Table Of Content
THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE
wasborninEdinburghin.Theson
of a prosperous civil engineer, he was expected to follow the family
professionbutfinallywasallowedtostudylawatEdinburghUniversity.
Stevenson reacted violently against the Presbyterian respectability of
the city’s professional classes and this led to painful clashes with his
parents.Inhisearlytwentieshebecameafflictedwithasevererespira-
toryillnessfromwhichhewastosufferfortherestofhislife;itwasat
thistimethathedeterminedtobecomeaprofessionalwriter.In
he travelled to California to marry Fanny Osbourne, an American
tenyearshissenior.Togethertheycontinuedhissearchforaclimate
kindtohisfragilehealth,eventuallysettlinginSamoa,wherehedied
onDecember.
Stevensonbeganhisliterarycareerasanessayistandtravel-writer,
butthesuccessofTreasureIsland()andKidnapped()established
hisreputationfortalesofactionandadventure.Kidnapped,anditssequel
Catriona (), The Master of Ballantrae and stories such as ‘Thrawn
Janet’and‘TheMerryMen’alsorevealhisknowledgeandfeelingfor
theScottishculturalpast.Stevenson’sCalvinisticupbringinggavehim
apreoccupationwithpre-destinationandafascinationwiththepres-
ence of evil. In Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde he explores the
darkersideofthehumanpsyche,andthecharacteroftheMasterin
The Master of Ballantrae () was intended to be ‘all I know of the
Devil’. During the last years of his life Stevenson’s creative range
developedconsiderablyandTheBeachofFalesa´ broughttofictionthe
kindofscenesnowassociatedwithConradandMaugham.Atthetime
ofhisdeathRobertLouisStevensonwasworkingonWeirofHermiston,
atoncearomantichistoricalnovelandanemotionalreworkingofone
ofStevenson’sownmostdistressingexperiences,theconflictbetween
fatherandson.
completedaPh.D.onGothicfictionandVictorian
medico-legalscienceattheUniversityofWales,andthenspentthree
yearsasapost-doctoralfellowatMertonCollege,UniversityofOxford.
InhebecametheeditorofPenguinClassics,andnowworksin
Londonasaconsultant.HispublicationsincludeaneditionofOscar
Wilde’s poems for Everyman Paperbacks, and a study of Victorian
GothicfictionforOxfordUniversityPress().Hehasalsoedited
Oscar Wilde’sThe Pictureof Dorian Grayfor PenguinClassics. He isa
FellowoftheRoyalSocietyofArts.
Editedby
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This edition first published in Penguin Classics,2002
First edition electronic:2002
Introduction,‘Diagno sing Jekyll...’ and Notes copyright © Robert Mighall, 2002
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xliii
StrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde
TheBodySnatcher
Olalla
AChapteronDreams(abridged)
DiagnosingJekyll:theScientificContexttoDrJekyll’s
ExperimentandMrHyde’sEmbodiment
ByRobertMighall
ThankstotheBritishLibrary,theRadcliffeScienceLibrary,Oxford,
the London Library and to Tower Hamlets Local Studies Library.
Many thanks to Neil Rennie, Matthew Sweet, James Morton and
SimonBradleyforhelpwithvariousqueries.ThankstoMyrnaBlum-
berg,andtoLauraBarber,mywonderfuleditor.
Born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson (he would later adopt
theFrenchform‘Louis’)onNovember,inEdinburgh.
HisfatherThomascamefromalonglineofengineers(famous
in Scotland for their lighthouses), and his mother Margaret
IsabellaBalfourwasfromafamilyoflawyers.
MovestoHeriotRowinEdinburgh’sNewTowndistrict.
Enrols at Edinburgh University to follow in the family tradi-
tion and study engineering, but soon abandons this to study
law.
Passes ‘advocate’ and is called to the Scottish Bar, but never
practises.
Starts publishing in magazines, his early works are mostly
travelpiecesdrawingonhisexperiencesinvariouscountries.
Meets Fanny Osbourne, an American of thirty-six who was
separatedfromherhusband.
AnInlandVoyagepublished,anaccountofajourneybycanoe
innorthernFrance.
Travelswith aDonkeyin theCevennesispublished recountinghis
adventuresinsouthernFrance.
JoinsFannyinCalifornia,anaccountofwhichhelaterpub-
lishedasTheAmateurEmigrant().
MarriesFanny.
VirginiaPuerisque(essays)published.
NewArabianNights,acollectionofshortstoriespublished.
TheSilveradoSquatterspublished,whichrecountshishoneymoon
in a Californian silver mine. Treasure Island, one of the most
vii
chronology
famous children’s adventure stories, is also published, which
startstoestablishhisreputationasawriter.
Moves to Bournemouth, to a house which they re-name
‘Skerrymore’inhonourofoneofStevenson’sancestor’slight-
houses.‘TheBodySnatcher’publishedatChristmas.
Prince Otto and The Dynamiter published. ‘Olalla’ published at
Christmas.
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde published in January,
originallyintendedforChristmas,butwithdrawnowing
to a rather full market. First editions of this novel retain the
date on the title page. This was the work that made
Stevenson’sreputation.Kidnappedpublished.
The Merry Men and Other Fables published. Death of Thomas
Stevenson.
TheStevensons’firsttriptotheSouthSeas.(TheWhitechapel
MurderstakeplaceinEastLondonwhileastageversionofDr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde is playing on the London stage. It is with-
drawnoutofpublicdelicacy.)
TheMasterofBallantraepublished.TheWrongBox,writtenwith
hisstepsonLloydOsbourne,published.SettlesintheSamoan
Islands.
‘TheBeachofFalsea’published.
IslandNights’EntertainmentsandCatriona(thesequeltoKidnapped)
published.
TheEbb-Tidepublished.DiesinSamoainDecemberoftuber-
culosis.
TheunfinishedWeirofHermistonpublished.
DeathofFannyStevenson.
viii
RobertLouisStevenson’sStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde()is
oneofthemostfamousworksofhorrorfictionofalltime.LikeMary
Shelley’sFrankenstein()andBramStoker’sDracula(),Jekylland
Hyde, or at least a version of its central idea, resides in the collective
consciousness. It has been the subject of many films, featured in
countless sketches, cartoons and parodies, and the term ‘Jekyll-and-
Hydepersonality’hasenteredourlanguage,describingsomeonewho
livesadouble-lifeofoutwardsanctityandsecretiniquity.Ifthepopular
press discovers that the latest serial killer, homicidal maniac or even
petty fraudster did not spend all his daylight hours pursuing these
activities, and occasionally acted like his neighbours, chances are it
willsuggestthatXisdisplaying‘Jekyll-and-Hyde’tendencies,auseful
shorthandforsensationalistreportage,andperhapsawayofmaking
usscrutinizeourneighboursmoreclosely.ItistestimonytoStevenson’s
inventivenessasawriterthathiscreationhasthisindependentexist-
enceoverahundredyearsafterhistalewasfirstpublished.Andyet,
despite this almost universal familiarity with the idea of Jekyll and
Hyde,itisalsotruethatStevenson’sstoryismoreknownaboutthan
actuallyknown,andthatmanyofthosewhobelievetheyknowwhat
it is about, have not actually read the hundred pages that comprise
the tale. They would find there something different from what they
imagined:amorecomplex,rewarding anddisturbingstorythanthe
versionthathasbeenhandeddowninpopularculturalform.Those
who are about to read the Strange Case and the other tales collected
here for the first time, would do best to return to this Introduction
after they have read them, as it is necessary to reveal specific plot
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