Author
Name : Robert Louis
Stevenson
Pages : 254
Publisher : Longmans
Edition : Seventh
Content :
Robert Louis
Stevenson's dark psychological fantasy gave birth to the idea of the split
personality. The story of respectable Dr Jekyll's strange association with
'damnable young man' Edward Hyde; the hunt through fog-bound London for a
killer; and the final revelation of Hyde's true identity is a chilling
exploration of humanity's basest capacity for evil. The other stories in this
volume also testify to Stevenson's inventiveness within the Gothic tradition:
"Olalla', a tale of vampirism and tainted family blood, and 'The Body
Snatcher', a gruesome fictionalisation of the exploits of the notorious Burke
and Hare.
This edition contains a critical introduction by Robert Mighall, which discusses class, criminality and the significance of the story's London setting. It also includes an essay on the scientific contexts of the novel and the development of the idea of the Jekyll-and-Hyde personality.
This edition contains a critical introduction by Robert Mighall, which discusses class, criminality and the significance of the story's London setting. It also includes an essay on the scientific contexts of the novel and the development of the idea of the Jekyll-and-Hyde personality.
Text
Structure :
The text
is organized into the happenings of present to past. Where people have
witnessed to see a Monster like figure. But it wasn’t a monster but the great
scientist Dr.Jekyll who has turned into Mr.Hyde after drinking his own formula.
It is
using Descending sequence of chronological story. The story depicts the Cause
& Effect relationship of the story. Like why Mr.Jekyll the gentle man
has turned into a monster figurine Mr.Hyde, this is because after having the
formula. It gave the idea of split personality.
Language
of the Text :
Author : Robert Louis Stevenson
When was it published? : January 5, 1886
Who are the target audience?: Teenagers
Persuasive/ engaging Voice tone of the text? : Mystery,
Horror, Terror
Genre
of the Text :
² Horror fiction, Thriller, Drama, Science
Fiction, Gothic fiction
²
This is narrative text.
Context of the Text :
Historically, Stevenson wrote during the
Victorian period. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde reflects the duality that was inherent in London life ,indeed in
all England's large cities--and revealed in the religious and
philosophical ideas prevalent in England at the time, which, in some
regards, produced the social dualities arising from the crushing
incursion of country people to the cities.
The historical
conditions of life in London that affected Stevenson's story
included living conditions for the upper classes and the poor classes. The
upper classes were focused on cushioning life with home-comforts and with
pronounced divisions between who thought and did what, for instance, who worked
and who didn’t; who was educated where and who wasn’t. The lower classes had
been forced from "cottage" industries in textiles and foods, and
such, into cites where they focused on trying to survive the conditions in
teeming "row houses."
The middle and upper classes emotionally and
psychologically shut the existence of the struggling teeming thousands out from
their minds and focused on extreme moral certitude, etiquette,
and religious form.
Ironically, if there is no true moral
conscience, there must be rigid moral rules of conduct and etiquette to impose
an artificial order over the true order inspired by conscience and a philosophy
of virtue. This focused on a continual self-examination to search for spiritual
and moral imperfections and for the moment-by-moment condition of the spiritual
soul. This again was a necessary substitute for true spirituality and moral
conscience. The reflection of these dualistic historical, cultural, scientific,
and ideological conditions are all evident in the thematic dualism
of Jekyll and Hyde.
Cultural
Diversity :
The following collection of primary
sources develops the cultural contexts for these novels’ representations of
double and hidden selves. Stevenson’s novel draws attention to early theories
of the unconscious. The late-nineteenth-century arts movement that promoted art
for the sake of its beauty alone, not for any utilitarian, moral, or political
purpose. This novel also raise questions about gender and sexual identity.
Jekyll/Hyde explore what it could mean for educated, Victorian men to pursue
pleasure free of the inhibiting threat of social ostracism. Many of the sources
that follow explore changing ideas about gender and sexual identity in England
and America at the turn of the last century.
Reflection
:
With this fiction novel, get to know that every
individual posses two selves, one the good side like Mr.Jekyll and other the
bad side like Mr.Hyde. It is us who can control our both the sides and can
react in a situation accordingly.
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