Why I chose The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as my topic?



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     The short answer is, this is the only topic I had either read or could remember. I faintly remember Slumdog Millionaire and I believe I saw 28 Days Later and Four Weddings and a Funeral but I don't recall a thing about them. Over the past thirty years I have read less than ten books for entertainment and none of them were fiction. Fiction didn’t excite me. I see the world as black and white, things are either real or fake and there is no reason for me to escape reality. Until recently this has been my mindset about fiction; why spend time reading something that didn’t actually happen when there is so much material about actual events and people available. Sounds like a plausible philosophy on the surface, but it now seems as an excuse since I really wasn’t reading anything at all to speak of. What I have rediscovered since reading The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Jekyll and Hyde) and started reading Never Let Me Go, is the power of fiction, the ability of the author to weave many messages and commentaries within the fabric of the surface story. The author is not limited by facts, actual events, and personalities. He is free to create strong characters where weak ones existed before, to play out all contingencies, to make changes to the story line and see how those changes affect the results, to shift time periods by taking events and placing them in different surroundings and decades, all in an effort to improve the message. Good literature contains multiple messages, it’s inevitable, writers are affected by their surroundings and the struggles of their own life as well as those in the society in which they exist, those feelings are sure to seep into their work. Even those who try to ride the fence on controversial issues fail to hide their true feelings if given the time and platform to speak, we just need to dig a little deeper to find the roots. That’s what is so powerful about fiction; the messages can be subtle or overt, unintended or intentional, or a combination of both, with the obvious concealing the inconspicuous in the same manner as a magician misdirects the audience’s attention. The reader is left to guess the authors intent and this is precisely what I enjoy about Jekyll and Hyde. There are two universal themes within this narrative, both of them timeless and provocative and hidden from view while being sown within the story of man's transformation into his evil opposite.

The author



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       I enjoy listening to and participating in conversations where differing views are discussed and debated. In evaluating the strength and validity of the points made by others it’s helpful to have some insight into the history and prejudice of the speaker. A University of Oklahoma alumus that can list the many reasons why the Sooners will be the national champions of college football doesn’t carry the same weight as an analyst from a small division II school who may share the same opinion. The same goes for educators and students that protest cuts to school funding, personal injury attorneys who lobby against tort reform, and bar owners that fight smoking ordinances. Their opinions are surely prejudiced by the perceived effect on their own lives. We need to understand their motivation and the color of the lens from which they view the world through. The same applies to Robert Louis Stevenson, author of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Stevenson was born November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland to parents Thomas and Margaret Isabella Stevenson ("Contemporary Authors Online"). Throughout his childhood he suffered chronic health problems, later diagnosed as Tuberculosis, which confined him to bed ("Heart o' Scotland").  He was largely raised by his nanny, Alison Cunningham (Liukkonen), who would become the strongest influence during his childhood. Cunningham had strong Calvinist convictions and often read The Old Testament to him and initiated daily prayer rituals that would become a large part of Stevenson’s early life (Liukkonen). Instead of entering the family business of designing lighthouses, Robert wanted to become a writer, he had developed this interest as an often bedridden child even though he had entered Edinburgh University ostensibly as a science student ("PoemHunter.com"). This decision upset his father, as a compromise it was decided that Robert would study for the bar; he finished school but never practiced law ("PoemHunter.com"). During school Stevenson had become known for his outrageous behavior and wild dress (Liukkonen). With his cousin Bob, he smoked hashish and visited brothels while surveying the seamy side of Edinburgh ("Contemporary Authors Online"). At the age of twenty-two he declared himself an agnostic, completing his father’s disappointment in him ("PoemHunter.com"). During the next thirteen years Stevenson married and traveled to France, America, and Belgium during which time his health continued to deteriorate. His writings during this period were reflections of his travel and of daydreams while many times confined to his bed. In 1888, Stevenson, his wife, son, and widowed mother began touring the South Pacific, eventually settling in an estate he purchased in Vailima, Samoa ("Contemporary Authors Online"). He continued his writing, and prayers he penned and were used by his family in Samoa provide witness that in his later years he had returned to his belief in God and Christianity ("Heart o' Scotland"). At the time of his death on December 3, 1894 he was working on Weir of Hermiston which was left unfinished, but promised to be his finest work ("Contemporary Authors Online"). His ashes are buried at the summit of Mount Vaea on Samoa alongside his wife who followed him in death in 1914 ("Contemporary Authors Online").    

Themes



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    The conflict within Stevenson over his religious beliefs is reflected in the story of Jekyll and Hyde. Dr. Jekyll is preoccupied with the desire to remove or suppress his own corrupt thoughts and feelings. He turns to science in an effort to liberate the virtuous portion of his soul from the villainous, concocting potions in his laboratory that he hopes will accomplish the task. Initially the potions do provide a reprieve from the struggle; these opposing forces are segregated from each other, like caged animals, exchanging control of the mind and physical body. But the opposition never really ceases, Hyde is unaware of his alter-ego, but Jekyll isn’t. He feels a bit of remorse for the actions of the other but not enough to be stricken with guilt. In fact, he seems to relish the anonymity the physical change of appearance provides him and the partitioning of his conscience prevents acknowledgement of his own culpability. Stevenson’s exploration of the duality of human nature and his inability to reconcile those ideas might echo the reasons he abandoned his early religious beliefs.     

                  

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Our greatest thinkers, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke have pondered these same questions, usually contemplating the more basic question. Is Man good or evil? The Bible teaches that we are made in God’s image and were without sin till the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. It also warns of temptation by the Devil and how this sin separates us from the Father. The depictions with Jesus on one shoulder and

Lucifer on the other amply portrays the conflict within Dr. Jekyll, each seeking the attention and control of the mind and subconscious. If man was wholly good would we need laws, government, and locks on our doors? The news is filled with stories of horrific acts perpetrated by terrible people, but even these individuals are not thoroughly immoral. They are capable of love, guilt, joy, and despair with many of them leading normal lives outside their sinister acts. We all have the propensity for good and evil, but the war between the two does not rage as it did inside Dr. Jekyll and perhaps Stevenson.

Dr Lanyon

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     Silence and the keeping of secrets are an additional underlying theme in this story, with Dr. Lanyon as the pivotal character in this sub-plot. As with previous themes, Stevenson’s early religious teachings and his internal strife and beliefs are revealed in his writing. The bible repeatedly contrast good and evil as light and dark, and warns of the danger of those things that remain hidden. We are urged to bring all things into the light, where sin cannot live and to keep no secrets.

     We are first introduced to Dr. Lanyon in Chapter 2 in the novel when Utterson visits his home. Utterson has just reviewed the will he created for Dr. Jekyll and is seeking possible explanations concerning Jekyll’s desire to leave his entire estate to Mr. Hyde upon his death. Utterson has yet to meet Mr. Hyde, but is concerned about his character after Enfield tells him of his first encounter with Hyde. As “the two oldest friends that Henry Jekyll has,” (Stevenson 11) Utterson hopes that Lanyon might be able to explain the relationship between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  We learn that though they were once close friends, their friendship has been strained for more than ten years because Jekyll had “become too fanciful” (Stevenson 11) for Lanyon. Jekyll had “began to go wrong, wrong in mind,” (Stevenson 11) and Dr. Lanyon further describes his thinking as “unscientific balderdash” (Stevenson 11) but doesn’t go into detail. Utterson, thinking that “they have only differed on some point of science” (Stevenson 11) doesn’t think much of the divulgence, but as we learn later, this exchange foreshadows events and circumstances in later chapters.

     In chapter six, Utterson again returns to visit Dr. Lanyon at his home, hoping to learn why Jekyll refuses to see anyone. Lanyon appears quite ill and explains that he has “had a shock… and I shall never recover,” (Stevenson 35) expects to die in a few weeks, and refuses to speak of anything concerning Dr. Jekyll.  Lanyon tells Utterson that someday he will “perhaps come to learn the wrong and right of this” (Stevenson 36) but refuses to explain now. As promised, Dr. Lanyon passes shortly thereafter. Utterson returns home after the funeral and opens a letter hand addressed to him by Lanyon, meant only to be read after his death. Inside the letter is a cover marked “not to be opened till the death or disappearance of Dr. Henry Jekyll” (Stevenson 37). Again, Utterson is denied the answers he seeks.    

     The next to last chapter of the book, chapter nine, we finally learn the reasons why Dr. Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll’s relationship suffered and the cause of Lanyon’s death. We are left to wonder that if these secrets had been reveled earlier would the results be different.

Cultural Setting

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     Published in 1886, Stevenson’s, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was certainly influenced by the authors rearing, but other forces may play a larger role. The intended audience and purpose of the story surely shaped the resultant product, maybe more than any other. Early Victorian attitudes were harmonious, religion and science appeared as parallel paths, each reaffirming the other. The Church of England dominated both politics and religion, so much so that they seemed interlaced and made it almost impossible to differentiate between the two. By the 1830’s, the monarchy had lost control and democracy had become the order of the day. Education, social unrest and science were threatening long held beliefs, growing trade and foreign wars brought new concepts to a populace that was fertile soil for their growth. These new attitudes produced rapid progress in the arts, sciences, and mechanical inventions. The industrial revolution and economic boom were reaching their peaks.

     In 1859, the publication of Darwin’s, Origin of the Species provided new doubt on long held beliefs and teachings. Lay people weren’t the only ones with whom these new ideas gained favor, artist who were at first slow to listen to these theories, and even clergy became to feel their effects. The Church of England rejected these claim with little success, the new viewpoint had already found their way into the minds of many and the damage was done.

     This is the audience to whom Stevenson wrote and to whom he expected to purchase his works. It is difficult to discern his motivation, whether it was a confluence of his personal feelings, the religious struggle within him, and the popular feeling of the time or simply an effort to earn a wage, the result is an entertaining tale with a multilayered text that provides enjoyment for those seeking escapism to those pursuing direction.

Sources



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Works Cited

“Biography of Robert Louis Stevenson.” Heart o’ Scotland. Heart o’ Scotland, 2011. Web. 14 April 2011. <http://www.heartoscotland.com/Categories/RobertLStevenson.htm>.

Liukkkonen, Petri. “Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894).” Author’s Calendar. Kuusankosken kirjasto , 2008. Web. 14 April 2011. <http://kirjasto.sci.fi/rlsteven.htm>.

Louis, Robert. Cc – Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. Harper Press, 2010. Print

“Robert Louis Stevenson.” Contemporary Authors Onlin. 30 Mar 2004. n. pag. Gale Literary Databases. Web. 12 April 2011.

“The biography of Robert Louis Stevenson – life story.” PoemHunter.com. Poem Hunter, n.d. Web. 14 April 2011. <http://www.poemhunter.com/robert-louis-stevenson/biography/>.