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Home Middelbare School EN Uittreksels Uittreksel Robert Louis Stevenson – The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Uittreksel Robert Louis Stevenson – The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

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Extracts English Literature
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Robert Louis Stevenson – The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Little, Brown and Company, (1886)

Title:

The story describes the strange case of the good Dr Jekyll who transforms into the evil Mr Hyde, a case which no one is able to explain. Dr Uttersons decides to investigate.

Author:

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in 1850 in Edinburgh. He first studied engineering, but abandoned these studies because of ill health. Instead he studied law, and was admitted as an advocate in 1875. He decided to be a writer although his parents were not happy with the idea. He suffered from tuberculosis, and travelled a great deal. He used the inspiration of his journeys for his writings. His book Treasure island first made him famous, then the book The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde became even more popular. In 1894, Stevenson died from a brain haemorrhage in the South Seas.

The literary period:

The Victorian Age (1830 to 1918).

The genre:

This is a moral tale, describing the good Dr Jekyll and the evil Mr Hyde. The moral is that everyone has evil aspects which they try to hide.

Summary:

Each Sunday Mr Utterson and Mr Richard Enfield take a walk through London. They pass a peculiar empty house which reminds Mr Enfield of a dreadful event he had recently witnessed. A monstrous-looking man bumped into a little girl and trampled over her body. The girl started screaming and the man had every intention of walking away. A large crowd came to the girl's rescue and they forced the man to pay a sum of money as recompense for his ill treatment of the girl to her and her family. The man gives his name as Mr Hyde. Everybody is suprised when the man hands over ten pounds in cash and a check for ninety pounds. The check is signed by the respectable Dr Jekyll. They expect the check to be invalid, but this is not the case.

Mr Utterson does not trust Mr Hyde, and starts investigating the relationship between Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll. Dr Jekyll's will states says that Mr Hyde is his only beneficiary. If necessary Mr Hyde is authorised to take charge of Dr Jekyll's affairs. Mr Utterson thinks that this is very strange, and suspects that Mr Hyde's motives are evil.

Mr Utterson pays a visit to Dr Jekyll's friend, Dr Lanyon, who tells him that their friendship has deteriorated. Dr Jekyll has changed in a negative way. Mr Utterson goes looking for Mr Hyde, and finds him near the house where he trampled the girl. Mr Hyde is trying to enter the house as Mr Utterson is speaking to him, and becomes abusive, which arouses Mr Utterson's suspicions. He gives him his address in Soho. Mr Utterson goes to the other side of the house and knocks on Dr Jekyll's door, wanting to speak to him. He is afraid that Mr Hyde is intending to murder Dr Jekyll. Poole, Dr Jekyll's butler, opens the door and tells Mr Utterson that Mr Hyde has access to Dr Jekyll's laboratory. Mr Utterson becomes even more afraid for Dr Jekyll's life.

The next day Mr Utterson goes to a dinner party at Dr Jekyll's house. Mr Utterson stays till everyone else has gone and he is left alone with Dr Jekyll. He tries to questions him about his will and about Mr Hyde, but Dr Jekyll doesn't want to discuss them.

About a year later an elderly, distinguished gentleman, the prominent Sir Danvers Carew, is murdered. The murderer escapes, but the maid is sure that it was Mr Hyde. They look for Mr Hyde at his appartement in Soho, but he has disappeared. Mr Utterson tells Dr Jekyll about Mr Hyde's disappearance and shows him a letter written by Mr .Hyde, in which he declares that he has gone away for good. Dr Jekyll says that he no longer has any contact with Mr Hyde. Mr Utterson has the letter analysed by an handwriting expert, who concludes that the handwriting of both Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are identical.

Some weeks later Dr Lanyon dies. He leaves a letter for Mr Utterson, including another envelope containing the message: "Not to be opened until the death of Henry Jekyll".

One Sunday Mr Utterson and Mr Enfield take another walk. They pass the house where Mr Hyde trampled on the girl, and see Mr Jekyll sitting beside the window and invite him to join them. He has a frightening expression on his face, which reveals horror, terror and pain. He moves away from the window. Mr Utterson and Mr Enfield are alarmed.

One night the servant Poole arrives at Mr Utterson house, and tells a strange story about Mr Jekyll, who has been locked up in his laboratory for over a week. He asks only for his meals to be served and sends his servants on mysterious errands for strange drugs. Poole suspects that Dr Jekyll has been murderd and that the murderer is still in the laboratory. Mr Utterson and the servant return to the house and break into the laboratory. There they find the body of Mr Hyde, who has commited suicide by drinking poison. There is no trace of Dr Jekyll, they find only a note for Mr Utterson. The note says he should read Lanyon's letter.

Mr Utterson goes home to read the letters, which tell the following story: Dr Jekyll had asked Dr Lanyon to take some chemicals from his laboratory and keep them at his house. DrLanyon followed the instructions, and one night Mr Hyde came to Dr Lanyon and asked for the chemicals, which he mixed into a potion and drank, which transformed him into Dr Jekyll. This comes as a great shock to Dr Lanyon and later causes his death.

Dr Jekyll's letter is a confession. He knew that he had a good side which he showed in public and an evil side which was kept private. The evil side was more interesting and exciting. He wanted to create a drug which changed the human personality and invented such a drug, which changed him into his evil personality. The evil Mr Hyde was actually Dr Jekyll. Mr Hyde was an evil man who committed terrible crimes. When the evil Mr Hyde took the drug for the second time, he changed back into the good Dr Jekyll. He bought an appartment in Soho so that he could lead a double life, and also changed his will. Later Dr Jekyll changed into Mr Hyde without taking the medicine. He admitted to having killed Sir Danvers Carew. Eventually he was unable to change back into his good self, became depressed and killed himself.

Time:

The story takes place over a period of about two years. It begins with Mr Utterson becoming suspicious, and one year later Sir Danvers Carew is murdered. Some time later Dr Jekyll appears to have been murdered. Everything is explained at the end (the reading of the letters).

Setting:

The story takes places in London, probably at the time the book is written.

Characters and relationships:

Dr Jekyll:

Dr Jekyll is a respectable physician, around fifty years old, he is rich and has many friends, two of whom are Mr Utterson and Dr Lanyon. He becomes addicted to a medication which changes him into the evil Mr Hyde.

Mr Hyde:

Mr Hyde is the evil alter ego of Dr Jekyll, who commits many crimes. Nobody seems to know him personally.

Mr Utterson:

Dr Utterson is a lawyer, and Dr Jekyll's friend. Each Sunday he takes a walk with Mr Richard Enfield. He drew up Dr Jelkyll's will. Mr Utterson does not trust Mr Hyde, and starts investigating the relationship between Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll.

Dr Lanyon:

He is Dr Jekyll's best friend. He is the first to discover the apparent relationship between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which has a negative affect on their friendship..

Servant Poole:

Servant Poole is Dr Jekyll's butler

Mr Richard Enfield:

He is a friend of Mr Utterson. He tells Mr Utterson about the strange Mr Hyde.

Credibility:

….

Theme:

The story discusses the good and the evil sides of human nature.

Motto:

It's ill to loose the bands that God decreed to bind;

Still will we be the children of the heather and the wind;

Far away from home, O it's still for you and me

That the broom is blowing bonnie in the north countrie.

Linguistic usage:

The author very often uses long lines such as: "At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something more human shone in 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.".

Considering the time in which the book was written, the linguistic usage is not very easy.

Dedication:

To Katharine de Mattos.

Perspective:

Mr Utterson tells the story. He investigates the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and describes his findings. After his story has been told, the letters written by Dr Lanyon and Dr Jekyll are produced and read.

Construction:

The book has ten chapters. The first eight are told by the narrator. The ninth chapter comprises Dr Lanyon's letter. The tenth chapter is Dr Jekyll's confession. The last two chapters give the explanation of the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Own opinion on the book:

Your opinion!

 

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Slaap is de beste meditatie.

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