The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, in 1850. His parents wanted him to become an engineer like his father, but he studied law at Edinburgh University. In 1875 he passed an exam to become a lawyer1, but he never worked as a lawyer: he wanted to become a writer. From when he was a child Stevenson had tuberculosis2 and he had serious health problems all his life. [...]

Robert Louis Stevenson had a love-hate relationship with Edinburgh. He criticised it heavily in his book Edinburgh, Picturesque Notes, but he always missed it deeply when he was away. Edinburgh is now a lively modern city with a fascinating history. It continues to be an extremely interesting centre for culture and the arts. Connect to the internet and go to www.blackcat.vicensvives.net. [...]

The Story of the Door

The Search for Mr Hyde

British writers in the 19th century were fascinated by crime and a lot of well-known crime fiction is set in London. In Charles Dickens’s novel Oliver Twist (1839) the young Oliver becomes a member of a gang of boys managed by the old criminal Fagin, who teaches them how to steal from the pockets of the rich people of London’s rich. [...]

Connect to the internet and go to www.blackcat.vicensvives.net. Insert the title or part of the title of the book into our search engine (buscador). Click on The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Click on Project links and then on the relevant link for this project.

The Carew Murder Case

An Incident at the Window

Dr Lanyon's Narrative

Henry Jekyll's Statement

A ‘double’ looks exactly like another person, while the phrase a ‘double personality’ is used about a person who behaves in two very different ways. Stevenson’s novel is so famous that in modern English the phrase ‘a Jekyll and Hyde character’ refers to a person whose behaviour varies enormously. But there are other stories in which the theme of the ‘double’ is important. [...]

I was Edward Hyde and the police in London were looking everywhere for me! London was dangerous for Edward Hyde, the murderer. I needed the powders from the laboratory. But how to get them? I did not trust the servants. Then I had an idea. I remembered Dr Lanyon. He could go to the laboratory for me! I went to a hotel and I wrote a letter to Dr Lanyon. I asked him to go to the laboratory and to bring the powders to his house. [...]

After Reading

There have been many films made of Stevenson’s novel. Films often include a love interest, a girl that Jekyll/Hyde is attracted to, which is not in Stevenson’s novel at all. Another major difference is that Stevenson creates a mystery about who Mr Hyde is, and we do not find out that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person until the end, although we suspect this. [...]