Birth and Death:

• Born: November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland [Mitch Sorenstien]

  • Mother was Margret Isabella and father was Thomas Stevenson. [Bronwyn]

• Died: December 3, 1894 [Mitch Sorenstein]

  • Died of a brain hemmorage due to hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia. [Bronwyn]

Historical Contexts: 

• Stevenson lived during the Victorian period (1837-1901). [Mitch Sorenstein]

• Stevenson spent most of his life sick with chronic lung problems. [Mitch Sorenstein]

• Stevenson was born into what is considered a middle-class family [EA]

• The Industrial Revolution brought about steamships and railways for transportation, so Stevenson's travels come from a time with major advancements for travel [Warren Peace]

• His family's profession was lighthouse design. [Liery Darrsonich]

• Stevenson spent his final years in Vailima, Samoa [C3N-N1N]

• Stevenson eloped with an American woman 10 years older than him. [Margaret Atwood]

Literary Contributions: 

• Strange Case of Dr. Jekll and Mr. Hyde (1886) [Mitch Sorenstein] 

• Treasure Island (1883) [Mitch Sorenstein] 

• Kidnapped (1886) [Warren Peace]

• The Black Arrow: A Tale of Two Roses (1888) [MJD]

• The Master of Ballantrae (1889) [MJD] 

Education:

• From age 6-10, he attended Mr. Henderson's school in Edinbrugh, although missed a good portion of school due to poor health. At 10, he attended Edinburgh Academy, then movef to an English boarding school at Spring Grove, Isleworth. Next, he attended Rober Thomson's private school, until he went to university at the University of Edinburgh. [Bronwyn]

• He breifly studied law at the University of Edinburgh but never practiced [Madix]

• Stevenson was orginally expected to become a lighthouse engineer like his father and grandfather [Madix]

• Treasure Island was initially published serially in a children’s magazine before becoming a novel named "Young Folks".[SR]

• There was a rumor that Stevenson was on drugs when he wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. [Mark Twain]

• His declining health influenced his frantic writing pace. [BRC] 

• It was thought that Jekyll and Hyde may have been inspired by a real life criminal named William Brodie. [Dumb Lamb]

• Treasure Island is a true pirate story [EGN]

• Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde was inspired by Stevensons own life [EGN]

• Stevenson wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a single night [JMD]

• Stevenson based Mr. Hyde on a specific psychiatric diagnosis [JMD]

• Stevenson was an "English" author [Acro Blue] 

• Stevenson died while trying to make mayonnaise. [Bronwyn}

• Stevenson was wealthy his entire life [Madix]

• Stevenson was constanly bedridden [Madix]

• He moved to Samoa just for relaxation [Madix]

• Stevenson was anti-Victorian and disliked the Victorian era [Madix]

• His break from family tradtion wasnt as dramatic as myths suggest [Madix]

• He was possessed when he came up with the idea/plot for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. [LMW]

• He threw his own personal first draft into the fire because it was too evil and he thought it came from the devil. [LMW]

• He faked his death and lived under a different identity. People thought this because his death in Samoa was so sudden. [LMW]

• Stevenson wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for a writing competition [Hadi]

• Stevenson was a murderer who wrote about things he had done [Hadi]

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was designed to be a children’s morality story.[SR]

• Stevenson abandoned his family and broke off all communication after leaving Britain. [SR]

• What inspired Stevenson many books on the tropic of travels? [Émile Durkenhiem]

• Does Stevenson have religious inspirations throughout his novels due to his family background?

• How did Stevenson’s chronic illness influence the themes and settings of his works? [EGN]

• Why do Stevenson’s works remain popular in both children’s and adult literature? [EGN]

• Why is a story like Strange Case of Dr. Jekll and Mr. Hyde adapted serveral time for children audiences? [Liery Darrsonich]

• Did Stevenson view Jekyll & Hyde as a reflection of his own divided self? [C3N-N1N]

• How many countries did Stevenson visit? [Margaret Atwood]

• Did Stevenson rewrite Jekyll and Hyde with any changes or revisions after his wife burned the first draft? [JMD]

• What were Stevenson's main literary influences for his work? [JMD]

• What changes did he make in the original manuscript of Jekyll and Hyde after the first copy was destroyed? [Shepherd H]

• In what ways did Stevenson's illnessess and frequently taking medication effect his writing? [Acro Blue] 

• Why does Stevenson choose to reveal the truth of Jekyll's experiment only at the very end? [Justin Time]

• Is the duality and hidden self in Jekyll and Hyde an allegory for homosexuality? [Vic Von Frank]

• How did his travels affect his writing and themes in his books? [LMW]

• What does Hyde reallt represent? Pure evil? repressed desire? Something more? [LMW]

• What was the true inspiration for the novela Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? [Hadi]

• How does Stevenson push the barrier between “children’s literature” and “serious literature”? [SR]

• While there was a rumor that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written in a drugged state, the idea for the tale came to Stevenson in a dream. [Mark Twain]

• While stevenson is originally from Scottland, he travled alot due to his poor health, which at the time 'necessitated to lots of travels, had a great love for exploration, and as well had a great desire to the freedom and human experince of travel. [Émile Durkenhiem]

• Stevenson's chronic illness pushed him oward themes of inner conflict, exile, and fragility. I believe it's what inspired the restless, far-from-home settings that define much of his fiction. [C3N-N1N]

• Stevenson lived all over the world, including Scotland, France, England, Samoa, and the US. [Margaret Atwood]

• Stevensons' original copy of Jacqueline Hyde was actually destroyed in a fire by Stephenson due to a female relative critiquing the novel. In his frustration, he destroyed the original copy and had to rewrite it in just a few short days. It is widely agreed upon that he changed some of the aspects of the original story in the second version. Some of those aspects include focusing more on Dr. Jekyll's internal struggles and making Mr. Hyde more human-like and less like a monster.

• This delayed disclosure forces readers to share Utterson's uncertainty and mirrors Victorian fears of hidden moral danger [Justin Time]

• Stevenson gave up his birthday to a little girl who was upset about sharing a birthday with Christmas. He made the transfer official by writing an official letter. [Mark Twain]

• Robert Stevenson had an affinity for the outdoors and even invented the sleeping bag. [Mark Twain]

• Stevenson was involved with a 'married' woman (she was separated from her husband) which horrored his parents, so much so he chased her to California [Émile Durkenhiem].

• Stevenson once got arrested for being involved in a snowball fight. [TM]

• An extensive traveller and moved to Samoa in 1890. [BRC]

• In 1878, he invented the sleeping bag when he was on a hike in France. He designed this waterproof sleeping sac to keep him comfortable when he was traveling. [BRC]

• Stevenson was raised a Prezbytarian family. [Warren Peace]

• Stevenson changed the spelling of his middle name from "Lewis" to "Louis." [Daniel Quinn]

• Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in three days. [EA]

• Stevenson wrote Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde from a nightmare he had. [Liery Darrsonich]

• Stevenson wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde in just 6 days [Margaret Atwood]

• Stevenson had incredibly small handwriting; it was so small that it was comparable to the size of a typewriter. [Shepherd H]

• Stevenson's use of multiple narrators creates a pieced- together perspective [Justin Time]

• Stevenson uses locked rooms, sealed letters, and boundaries to symbolize the author's interest in hidden selves [Justin Time]

• Foggy London streets, locked laboratories, and dark alleys reveal Stevenson's fascination with urban secrecy and the contrast between public respectability and private vice [Justin Time]

Published in January 1886 (Hadi)

Setting: 19th century London [MJD]

Synopsis: a thriller about a respectable doctor who uses a serum to transform into his evil alter ego, Mr. Hyde [MJD]

Themes: good versus evil, dual personalities, and the duality of human nature  [MJD]

• Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971) [Mark Twain]

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1988) (Nintendo game) [Mark Twain]

• Treasure Island (1989) [TM]

• Muppet Treasure Island (1996) [TM]

• Richard Mansfield's "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (1888) [Hadi]

• Jekyll and Hyde (1990) musical premiered at the Alley Theatre in Houston [Warren Peace]

• Mary Reilly (1996) [Daniel Quinn]

•  The Nutty Professor (1963) [Daniel Quinn]

• Jekyll and Hyde. Batman (2017)  [Dumb Lamb]

• Jekyll (2007) [EA]

• Jeykll and Hyde (2021) [EA]

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2002) [EA]

• The Strange Case of Dr. Ratkyll and Mr. Hyde (2014) (a comic in Disney's Topolino) [Liery Darrsonich]

• Jekyll and Heidi (1999) (a book in the Goosebumps series) [Liery Darrsonich]

• "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. McDuck" (1987) (an episode of Disney's DuckTales) [Liery Darrsonich]

• Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (19530 [JMD]

• Edge of Sanity (1989) [JMD]

• Jekyll and Hyde (muscial by Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse) [Acro Blue] 

• Jekyll and Hyde (2022) Stage adaptation by Neil Bartlett and directed by Sarah Brigham that features Jekyll and Hyde as minor characters to the introduction of a new female lead who uncovers the murders of Hyde. [Vic Von Frank]

• jekyll & Hyde: Resurrection (2017) [SR]

Section 1 - Story of the Door: This chapter opens with describing the character of Mr. Utterson. He is a career lawyer. He is awkward and odd, yet loveable and plesant to be around. He is a classy man, non-judgemental of people in unfortunate situations. We also meet Mr. Richard Enfield, a man considered to be polar opposit to Mr. Utterson. Unlikely friends, Mr. Utterson and Mr. Enfield are seen on weekly Sunday walks. To an outsider, these walks appear very boring, but when described by the two men, you'd think they had adventured all over the world. On one of their Sunday walks, they pass a particularly run down two story building with a very withered door. Mr. Enfield tells a story about this door, describing a time when he arrested a ruthless, thoughtless, and angry man whom he witnessed trample a small girl. He remembers seeing the murderous look in the doctor's eyes when resting upon the man who had hurt the little girl so badly. The story wraps up with Mr. Enfield saying they landed upon a resolution where the man would have to pay a fine to the girl's family as punishment. The man took them to that withered down door, unlocked it, went inside and brought out some money and a check for the rest of the payment, absolutely surprising everyone present when the check did not bounce. Mr. Enfield mentions that he knows the man's address to be a different location, but says he didn't inquire about the building with the withered door because one question always snowballs into more than you bargain for. Mr. Utterson asks about the man who trampled the young girl, now known as Mr. Hyde. Mr. Enfield describes him to be unplesant on all accounts; unnatractive, rude, angry, and displeasing to look at. The chapter ends with Mr. Enfield reassuring Mr. Utterson that this Mr. Hyde did in fact have a key to this withered door, and he is the only soul seen to be going in or out of this building.

Section Two - Search For Mr. Hyde: Mr. Utterson investigates into Dr. Jekyll's will. He is confused and disturbed when he learns that Dr. Jekyll desires all his possessions to go to the mysterious Mr. Hyde. Mr. Utterson, in his concern, goes to visit Dr. Lanyon who says that he and Dr. Jekyll have become estranged due to Dr. Jekyll's "unscientific" experiments. Mr. Utterson continues to investigate the connection between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by staking out the dilapidated door that he knows has some tie to Mr. Hyde. Mr. Utterson eventually encounters Mr. Hyde and is very unsettled by his manner and fearsome presence. Mr. Hyde gave Mr. Utterson his home address and fairly aggresively asked how he knew who he was. When Mr. Utterson says he knew him from Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde seems to know he is lying and snarls as he enters the house. Mr. Utterson, because of his fear that Mr. Hyde is controlling the doctor, decides he is going to warm Dr. Jekyll of the danger. 

Section Three - Dr. Jekyll Was Quite At Ease: At a dinner party at Dr. Jekyll’s home, Mr. Utterson hung back after everyone else had left, which was pretty normal for him. He strikes up a conversation with Dr. Jekyll regarding his will, which Dr. Jekyll writes off as Mr. Utterson being overly and almost out of place with his concern. Mr. Utterson pursues the topic, pressing Dr. Jekyll on the fact that there are horrible stories about Mr. Hyde going around. Dr. Jekyll stays firm in his choice to have all of his belongings given to Mr. Hyde in his will. He repeats over and over that Mr. Utterson just wouldn’t understand, but Mr. Utterson absolutely must help Mr. Hyde upon the demise of Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll speaks of how he truly does care for Mr. Hyde, and is concerned with his future, so the reassurances of Mr. Utterson is necessary to ease his mind.

Section Four - The Carew Murder Case: One night a young maid was looking out her window when she saw two men approaching. One was a tall, older, polite gentleman, and the other she recognized as Mr. Hyde. All of the sudden, mid-conversation, Mr. Hyde exploded, stomping his feet and waving his cane around like a crazy person. The older man was just as surprised, and completely taken aback when Mr. Hyde began attacking him, hitting him over and over with the cane, before he started kicking and stomping on the older man on the ground. The maid passed out, and it took hours before she woke up and had the mind to call the police. Mr. Hyde was long gone, but the older man was still on the sidewalk, dead. This is revealed to be Sir Danvers Carew, which really effected Mr. Utterson once he found out about the situation. Mr. Utterson confirms that the identity of the murderer is in fact Mr. Hyde, so he offers to take the officer to where Mr. Hyde is known to live. This is Dr. Jekyll’s home. They are told that Mr. Hyde did live there, but wasn’t home. It brought the maid much joy to hear that Mr. Hyde could be in trouble, so she lets the two men into the house to poke around. The house looked like it had quickly and frantically been packed up, with all sorts of papers being burnt, besides a check-book. The two men decide to go wait for Mr. Hyde to show up to the bank looking for money. They acknowledge that catching Mr. Hyde will be difficult since he is not known to have any friends, family, pictures, and only a handful of people that have ever actually seen him.

Sec. 5 “Incident of the Letter”

Mr Utterson visits Dr Jekyll for the first time in the neglected old laboratory at the back of the house and finds Jekyll looking extremely ill and shaken. Utterson confronts him about Sir Danvers Carew’s murder and asks whether Jekyll has helped Hyde escape. Jekyll insists he is finished with Hyde forever and shows Utterson a letter supposedly from Hyde, claiming he has safe means of flight. Though the letter seems to clear Jekyll of involvement, his butler, Poole, later tells Utterson that no messenger delivered anything, raising Utterson’s suspicion that the letter may have been written inside the house. Disturbed, Utterson brings the letter to his clerk, Mr Guest, an expert in handwriting. Guest compares Hyde’s letter with a dinner invitation from Jekyll and observes that the handwriting is the same, only differently sloped. Utterson realizes Jekyll may have forged a letter to protect Hyde. Horrified at the implication and fearful for his friend’s reputation, he locks the letter away, shaken by the thought that Jekyll could be entangled so deeply in a murderer’s affairs.

Sec. 6 “Incident of Dr Lanyon”

After Sir Danvers’s murder, Hyde completely vanishes, and although his brutal past comes to light, no one can discover where he has gone. Utterson gradually relaxes, believing Hyde’s disappearance has freed Jekyll, who briefly returns to sociability and charitable activity, seeming renewed and peaceful. But Jekyll abruptly shuts himself away again, refusing to see Utterson, who soon learns that Dr Lanyon is gravely ill. When Utterson visits, he finds Lanyon physically ruined and mentally shaken by some unnamed horror connected to Jekyll. Lanyon refuses to ever speak of Jekyll again, declaring himself a doomed man. Jekyll’s reply to Utterson offers a sorrowful, mysterious explanation: he and Lanyon must never meet, and he must now live in strict seclusion, burdened by a secret punishment he cannot reveal. Lanyon dies soon after, leaving Utterson a sealed packet to be opened only upon Jekyll’s death or disappearance to which Utterson obeys and locks it away. From then on, Utterson feels uneasy around Jekyll who increasingly isolates himself in the laboratory, grows silent and withdrawn, and avoids all company. Gradually, Utterson visits less often, troubled by the dread that something is profoundly wrong behind Jekyll’s closed doors.

Sec. 7 “Incident at the Window”

Utterson and Enfield pass the familiar by-street and pause before Hyde’s old door, relieved that the man seems gone for good. Enfield admits he has realised the door is the back entrance to Jekyll’s house, which leads Utterson to suggest they look in on Jekyll from the courtyard, as he has grown increasingly worried about his friend. In the dim, cold court, they find Jekyll sitting sadly at an open window, looking like a prisoner. Utterson urges him to come out for a walk, but Jekyll refuses, saying he dares not leave and that the pleasure of seeing them is all he can allow himself. As they talk, Jekyll suddenly changes expression: his face contorts with overwhelming terror and despair. He slams the window shut, leaving the two men horrified. They walk away in silence, shaken by what they have glimpsed, barely able to speak of it.

Sec. 8 "The Last Night"

One evening following dinner, Mr. Utterson is surprised to be called upon by Jekyll’s butler, Mr. Poole, who exclaims fear and worry for his master. Poole informs Utterson that he believes Dr. Jekyll has been killed and that his murderer has locked themselves away in the laboratory. Poole urges that Utterson come quickly to investigate the matter. Without hesitation, Utterson grabs his hat and greatcoat, and the two rush hurriedly through the cold, windy streets to Jekyll’s home and laboratory. At the house, moving past the servants gathered in fear, the two make a plan to force entry into the cabinet where the supposed murderer resides after Utterson’s suspicions are aroused. Convinced that Hyde is inside, from the voice they hear and a conformation from Poole having seen the figure’s face, they break down the door using an axe. Upon breaking in they are only met with the body of Hyde, who seemed to have committed suicide by some type of poison. Jekyll’s person nor body is to be found. Searching the ransacked room, Utterson finds a new will leaving everything now to him instead of Hyde, along with a note from Jekyll dated that very day.

Section 9. "Dr. Lanyon's Narrative"
Dr. Lanyon's narrative recounts the night that led to his falling out with Dr. Jekyll and the shock that ultimately caused his decline. One night, he received an urgent letter from Jekyll with directions asking him to go to his house and to retrieve a drawer that contained powders, a phial, and a paper book, and to keep it safe until someone came to collect it at midnight. Even though the request seemed rather unusual, Dr. Lanyon followed the instruction. At midnight an unusual small man with odd-looking clothes came to retrieve this drawer. The man seemed in a hurry and made Dr. Lanyon uneasy. The man asked for the drawer he retrieved and Dr. Lanyon told him where it was and he immediately sprang to it. This made Dr. Lanyon very uneasy and he told the man to compose himself. He mixed some of the ingredients found in the drawer and told Dr. Lanyon that he had been tied to material views and even denied transcendental medicine and to see what would happen next. The man drank the mixture and his face started to change, giving Dr. Lanyon a fright and a surpise to see it was Henry Jekyll standing before him.

Section 10 “Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case”

In this section Dr.Jekyll starts by talking about his privilege, coming “from a large fortune and endowed with excellent parts”. Jekyll confesses that he always battled with a good and respectable side and his own evil desire for pleasure. Jekyll then goes on how with science, which is how he created a potion that allowed him to turn into Edward Hyde, a darker and pure evil version of himself. At first, he was excited by the freedom Hyde gave him to act without any guilt, but overtime, he lost control. The transformations became more frequent and uncontrollable, and Jekyll realized that Hyde was taking over. Causing a conflict between the two personas. In the end, Jekyll understands that he can't stop Hyde from ruining him, and he accepts that his experiment has failed and both identities will eventually destroy him.