Happy Friday! Have out your pen and your Jekyll & Hyde vocab sheet.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Author: Robert Louis Stevenson Born November 13, 1850 Sickly as a child Nurse Cummy (Allison Cunningham) read stories of the Covenanters (Scots Presbyterian martyrs), the Bible, cheap Victorian novels, and drilled him in catechism When he went to Edinburgh University, he rebelled against the strictness and religious education of his childhood.

Author: Robert Louis Stevenson Because of his father’s insistence he studied law and received a law degree in 1875 (at the insistence of his father) Often clashed with his father especially over religion (as a result he often uses the theme of youth vs. old age)

Author: Robert Louis Stevenson July 1876, he was traveling in France and met Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne, a married American woman ten years older than Stevenson. Stevenson fell in love with her. After her divorce they were finally married in 1880. Stevenson pursuit of Fanny of course caused a rift with his parents; however, the Stevensons later accepted her.

Author: Robert Louis Stevenson Very ill (probably TB though never diagnosed during his lifetime) from 1880 to 1887, but he wrote some of his best fiction during the time (“collaborated on plays with W.E. Henley, essayist, and editor who championed Stevenson in London literary circles and who became the model for Long John Silver.” He didn’t get along with Fanny due to his heavy drinking and his dislike for her editing and sometimes reworking of Stevenson’s work.)

Author: Robert Louis Stevenson Won fame with Treasure Island in 1883; up until the twentieth century his popularity was based on adventure fiction, but now he has begun to grow in stature as critics have begun to study the wide range of his writing. In 1888, he went on a cruise to the South Seas to try to heal (emotionally as well as physically)

Background of the Book Written at the age of 30 in just a few days; published in 1886 (Kidnapped published the same year): written after recalling a dream; he was going to write a merely entertaining tale.

Background of the Book Did Stevenson’s wife burn his first draft? No. He did! Religious: Calvinistic influence: total depravity of man Setting: Victorian London: a culture of strict civil codes and polite manners

J&H Vocab Quizlet.com

Jekyll and Hyde Buiter’s Balderdash

abominable horrible

conflagration raging fire

odious hateful

sedulously tirelessly

sullenness gloominess

perplexity confusion

calamity disaster

Characters Mr. Utterson – lawyer (skeptical as we are), honest, trustworthy, norm character (We judge our feelings about Jekyll/Hyde based on his judgments.) Significance of name: John Gabriel John: John the Baptist, John the Apostle Gabriel: one of the 4 archangels (divine messengers)

Characters Dr. Jekyll – elderly, kind, friendly, dynamic (grows weaker) Compared to Faustus: great intellect and opportunity, but gives into temptation Compared to Frankenstein: creates a monster

Characters Mr. Hyde – Stevenson takes great pains to make Hyde really deadly and evil. Not comical Embodiment of evil – never described concretely (left to our imagination)

Characters His appearance is described as… “more of a dwarf” – less developed than his good side “that thing in the mask” – grotesque, exaggerated appearance; no redeeming good qualities “like a monkey” – animalistic

Theme Man has two natures: good and evil, and evil will conquer if you give into it. Largely allegorical Atmosphere of controlled suspense

Point of View Limited Omniscient; First person Change in narrators is fast and dizzying=like Jekyll’s changes

Chapter One: Story of the Door Biblical Allusion: “I incline to Cain’s heresy…” -Utterson Personification of the door: “blind forehead”, “blistered and distained” Clue: The writer of the check is an honorable citizen.

Mr. Enfield’s Rule: “the more it looks like Queer Street, the less I ask.” (When something is mysterious or unusual, he chooses not to get involved or say anything.) Description of Hyde: “There is something wrong with his appearance, something displeasing, something downright detestable…” p. 5 Utterson and Enfield agree never to discuss the matter again.