Investigating Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson was the writer behind Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, I really wanted to investigate more about his life and see if his life had any impact on why he wrote Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and the ideas behind this very meaningful message he tries to get across to his readers.
I started out by watching a documentary called Ian Rankin Investigates: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Ian talks about different things that may have effected Stevenson when he was writing this book for example he mentions how in the time Stevenson was alive, grave robberies where extremely common and also hallucinatory drugs. All of these different aspects could have played a big part in the Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde.
400 years ago the devil and his disciples used to be the biggest threat to society,
Ian talks about the witch hunts that happened in Edinburgh, the drowning and hurled from hillsides to see if they could fly, innocent people they thought were witches died in the same village Stevenson grew up in.
Stevenson grew up in a city which was divided between new and old, the new town was created in the 18th century because the new town had become over crowded and dirty. The wealthy built a new town to separate them from the poor. They built a bridge between the two so that gentlemen could stroll between the two to go from there respectable lives to the brothals and drinking dens of the old town. Here Stevenson lead a double life of some sort. This is a really important part of the double identity that Dr Jekyll has. When he is Dr Jekyll he is a respectable gentlemen, but when he is Mr Hyde he's all about the brothals, sex and drinking which would really relate to this part of Stevenson's life.
The book was set in London which was slightly strange as he was from Edinburgh but the reason for this was that in the 18th century John Hunter. John Hunter needed a lot of bodies for his research which meant he was involved with employing people to rob graves, which in those days was illegal but got away with it a lot. It was said he went through more that 2000 bodies.
John hunters house was in the exact same place at Dr Jekyll in the story, this is how they have worked out they are possibly linked. John hunter brought a town house and then brought the house behind to have an anatomy theatre in. The story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has the same sort of layout as he has his lab in a different building. The back door is where John Hunter would have got bodies dropped off but in the book this is where Mr Hyde slips in and out of the house.
Another huge part of Stevenson's life while writing Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was the fact he was a dying man, he nearly died two weeks before starting the book Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He was put on ergotine which is a drug to stop bleeding but this was a last resort as it had terrifying side effects. This made his imagination a lot more vivid but also showed him the power behind drugs and how it can change the way you act and change your personality.
Ian talks about different things that may have effected Stevenson when he was writing this book for example he mentions how in the time Stevenson was alive, grave robberies where extremely common and also hallucinatory drugs. All of these different aspects could have played a big part in the Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde.
400 years ago the devil and his disciples used to be the biggest threat to society,
Ian talks about the witch hunts that happened in Edinburgh, the drowning and hurled from hillsides to see if they could fly, innocent people they thought were witches died in the same village Stevenson grew up in.
Stevenson grew up in a city which was divided between new and old, the new town was created in the 18th century because the new town had become over crowded and dirty. The wealthy built a new town to separate them from the poor. They built a bridge between the two so that gentlemen could stroll between the two to go from there respectable lives to the brothals and drinking dens of the old town. Here Stevenson lead a double life of some sort. This is a really important part of the double identity that Dr Jekyll has. When he is Dr Jekyll he is a respectable gentlemen, but when he is Mr Hyde he's all about the brothals, sex and drinking which would really relate to this part of Stevenson's life.
The book was set in London which was slightly strange as he was from Edinburgh but the reason for this was that in the 18th century John Hunter. John Hunter needed a lot of bodies for his research which meant he was involved with employing people to rob graves, which in those days was illegal but got away with it a lot. It was said he went through more that 2000 bodies.
John hunters house was in the exact same place at Dr Jekyll in the story, this is how they have worked out they are possibly linked. John hunter brought a town house and then brought the house behind to have an anatomy theatre in. The story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has the same sort of layout as he has his lab in a different building. The back door is where John Hunter would have got bodies dropped off but in the book this is where Mr Hyde slips in and out of the house.
Another huge part of Stevenson's life while writing Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was the fact he was a dying man, he nearly died two weeks before starting the book Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He was put on ergotine which is a drug to stop bleeding but this was a last resort as it had terrifying side effects. This made his imagination a lot more vivid but also showed him the power behind drugs and how it can change the way you act and change your personality.
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