Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in Scotland in 1850, his love for travel made him spend long periods abroad. in 1888 Stevenson left with his family for the South Seas and finally settled in Samoa. In 1894 Stevenson died
In 1883, Stevenson published his first novel, the popular adventure story Treasure Island. In 1886, he published his famous short novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde: The story
Dr Jekyll discoveres a drug that can divide the two sides (GOOD AND EVIL) of human nature, liberating his base instincts in a separate physical form and personality that he called Mr Hyde. Hyde is responsible for a series of crimes, but he escapes detection thanks to a second dose of the potion that transforms him into the respectable doctor Jekyll, but when he is going to be discovered he realises that the only solution is to kill Mr Hyde and so himself and commits suicide leaving a confession letter that solves the mystery of the double idenity.
Dr Jekill is the symbol of the respectable Victorian gentleman, while Hyde is the symbol of the incivilised part of humanity which "hides" behind the formal bonds of civilisation. It is a critique to the victorian morals, in which appearances were all important, as long as vice and corruption remained in the private sphere.
The story is told from different points of view, this has the effect to keep us in the dark till Jekill's final confession letter.
The book follows the tradition of gothic fiction, but with a more accurate analysis of man's psychological and moral nature, with elements of the emerging genre of detective fiction( unsolved crimes, mystery and suspense).