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What Is One Dream In Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

Decent Essays

One Can Only Dream Edinburgh, a place that literary genius, Robert Louis Stevenson, called his home. There were many things that happened in the Scotland city that influenced Stevenson to write one of his best works, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A lifetime of scattered events all played roles in the forming classic novella (Stefan 212). Stevenson was a single child who was much adored by his parents, Thomas Stevenson and Margaret Balfour. Stevenson’s mother had a respiratory disease which was also inherited by her son. The family hired a private nurse to assist them. The nurse, Allison Cunningham, would often read to Robert in the morning during his unpleasant coughing spells. Many of the stories Cunningham read were about hell and damnation. These frightening tales would cause Robert to have numerous nightmares (Stefan 215). The nightmares tormented Robert into his adulthood. Stevenson claims that the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde came to him in a dream. While Stevenson was severely sick with a fever following a lung hemorrhage, the doctor prescribed him many drugs. These drugs might have aided …show more content…

Jekyll and his alter ego, the devious Mr. Hyde, are proof of Stevenson’s obsession with the multiple identities of man. The occurrence of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is as well suited to the nineteenth century England as Brodie William’s tale in the eighteenth century. In 1879, almost exactly a century after Brodie Williams, a similar incidence happened. Charlie Peace, who was a proper violin player, owned many pets, was a regular attendee of his church, and was outspoken with the policies of the Turkish government, was also caught living a double life. He was well admired in his community. Peace was caught stealing from houses, and later confess to murdering two different people, one of them years before. Charlie Peace was also hanged for his crime, and now his violin is a popular display in a museum (“Dr. Jekyll”

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