Boekverslag: Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Complete title: The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and other stories
Year of publication:1977
First published: ?
Classification: Several chapters, divided by titles of the forthcoming chapter
Design: cover: A sea
illustrations:none
extra information:
Title explanation: The story is about the transformations of Dr. Jekyll in Mr. Hyde and vice versa.
Device & dedication:none Outline: The book tells the story about Mr. Utterson. He's a lawyer and has a friend, Mr. Enfield, with whom he walks once in a while. Mr Utterson has a client, Mr. Jekyll. In his will, he tells Utterson to leave all his belongings to Hyde, whether he dies of dissapears. At one time, when they are walking, Utterson and Enfield get to a house, which is falling apart. This is the house of Mr. Hyde, so tells Enfield. Mr. Hyde isn't a nice person: if you look at him, you have to dislike him. Why nobody knows, but the fact is there. After this, Mr. Utterson goes to his friend, Mr. Lanyon. They talk about Mr. Hyde, but Mr. Lanyon doesn't know about him. Mr. Utterson gets curious about Hyde and he sits every night at the opposite of the street, trying to see Hyde. When this happens, also Utterson is shocked by his face. After this, Utterson goes to Jekyll's buttler, who tells Hyde has all the keys of the house.
A year later, a man was killed by someone who was recognised as Hyde. After this has happend, an investigation was made to know who Hyde was. It wasn't found out.
Some time after that Jekyll gets ill. Noone is permitted to visit him at first. After a while, Utterson is allowed to get in and he's shocked by the look of Jekyll. The man is almost dead.
A while after this, Utterson and Enfield are on their trip around town. They go to Jekyll, but he only wants to talk with them through the window.
Some time after this, at night, Utterson is disturbed by Poole, Jekylls butler. He tells Utterson Jekyll doesn't want anybody with him and that Jekyll sounds strange. Utterson goes to Jekyll's and hears it to. After this, they force the door to open and they find Mr. Hyde, lying on the ground. Utterson finds a letter from Jekyll, telling him Jekyll has dissapeared.
This is where the normal story ends.
After this, Dr. Lanyon takes over with a letter, written by Jekyll. It tells him to get something out of Jekyll's office and to give it to a man, who will come from him. If Laynon doesn't, Jekyll will die. At night, the man comes. He is dressed in clothes, which are much too big for him. Het drinks a liquid, which is in the drawer. After that he screams, falls on the ground and turns into Jekyll.
After this, Jekyll takes over with telling how it happened: he designed a liquid, which brought up his bad sides in him. After a while, he gets addicted to it and later he can't even control it. This is where the story ends. Description of the main characters:
Names:
Utterson
Dr. Jekyll
Mr. Hyde
Qualities of character:
Utterson:He's a lawyer. He is someone who doesn't get affected by other things: he always stays calm.
Dr. Jekyll:As the name says: he's a docter. He's just a normal person, with his good and bad sides.
Mr. Hyde:This is Mr. Jekyll after he's drunk the draught. He represents the bad and evil in Jekyll. Everybody dislikes him from the first moment on.
Theme:
The difference between the good and bad sides of people.
Motives:
good & bad
affection
supernatural
Description of place and time:
The story is placed somewhere in the ninteenth century, this is shown in the story by: 'in 18..'. Nowhere an exact year is mentioned.
Information about the narration:
Perspective:
The story is, at first, told by someone outside. In the end of the story multiple narrators are telling the story.
Use of language: the story is told in quite normal English.
Judgement:
Of all the stories I've read, I liked this one best. At first, it's not easy to follow the line of the story, but while you get further in the book, it gets easier. The description of the main characters isn't flat, but everybody really has a different personallity. This is a story you keep reading till the end is near. That's then the only less good part of the book: the end. There, the author seems to hurry to get the story finished in time, by telling the whole story in ten pages.
Robert Louis Stevenson (Edinburgh, 13 november 1850 - Vailima (Samoa), 3 december 1894) was een Schots schrijver van romans, gedichten, toneelstukken en reisverhalen.Stevenson werd geboren in het Schotse Edinburgh als zoon van de ingenieur Thomas Stevenson en Margaret Balfour. Zijn ouders waren zeer religieus, maar tijdens zijn jaren op de universiteit liet hij het geloof los, hoewel het wel invloed op hem zou houden. Zijn relatief korte leven was echter vol van ondernemingen en avontuur. Hij begon als ingenieur, evenals zijn vader (deze moderniseerde het ontwerp van de vuurtoren). Vanwege zijn zwakke gezondheid stapte hij over naar een rechtenstudie, maar werd geen praktiserend jurist. Aan het eind van zijn leven was hij plantagehouder en stamleider in Samoa.
Boek informatie
- Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- Nederlands
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