Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)
Things to Consider:
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Duality of Human Existence
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Victorian Morality
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Conditions in Urban London
Discussion Questions (See link to more complex Q's 
):
1937:
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How did Stevenson's Calvinist background "[color] his theory of literature"
(1937)?
1938:
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How did Stevenson's view of fiction differ from Henry James's?
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How does Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde compare with Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein
(see also 1944)?
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Explain: "Morality and propriety are the true evils for Stevenson"
(1938).
Novel Questions:
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How does the description of setting contribute to the mood of the work
(see, for example, 1940, 1957, 1961)?
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Is Mr. Hyde truly "wholly evil" (1970)? Explain.
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Is it true that "It was Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty"
(1971)? Explain.
1939:
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Who exactly are Utterson and Enfield? How, if at all, are their profession
significant?
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Explain: "It is the mark of a modest man to accept his friendly
circle ready-made from the hands of opportunity" (1939).
1941:
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Why does Enfield conceal the name on the check?
1942:
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Explain the comparison of questions and stones.
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Explain: "He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling
of deformity, although I couldn't specify the point" (1942). (See also
1946, 1966)
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Explain: "Your tale has gone home" (1942).
1943:
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What is the significance of the fact that Utterson, Lanyon, and Jekyll
are all bachelors?
1946:
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How does Utterson respond to his initial meeting with Hyde? Why?
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Why does Utterson call Poole Poole, but Poole calls him Mr. Utterson?
1947:
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Why does Utterson say, "Things cannot continue as they are" (1947)?
Why doesn't he trust Hyde?
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How does Jekyll's will fit in here? (See also 1943)
1949:
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Why does Hyde kill Dr. Carew?
1950:
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Why would even "the most honest" experience "terror of the law" (1950)?
1952:
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How has Jekyll's "character" been "exposed" by Carew's murder?
1953:
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Explain the significance of the similarity in Jekyll's and Hyde's handwriting.
1954:
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How does Hyde's "disappearance" affect Jekyll? Explain.
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Why does Lanyon suddenly look so death-like?
1955:
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Explain: "If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers
also" (1955).
1956:
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Why does Jekyll suddenly get such a horrified look on his face?
1957:
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Why does Utterson say, "God forgive us" (1957)?
1958:
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Why does Poole suspect that Jekyll has been murdered?
1959:
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Why does Utterson remain skeptical?
1961:
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What is the significance of Hyde's clothes being too big? (See also
1966, 1969, 1971)
1963:
Lanyon's Narrative:
1967:
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Why does Hyde ask Lanyon to watch his transformation?
Jekyll's Narrative:
1968:
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What does Jekyll mean by "the perennial war among my members" (1968)?
1969:
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In what ways are Jekyll's discoveries incomplete?
1970:
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Explain Jekyll's "response" to first "encountering" Edward Hyde.
1972:
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Why does Jekyll spontaneously become Hyde?
1973:
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Explain: "While Jekyll would suffer smartingly in the fires of
abstinence, Hyde would be not even conscious of all that he had lost"
(1973).
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Explain the significance of Jekyll's use of 1st person in describing
Hyde's crimes.
1975:
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Explain the significance of Jekyll's use of both 1st and 3rd person
on this page (e.g. "He, I say,—I cannot say, I").
1976:
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Describe the different kinds of hate that Jekyll and Hyde feel for each
other.
1977:
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Explain: "It was that unknown impurity which lent efficacy to
the draught" (1977).