Writing Prompts for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

1. Stevenson had a dream, from which he awoke and wrote J & H in three days. His wife was underwhelmed and told him that he should consider writing it as an allegory (see definition in your course readings). He tossed the manuscripts into the fire (oh, that makes me cringe), and re-wrote J & H as an allegory. Carefully reading J & H will uncover multiple levels of meaning: science and scientist out of control, a reflection on human nature, and/or the duality of man, science as good--helping to find the bad guy, etc. Journal what allegorical meanings you see and use examples from the text.


2. In this Gothic fiction, it seems that Mr. Utterson serves as a detective-type figure. Do you see any evidence that J & H is a precursor to the “detective novel” genre? (Technically, the genre began with the Sherlock Holmes novel in 1887.) Be sure to pull examples from the text to support your answer.

3. How does Stevenson anticipate Freud? In what ways do you see J & H as a perfect study for psychoanalysis?

4. One aspect of Gothic fiction is the Gothic castle setting. Stevenson doesn’t use a castle, but he uses other settings about London to create the same terror inspiring feeling (Look at the Literature of Terror vs. Horror below). Look over the narrative and, using examples from the text, explain how Stevenson built another aspect upon the Gothic setting: think of the city of London, think of the House, the door, the courtyard, think of the laboratory. Blog your thoughts with examples from text.

5. In the beginning, Mr. Utterson states “I incline to Cain’s heresy,” and “I let my brother go to the devil in his own way” (61). Earlier, the limited omniscient narrator states that Utterson sometimes wondered “almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in [others’] misdeeds.” So, Mr. Utterson is a unique character and, as you probably noticed, most of the story is through his p.o.v—even though it is omniscient. Knowing that, do you think that perhaps the portrayal of events would have been different had, say, through Mr. Enfield narrated? or even another character. Blog your thoughts.