The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Annotated Keynote Classics)

By Robert Louis Stevenson and Michelle M. White

An indescribably evil madman lurks beneath the prim and proper façade of Victorian London causing Mr. Utterson to vow, "If he shall be Mr. Hyde, I shall be Mr. Seek!" You may think you know the story of Jekyll and Hyde, but as the layers of mystery are peeled off one by one, the shadowy gothic suspense will keep you riveted to the end. This scie

• Language: English
• Publisher: Keynote Classics
• Release date: Jul 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781949611175

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson was born on 13 November 1850, changing his second name to ‘Louis’ at the age of eighteen. He has always been loved and admired by countless readers and critics for ‘the excitement, the fierce joy, the delight in strangeness, the pleasure in deep and dark adventures’ found in his classic stories and, without doubt, he created some of the most horribly unforgettable characters in literature and, above all, Mr. Edward Hyde.

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The Strange Case of

Dr. Jekyll

and Mr. Hyde

by

Robert Louis Stevenson

With Annotations by

Michelle M. White

Table of Contents

Introductory Key to

The Strange Case of

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Topics for Discussion or Essays

Major Works of

Robert Louis Stevenson

Bibliography

Introductory Key to

The Strange Case of

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, originally published in 1886, has been so successful that Jekyll and Hyde is now a dictionary entry, defined as split-personality. No doubt you are familiar with it even if you haven’t read the book or seen one of the many movie adaptations. We see it played out in the headlines every day. A well-respected person turns out to be hiding a secret affair, a politician is caught in a bribery scandal, or a celebrity is revealed to be a sexual predator. You may also have encountered instances where you or someone in your life had some aspect of themselves or their behavior that they preferred to keep hidden — perhaps an addiction or an eating disorder. Many people are living closeted because of a need to hide their sexual identity. The concept of a double life resonated with readers as much in the nineteenth century as it does today. In literature, this divided nature is known as duality. As a child, Lewis foreshadowed the duality portrayed in Jekyll and Hyde when he said that he had a real me and a dream me.¹

A universally understood, timeless theme is just one of the things that makes a novel like this exceptional and worth reading well over a century later. Another benefit to reading is having our world enlarged beyond the scope of our personal lives. Classic literature, in particular, enriches our minds by taking us to long-gone times and places while teaching us to appreciate the beauty of language, creativity, and the human experience. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a fantastic story just on the surface, but if we take our time, we will find deeper understanding and meaning between the lines. By introducing you to the author, the historical setting, and some literary concepts, this Introductory Key should help you explore the story’s many layers and gain more insight and enjoyment from the novel.

Robert Lewis Stevenson was born an only child in 1850 and was known as Lewis while growing up. He changed the spelling to Louis to look more continental as an adult but maintained the English pronunciation rather than the French Lew-ee. His father came from a long line of engineers known for their lighthouse designs. His mother was the daughter of Reverend Lewis Balfour. Louis was not a very healthy child and suffered from lung and stomach issues. His upper-middle class parents doted on him and were known to be hypochondriacs, always trying one cure or another. His father’s work took the family to coastal cities and islands for long stays, and it inspired a lifelong love for the sea and travel that is reflected in much of his work, including the novel, Treasure Island.

Louis often had terrible nightmares and was terrified of dying while he slept. He was cared for by a beloved nanny, Alison Cunningham, affectionately called Cummie, who was a devout Calvinist. Calvinists believed that only certain chosen ones would get to heaven, and that people had a dual nature, with good and evil battling within, and they must strive to suppress ever-present immoral desires. Louis was taught that the body was shameful, and punishment was required to make someone good. The perils of sin and damnation to hell were instilled in him from the beginning. You will find biblical references throughout Stevenson’s writing, and if you recognize them in this novel you may find meaning hidden behind them. Christian dogma permeated the society in which Stevenson was raised.

Stevenson’s life, as well as the tale of Jekyll and Hyde, takes place during an era known as the Victorian age, named for Queen Victoria, who ruled England between 1837 and 1901. It was the height of the Industrial Revolution, which brought many changes, both economic and social, causing people to fear the breakdown of society. New inventions came at a dizzying pace, and the idea that they may bring harm to society was widely discussed. Scientific advances and discoveries like Darwin’s theory of evolution were popular topics of discussion. It was commonly believed that European culture represented the highest level of civilization but that within every person lay the capacity for evil, and only a vigilant moral society could keep them from devolving into depravity. This led to a strong social emphasis on proper behavior and modesty. It also belied the underlying hypocrisy of the Victorian age. Shame was a powerful motivator, and things like overeating, drinking, and any hint of sexuality were shameful. It was imperative to keep up appearances and not show any improper behavior lest you be judged harshly by your social circle. Your reputation was extremely important to your family and your career, and any transgression could be costly. Many wealthy people were blackmailed when someone found their secrets.

People found respite from the increasingly fast pace of the industrial age in reading popular books and magazines, especially mysterious gothic stories which often invoked bygone eras. Gothic literature romanticizes the past in dark historical settings like castles and old houses with ghosts. It is characterized by a shadowy atmosphere and themes of madness and psychological terror. The drama of gothic literature often comes from unexplained events because what is not said can be more suspenseful than what is clearly explained. It allows the reader’s mind to fill in the horror with their own fears. Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, and The Scarlet Letter are all nineteenth century gothic novels still popular today. Louis enjoyed reading Edgar Allen Poe and may have been influenced by his short story, William Wilson, about a boy with a doppelganger, or double. Watch for the tell-tale signs of gothic literature as you read this novel.

Louis’s favorite pastime as a child was reading and writing. In Essays of Robert Louis Stevenson, he wrote,

All through my boyhood and youth, I was known and pointed out for the pattern of an idler; and yet I was always busy on my own private end, which was to learn to write. I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in. As I walked, my mind was busy fitting what I saw with appropriate words ... [This] taught me (so far as I have learned them at all) the lower and less intellectual elements of the art, the choice of the essential note and the right word.

Louis began at university with an engineering major, as his parents wished, but he never lost the desire to write professionally. His parents were concerned with his earnings potential as a man of letters, so they compromised, and he began to study law. Although he read a lot, Louis wasn’t a diligent student and spent more time carousing at the bar than studying for the bar. He continued to write while hanging out at the pubs and honed his flair with words at the student debate club. He was described by a school friend as being in high spirits and always good-tempered, more often standing than sitting (and, when sitting, on any part of the chair except the seat).² He enjoyed lively debates about politics and the latest scientific discoveries and philosophical treatises. Among many things, he was interested in Darwin’s theories, dream interpretation, and ideas about the subconscious. The theory of evolution and the idea that people were ape-like and needed to repress any animal instinct, like sexual desire and other inappropriate behaviors, was a hot topic. Psychology was a relatively new field in the late 1800s, and Louis was well-read on current theories. Sigmund Freud had introduced the concept of the subconscious in the 1870s, and French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot had recently shown how hypnotism could reveal subconscious thoughts, feelings, and motivations unknown to the conscious mind.

Schizophrenia was identified in 1908, but the idea of clustering symptoms of mental illness and classifying mental disorders was just beginning to take hold in the late nineteenth century. The study of dissociative disorders then known as dementia