

J. R. Hammond, A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion: A Guide to the Novels, Essays and Short Stories, London 1984

Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion, London 1981

George L. McKay, Some Notes on Robert Louis Stevenson, His Finances and His Agents and Publishers, New Haven 1958

Craig Mair, A Star for Seamen: The Stevenson Family of Engineers, London 1978

Paul Maixner (ed.), Robert Louis Stevenson: The Critical Heritage, London 1981

Andrew Noble (ed.), Robert Louis Stevenson, London 1983

Alan Sandison, Robert Louis Stevenson and the Appearance of Modernism: A Future Feeling, London 1996

Roger Swearigen, The Prose Writings of Robert Louis Stevenson, London 1980

Roderick Watson, (ed), The Literature of Scotland, London 1984

Selected Criticism on The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

For a selection of period criticism and related material, see Maixner, op. cit., pp. 199–231. In addition to the discussion offered in the works cited in the general bibliography above readers may wish to examine the following recent works:

Stephen Arata, ‘The Sedulous Ape: Atavisim, Professionalism, and Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde’, Criticism, Vol. 37, No.2, 1995, pp. 233–59

Steven Connor, ‘Rewriting Wrong: On the Ethics of Literary Reversion’, in Theo D’haen and Hans Bertens (eds), Liminal Postmodernism: The Postmodern, the (Post-)Colonial, and the (Post-)Feminist, Amsterdam 1994, pp. 79–97

Janice Doane and Devon Hodges, ‘Demonic Disturbances of Sexual Identity: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr/s Hyde’, Novel, Fall 1989, pp. 63–74

Stephen Heath, ‘Psycopathia Sexualis: Stevenson’s Strange Case ’, Critical Quarterly, Vol. 28, 1986, pp. 93–108

Wayne Kostenbaum, ‘The Shadow under the Bed: Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde, and the Labouchère Amendment’, Critical Matrix, Vol.1, 1988, pp. 31–55

Colin Manlove, Scottish Fantasy Literature: A Critical Survey, Edinburgh 1994. See especially Chapter 6, pp. 103–18

Elaine Showalter, Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siècle, London 1992. See especially Chapter 6, pp. 105–26

William Veeder and Gordon Hirsch (eds), Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde after One Hundred Years, Chicago 1988

Selected Criticism on The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables

In addition to the sources cited below, and general discussion in the works cited in the Cultural & Historical Contexts section above, there is analysis of all of the stories in McLynn’s recent biography. Also see the helpful commentary on ‘Will o’ the Mill’, ‘Markheim’ and ‘Olalla’ in Hammond, op. cit., pp. 79–86. For period criticism of the collection see Maixner, op. cit., pp. 249–57.

Ed Block, Jr., ‘James Sully, Evolutionary Psychology, and Late Victorian Gothic Fiction’, Victorian Studies, Vol. 25, No. 4, 1982, pp. 443–67. (Includes discussion of ‘The Merry Men’ and ‘Olalla’)

Joseph J. Egan, ‘ Markheim: A Drama of Moral Psychology’, Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. 20, 1966, pp. 377–84

Ken Gelder, ‘Robert Louis Stevenson’s Revisions to The Merry Men ’, Studies in Scottish Literature, Vol. 21, 1986, pp. 262– 87

Ken Gelder, ‘Stevenson and the Covenanters: Black Andie’s Tale of Tod Lapriak and Thrawn Janet ’, Scottish Literary Journal, Vol. 11, No.2, 1984, pp. 56–70

Katherine Linehan, ‘Revaluing Women and Marriage in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Short Fiction’, English Literature in Transition, Vol. 40, No.1, 1997, pp. 34–59. (Includes discussion of ‘Will o’ the Mill’ and ‘The Treasure of Franchard’)

Honor Mulholland, ‘Robert Louis Stevenson and the Romance Form’, in Noble, A. (ed.), Robert Louis Stevenson, London 1983, pp. 96–117. (Includes discussion of ‘The Merry Men’)

Irving Saposnik, ‘Stevenson’s Markheim: A Fictional Christmas Sermon’, Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. 21, 1966, pp. 277–82

James Walt, ‘Stevenson’s Will o’ the Mill and James’s The Beast in the Jungle ’, UNISA English Studies, Vol. 8, No.2, 1970, pp. 19–25

The Strange Case of

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Story of the Door

Mr Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which never found its way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these silent symbols of the after-dinner face, but more often and loudly in the acts of his life. He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove. ‘I incline to Cain’s heresy,’ [1] he used to say quaintly: ‘I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.’ In this

Reviews for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

[sometimeunderwater · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Bet this was a blitz before everyone and their kid knew the secret twist. A fine gothic novella, proceeding on railroad towards the ending you already knew was coming.

[readingover50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I am watching the new season of Penny Dreadful and they are featuring Dr. Jekyll this year. I realized I have never read this book, so I decided to pick it up in preparation for the show.

The writing feels very dense, and the pacing is slow. The reader slowly gets a feeling of dread, rather than outright scares. This is common with many of the horror stories of the period that I have read.

The story is interesting, with much musing on the nature of good and evil. It was a bit slower paced than I like, but this is a short book and easy to read in a day.

[williemeikle-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's not called a classic without good reason. It's an almost perfectly plotted short novel, all the parts complementing each other, all serving to build tension and anticipation. The good doctor is suitably tragic, Hyde is suitably degenerate and, despite having seen the multitude of adaptations over the years, it still feels remarkably fresh and modern. All of Stevenson's stylistic flourishes are on show, as well as his rarely bettered storytelling ability. I'd give it six stars if I could.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a novella that was first published in 1886. This story has captured the attention of many generations and has a lasting quality that has kept it and, it’s many versions, in the forefront of the literary world.The author tells his chilling story with the use of both descriptive and powerful language. Two of it’s main themes are the classic “good versus evil” story line as we read of Dr. Jekyll’s struggles to keep his “bad side”, Mr. Hyde, under control. The other theme that comes immediately to mind is the familiar one of science going too far. Although this seems a rather mild story by today’s standards, it’s simplicity reveals a timeless classic of murder and monsters on the streets of Victorian London.The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is very much a Victorian product showing man’s quest for keeping his animal nature suppressed and only showing the world the world a stiff, tightly controlled facade. Part of the significance of this story is that it can be interpreted in different ways. Is the author showing a split personality, the effect of mental illness, or is this a commentary on the rules of Victorian society? However one looks at it, this is a brilliant story about mind and body separation.

[shaunesay · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first time I've ever read the original Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I'll admit I had no idea it was written by the same author as Treasure Island, which I also have not read yet. I would not have put those two ideas to the same author, so it's been enlightening all around! It's also amazing to me what a short story this really was, only 94 pages, to have inspired so many adaptations and interpretations, movies, etc.

It was an interesting dark fantasy tale with an important lesson about giving in to our baser natures. The more we indulge them, the more it becomes who we are until we're no longer able to hide or control those tendencies.

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Een Victoriaanse klassieker, terecht. Beklemmend geschreven, met een mooie opbouw.

[bnielsen_30 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Glimrende koncept. Henry Jekyll eksperimenterer med et medikament som skal hjælpe ham til at skille sin gode fra sin onde side. Det lykkes kun alt for godt. Han bliver til en ond person, Mr. Hyde, og finder for sent ud af at de kemikalier han bruger i starten indeholder et eller andet stof, som ikke findes i senere leverancer. Til sidst kan han ikke længere blive til Dr. Jekyll.En klassiker

[librarylou · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Classic gothic horror story.

[cyderry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Each year I try to read a few CLASSICS just so that I can mark them off my list. I usually don't care for the stories or writing and have a hard time making it through the book, however, this one surprised me. The story was different than what I had imagined.Dr. Jekyll is the good guy and he has worked on a formula which will separate his baser nature from his kind and good attributes. Unfortunately, he loses control of Mr. Hyde (the bad guy) and must surrender his life to protect others.

[la2bkk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As with many classics, this book is far more subtle and nuanced than the modern reader might expect based upon subsequent movie adaptations. Nonetheless, I highly recommend this book as it is a wonderful combination of horror, suspense, humor and commentary on each of us.

[kinsey_m · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I do like to read classic gothic terror and I was sadly disapointed on this one, for two reasons:1.- The fact that Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde are the same person is meant to be a surprise and the main attraction of the book. This surprise (through no fault of the author) has been absolutely lost. Still, you could get over that if it wasn't for fault number 2.2.- It just hasn't aged well. Evil = Ugliness, does anyone believe that anymore? You could argue the same thing for the portrait of Dorian Gray, but there, it is clear that it is the ugliness of the soul, not physical ugliness, that is being pointed out. It just seems like a childish concept.

[jeffjardine · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" has become an ingrained part of our language. I guess spoiler alerts weren't all that common in the 19th century. It is such a well-known trope that it has probably cost this classic some readers, which is unfortunate. It's a good book.After reading Treasure Island my expectations were not terribly high for The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but it turned out to be a much more thought provoking read. It is really about man's eternal struggle with him/herself, something we all witness whether it be in the context of a relatively harmless midlife crisis or a life-threatening addiction. Stevenson goes beyond the notion of a simplistic duality in us:"... I hazard the guess that man will be ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious, incongruous, and independent denizens."It gives the reader plenty to think about, and there are plenty of lessons to take away - that we should be judged by our actions rather than mere thoughts, chief among them for me.

[dlow_54 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I originally selected this book because I have it on my bookshelf and I have never had the time to read it. I pulled it off the shelf and placed it by my bed with hopes to finish it before my reading class was over. As it turned out I just never found the time to crack open the cover. Therefore, I searched for the audio version. To my surprised I found it right away at a reseaonable price and by a narrartor with which I was familiar. I have listen to Dick Hill narrate several novels I have read by Sanda Brown. I listened to the book in one night. I was was intrigued by the story but also confused. I had a hard time following the narration. A few times I glanced through the book while i was listening to Dick read the pages. I was surprised with how difficult this book is to read. I didn't think it would be so complicated. I had never thought of this as a text for children, and now I really don't think that it is. I think the text is too difficult for many students, and students in the classes I teach would need a lot of background information taught before a story like this could be even be looked at. I do not forsee reading this book to my class, or for my class. I am glad I read the story and I feel it was important, but I think the text would be better suited for a college level course where students were able to talk about the characters in greater detail and with greater insight. I do recommend this book for adults. The text is a classic and it should still be read because it did explain what I knew about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

[rsplenda477 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great example of the theme of the duality of man, which all of us carry in our hearts. Stevenson exploits these fears in a well-structured, yet somewhat difficult, novel.

[something_-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I fantom I would have liked this book a lot more if I didn't already know from the start who was Hyde. Nevertheless, it was actually very interesting once the "action" picked up. Although I found Utterson somewhat boring at times, the ending of the book made it worth it to see it through. The most interesting part was definitely the explanation of Dr Jekyll himself at the end, which I read eagerly. Overall, it was a nice book.

[maydacat_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Of course, everyone knows the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde, but if you haven’t read the novel, you probably are missing the intention of Stevenson’s story. Jekyll wanted to free mankind from his evil, baser nature, but in the end, was doomed by it. This novel is a brilliant study in the dual nature of man, and the conclusion must be that when it is tampered with, at least in this case, evil wins. If we assume that Hyde was pure evil, is it safe to assume that Jekyll was all good? But if he were, would he have concocted the formula that split him into two unique beings? Ultimately, Jekyll could only overcome Hyde’s tendencies when he was one whole being. The concept and story remain fascinating even now, more than a century after it was penned.

[booklove2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was time to read this classic as it seems to be culturally everywhere at the moment. I'm in no way a writer, but I would have formatted this book to tell this story entirely differently. It might be presumptuous of me, but I like how it exists in my head better. (Alternating points of view from both Jekyll and Hyde with vastly different writing styles... halfway through the book you find it is the same person. Hyde slowly taking over by the end.) Maybe that is the fault of books being culturally everywhere all of the time: vaguely making assumptions about how it is written if you know the story. I didn't like the perspective from outside people ie: the lawyer. It's the only complaint I would have of a book like Bronte's Wuthering Heights: the housekeeper is telling the story and no matter how much she might have known Catherine or Heathcliff, no one can REALLY know everything from one person's perspective. Imagine the book being from Catherine and Heathcliff's POVs! Oh the drama! I thoroughly enjoyed the section on Stevenson's crazy dreams in my Broadview edition. And I thought I had crazy dreams! If he had dreams like that this book really should be better...sorry, Stevenson.

[lord_boris-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Other reviews have dwelt on themes of duality etc and others still correctly state that the impact of this book is lessened by how much of its plot is already in the collective consciousness of readers. You know before reading it that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person, it has entered our language. Never having read the book before, the thing I was most struck with was its apparent concern with drug addiction. The negative effects of drugs and the associated shame and secrecy.

“and at last, in an hour of moral weakness, I once again compounded and swallowed the transforming draught.”

“It took on this occasion a double dose to recall me to myself; and alas! six hours after, as I sat looking sadly in the fire, the pangs returned, and the drug had to be re-administered.”

“Many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high views that I had set before me, I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame.”

A quick google reveals that he wrote Jekyll and Hyde during a six day cocaine binge and spent much of his later, short life, hooked on opium, alcohol and morphine. This was possibly for well intentioned medicinal reasons as he was not a well man. Nevertheless, this leaves me thinking this is a much darker, personal book than perhaps is generally believed.

[ameise1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an amusing listening. What first began as completely harmless showed itself with time as a transformation comedy of the first kind. I like how Stevenson leads the reader very slowly to the two protagonists, in order then to give an extra tension with a fulminate turn of the story.

[steadfastreader · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This books was surprisingly fun. It has a slow start for the first few pages, but after that it takes off.

A quick fun little read, definitely worth the time.

[aylin1-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A heck of a lot more philosophical than the Bugs Bunny rendition with which I was familiar.

[cyafer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Short and sweet and pretty interesting. Not a bad read.

[dmu-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book a lot. It's a short book but it still has lots of mystery and exciting parts within it. It's about a man named Mr. Utterson who tries to learn about the mysterious Mr. Hyde who is Dr. Jekyll's evil side.In the book, the setting is based in England. Dr. Jekyll finds a way to make a compound that allows him to transform into a separate personality, Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde is a younger and pure evil being. I personally like Mr. Hyde's name a lot. His name sounds like the word "hide" and Mr. Hyde's personality reflects his name. He tries to be discreet and tries to not talk to anyone unless he has to. Throughout the book, Mr. Utterson tries to learn about this mysterious Mr. Hyde. Almost nobody knows about him. Finally, after many mysterious encounters with Dr. Jekyll and one murder, he learns who Mr. Hyde truly is when he reads a letter that was left for him. I also liked this book a lot because the story isn't just told from the point of view of one person. It's mainly told from the point of view from one person, but it's also told from the point of view of two other people.This book is very good! It makes you feel multiple emotions as you read it. It makes you excited, scared, surprised, and curious. I would recommend it to many people.

[flying_monkeys_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Rating: 5 of 5What can be said about a classic such as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? A story so well-known, one that has permeated our culture so completely (perhaps rivaled only by Frankenstein and Dracula), most everyone knows the gist without ever having read the novella or watched a film adaption. I daresay, little, if anything new, or at the very least, "fresh." Thus I will stick to my personal reaction in this review.From a writer's perspective, I applaud (and appreciate) the structure and narrative style. Stevenson built upon (and relied on) the reader's natural curiosity and desire to solve the mystery of Mr. Hyde, to know what was "really" happening, which probably made this quite the sensational page-turner during its initial publication in 1886. I read the story much slower than I do with most modern fiction; there's much to savor and digest for those patient enough to nibble. One of the story's less subtle themes - repression of one's curiosity and not asking questions that "shouldn't" be asked - was ingenious, wasn't it? Given the tools Stevenson utilized to engage readers. OH! And the descriptions throughout the story often knocked me for a loop they were so ... distinct; Stevenson knew exactly what images he wanted to conjure up in readers' minds.I will definitely give this one a re-read whenever I want a refresher in (1) allegory and (2) the characterization and theme of duality and hypocrisy.Disclaimer: If you are bored or confused by complex sentences, extended paragraphs, and/or Victorian Era prose, then The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde probably won't float your boat.

[srboone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Slow in places (strange for such a short work), but exciting and suspenseful, this is a fun read. I got my nephew to read it by showing him that this was where The Incredible Hulk came from and he lapped it up. Now he doesn't have patience for funny books anymore!

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful story, although the verbose language made this one slightly harder to get through. Although Scott Brick is one of my favorite narrators, I would have chosen a British narrator for this one. Thought provoking ideas - are we both good and evil in the same body?

[andrewcambs · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This might be deemed as somewhat of a classic amongst some people, but i found it dull. Despite being surprised by just how short it was, it took me as much effort as a 300+ page book to get through. Hard going, slow, and not particularly enthralling i'm afraid.I read the Penguin English Library edition, and was reading the story, when all of a sudden all the characters changed along with the plot.. only to realise that i was now reading the short story 'The Bottle Imp' that was added to the back of the book - i hadn't even realised i'd finished Dr Jekyll & Mr Hide. That's just how enthralling it was.

[boes0106 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I thought this was an interesting short read. Its not the story i was expecting to read. Mr. Hyde was not a hulk type monster, but really a split personality containing the pure and sinful nature inside of each and every one of us. Two and a half stars.

[ohernaes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The classic story of the good, but boring Dr Jekyll who transforms himself into the vital and evil Mr Hyde. Jekyll comes to loath him, but has become addicted.

[max3tyrone · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

With a classic name in literature, one should read this story of duality sans the preconception of it; otherwise, this will kind of seem boring due to the myriad of other stories akin to the theme. While I am quick to admit that a general audience of today will have a hard time finishing this novel due to the lack of today's immediacy, I will too admit that I did not enjoy this novel as much as any other story of good versus evil. I appreciated that it came out in its time; however, I personally look for something more, something beyond good and evil, something beyond duality. The story overall didn't do me much service, neither: I felt that everything hung on Dr. Jekyll's account at the end of the novel, which gave a great insight on the struggle between two moral magnets. However, to read a story as something witnessed, then something explained, can either resonate well with me or not. The witnessing of madness in this novel left much to be desired, at least on my account.A great read if you're starting on the duality of man.