PLOT

Dr. Jekyll is a scientist who, to improve humanity, wants to create a potion that can separate the double nature
of man's soul. It is the same drug that releases Mr. Hyde and restores Jekyll. With time, he becomes addicted and
the evil side of him, Hyde, becomes stronger and stronger, so the man becomes a criminal and will commit
several crimes. His double evil Hyde will eventually dominate and control Jekyll. So the man has only two
choices: he can choose a life of crime and depravity or eliminate Hyde by killing himself. Stevenson implies that
if man wants to live in a civilized society, he must repress the most instinctive part of himself. An important
character in the story is Mr. Utterson, Jekyll's best friend, who is also a lawyer, and he will investigate into this
story. He realizes that there is a strong connection about a girl’s murder made by Mr Hyde with Jekyll from several
clues, but he will only discover the truth after Jekyll's death, reading two letters left by him.

LITERARY GENRE
This novel doesn't belong to a clear literary genre, but shows elements of different traditions.
1. The Gothic novel: the most important events happen at night or in the earlier hours of day , in a dark
atmosphere. There's a typical labyrinthine setting: the London described by Stevenson is like a labyrinth
and dr Jekyll's house is isolated. Mystery, horror and terror are other important elements.
2. The Detective story: Mr Utterson is like a detective who collects evidence and makes hypotheses. At the end
of the story, by putting together the various clues, he finds a rational explanation. Other typical elements of the
crime story are: the title ("case"), the setting (a foggy, badly-lit London), and the plot (some mysterious events
are solved by rational inquiry).
3. We have also typical elements of Decadentism: some typical elements are: the solitary protagonist, his strange
and perverse interests, his tendency to a minute self-analysis which leads him to an inability to act (like
Hamlet!), The unexpressed moral position of the author (although the story deals with moral issues).
4. Realistic novel

PSYCHOLOGICAL NOVEL
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a psychological novel where the main theme is the theme of the double, strongly related
to the moral dichotomy between good and evil present in Victorian society. The "double protagonist" embodies the
hypocrisy of the Victorian compromise and the double in the society : indeed we have a rich class and poor
people, that is the exploited working class.
We have social differences , ranks, such as the gentleman who is perfect on the outside but troubled in this
inside, who hides a lot of secrets.
Women are related to the home space, as mothers, while they would like to stay outside their houses. They have to
respect a very strict moral code.
In this case Dr Jekyll is a respectable gentleman, but he hides inside himself an evil part (Mr Hyde) which at
the end will prevail. So the novel is also a critique to the strict Victorian morality and hypocrisy. The double, or
doppelgänger, is a second self, who is a distinct and separate being, but who is also dependent on the original. There
are a lot of details in the novel related to the theme of the double, for example: When Jekyll turns into Hyde he
undergoes also physical changes: Jekyll is tall and slim, while Hyde is small, deformed and ugly. Even the
house is double , Jekyll’s house has two entrances: the front door (clean, respectable) and the back door (small
and dirty, where Hyde goes out from). The novel is set in London but it's full of references to Stevenson's
hometown: Edinburgh. Edinburgh is a "double town", divided into an old, medieval town full of narrow streets
and dark passages, and a new town, with large streets and respectable big and white buildings.
We can find the theme of the double also in Pirandello, who speak about the multiple masks that each person
possesses. Another aspect we find in Pirandello is the troubled inner world of apparently perfect characters.
Mr. Hyde is always stronger than Dr. Jekyll so the solution is the suicide, while in Pirandello the solution is to kill
the other identity.

Autobiographical element: Stevenson has a double life: he went against Calvinists who believed in the idea of
predestination: they believed that everything is organized by God, they wanted to appear as poor people to be
saved by God because only poor people were elected to go in Paradise. Stevenson went against Calvinists
because people wanted to appear in a way that wasn’t the reality. The double identity depends on calvinism
influence.

THE MEANING
The author doesn't clearly express any moral message, but deals with different issues.
• The individual and "forbidden knowledge": like dr Faustus and Frankenstein, also Jekyll wants to go human
limits but is inevitably punished at the end.
• The dramatic conflict of human nature: man is divided in two parts (a good one and an evil one, a higher and a
lower, one spiritual, the other physical). These contrasts can lead to sin, which is often dangerous.
• A study on human personality and psychology: the story shows that repression of a part of man's personality
(the instinctive part) only increases its force and leads to the destruction of the personality. The author doesn't
offer a moral solution (Jekyll suffers both when he represses his instincts and when be liberates them), but shows
a new awareness of the human mind: the human mind is not a single, well defined block, but is made up of
multiple, often contrasting pieces. This vision anticipates the age of psychoanalysis.
• A satire on contemporary morality: Dr Jekyll reflects the duplicitous atmosphere of Victorian society.

—We can consider Mr Hyde a ‘Victorian Dr Faustus’.

—We can compare Mr. Hyde to Frankenstein, as they both the works originated from a dream. We can compare the
monster of Mr Hyde and Frankenstein. Mr Hyde has always been bad , while Frankenstein was good at the
beginning but no-one wanted stay with him, so he changed his attitude because of society.

—This dark mysterious is also find in Jane Eyre. Berta commits suicide, and she could represent the dark side
of Mr. Rochester.
—We can also compare Dr. Jekyll to Frankestain : they both used their knowledge to create a monster, bad use of
knowledge that should led to salvation

—Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are influenced by Darwinism: we have evolution of species: Mr. Hyde represent the
primitive man , instead Dr. Jekyll the evolute man

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GREY

The main character of the novel is Dorian Gray, a very handsome young man, who has his picture painted by an
artist called Basil Hallward. Basil introduces Dorian to his best friend, Lord Henry Wotton and they become very
good friends. The meeting between Dorian and Lord Wotton will change Dorian's life. When Dorian sees his
picture he wishes it could grow old instead of him and that he could remain young forever. Dorian is Lord
Kelso's grandson. He inherited his beauty from his mother, Margaret Devereaux. A month later, Dorian confesses to
Henry he has fallen in love with a young actress named Sibyl Vane. Through a telegram Dorian announces his
friends he is engaged to Sibyl. She has a brother, James, who leaves for Australia and who swears that if
"Prince Char ming", as Sibyl calls Dorian, betrays her, he will kill him. Basil and Henry decide to meet
Dorian's future wife. Due to the excitement of the future wedding, Sibyl plays badly and Dorian tell her that she
has disappointed him and that she has killed his love with her lousy acting. When Dorian Gray comes home he
notices a change in his picture and remembers the request made in Basil's studio. The next day he receives a letter
from Harry but he doesn't read it. He thinks of writing Sibyl a letter to reconcile with her, without knowing she
had killed herself. Basil pays him a visit but he doesn't allow him to see the painting. Then she confesses Dorian he
loves him but he doesn't say anything. He moves the painting in an inhabited room. Harry sends him the novel "A
Rebours" by Huysman, which will influence his life from now on. He has a double life, through the lowest
slums of London, destroying everything in his way. On the other hand, he collects jewelers, embroideries. The day
he turns 38 years old, he kills Basil after previously he has shown him the picture and he does everything to hide
the traces of his killing, with the help of Alan Campbell. James Vane wants to kill him but he realizes he can't
do that because Dorian is too young to have killed his sister 18 years ago. A woman tell him Dorian is guilty but
he can't grow old. Sir Geoffrey, one of his friends, kills James by mistake. When Dorian meets Hetty Merton he
decides to become a good man. He watches the picture again, hoping it has changed, but it had become repellent.
He takes the knife he had killed Basil with and kills himself. They find an old man, lying on the floor, who they
recognize as Dorian Gray only after his rings. Instead the picture had never been more beautiful.

BACKGROUND AND THEMES

The Picture of Dorian Gray is often described as a melodrama – a work in which everything is larger than life. It
is more like a myth or a morality tale than the realist novels which readers are accustomed to nowadays. It contains
so much dialogue that it is almost as if it is a written version of a stage play. This is not surprising because Wilde
continued to write a series of very successful plays in the three years following its publication, including his
masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest.

Faust: The theme of The Picture of Dorian Gray is a recurring one in European culture, most famously expounded
in Faust. In the story of Faust, the devil tempts a man to sell his soul in exchange for all the things he desires.
The result is disaster and the lesson is that a man’s soul is more valuable than anything he could possibly gain
in the material world. In Oscar Wilde’s version, Lord Henry represents the devil figure and Dorian Gray is
Faust.

Morality: The portrait symbolizes Dorian’s soul or morality. Lord Henry tempts Dorian to indulge in an
immoral lifestyle, ignoring the feelings of the people he seduces and then rejects. Dorian thinks that he can
escape from the consequences of his immoral life because the portrait takes the blame for him. But he goes
too far by killing his old friend Basil Hallward and then suffers from guilt. Wilde is showing us that nobody can
escape the moral consequences of their actions.

Undercurrent of sexuality: To this familiar moral fable, Wilde adds the extra ingredient of sexual scandal.
Although the novel never actually describes it, the reader is aware that there is an undercurrent of sexuality in many
of the relationships. Apart from the story of Sibyl Vane, we do not know exactly what Dorian does that is so
‘immoral’, as in Victorian England it was impossible for a writer to be honest about sexual matters. At the end,
good triumphs over evil when Dorian kills himself. This is the type of moral ending that was expected in 19th
century literature. Wit and humour: The Picture of Dorian Gray is not simply a moral fable. It is full of Oscar
Wilde’s unique wit and humour. The dialogue is full of examples of Wilde’s epigrams, those short witty
sayings which have now become part of the English language . A man cannot be too careful in choosing his
Wilde’s own conversation was full of this wit, and it gives the novel an extra dimension which most Victorian
stories lack.

The theme of double: Perhaps the most evident example of duality in Wilde’s novel is the struggle between
good and evil in Dorian that is represented through the youth of his body and the ugliness of his painting. Dorian
himself is supposed to be good and the painting of Dorian is supposed to be evil. The reader finds out that both
Dorian and the painting are both good and evil. The only way to make this conflict finished is suicide.

Why we can compare dottor Jekyll to Dorian Gray?

because they both like being bad without paying consequences so they search a way to do that by creating a new
identity.
And then bc there is a critic to victorian Age, bc this new identity represents ipocrisy in this period

With this suicide we have the re-birth of what? - Art survives above everything
Theme of novel: suicide as a solution for the struggle of man. It means the destruction of evil. Dorian Gray
committed suicide because he realized that his wish was wrong

Idea of art and beauty: he didn’t love the actress but her talent, her way to make art , in fact when she decides to
give up to her career he left her. Her talent is the symbol of cult of art

Idea of aestheticism in Decadentism : artists created a new world to escape from reality that gives new emotions
and sensations , they wanted a break with life

What is the element that allows people to survive? What is the main principio of aestheticism? - The
beauty of art, art that survives above everything and it is the only way to escape from reality and make life better.

Motto of this movement: “ART FOR ART SAKE” that means they don’t want to teach anything but want to
preserve the beauty of arts, the only aim of art is to create something beautiful

Difference between physical beauty and spiritual beauty:

Physical beauty is the beauty we can see (for example in pieces of art) and we fell a strong emotion and sensation
that is Spiritual beauty

Aim of the poet and writer of decadentism and main representative:

D’Annunzio and the superman
Pascoli and the child in everyone
In art: Rossetti

In “Il piacere” what does D’Annunzio says about life and superman?

- Superman better than others wants to reach beauty, superman have to give the possibility to restore the ancient
power of Roman Empire and he is the only one who can see the real truth in life.

- We can compare Dorian Grey to Dr. Faustus because both want to overcome their limits and they are
punished

JANE EYRE
PLOT
Jane Eyre is a poor orphan girl, brought up by her cruel aunt. Her rebellious behavior leads to her being sent to an
institution for orphans, where she survives the rigors of a harsh discipline and gets an education. Eventually, she becomes a
teacher at the same school, but some time later she becomes the governess of Adele, the illegitimate daughter of Mr
Rochester. Jane is not a beautiful girl, but her intelligence and wit charm make Rochester fall in love with her. The two
arrange to marry but one day before wedding Jane discovers that Rochester is already married. His mad wife Bertha
Mason is held prisoner in a room at the top of the house. Despite Rochester’s confession, Jane runs away from
Rochester’s home. She is cared by the Reverend St John Rivers and his two sisters. Jane is about to marry him when one
night she hears Rochester’s voice calling her name. She feels the compulsion to return to Rochester’s house. She finds
that the house has been burnt on the ground by Bertha, who died in the fire. Rochester is alive but blinded in his
unsuccessful attempt to save the life of his wife. Jane marries Rochester and at the end of the story we learn that Jane has
been married with Rochester for 10 years and that her husband has regained his sight.
GOTHIC AND ROMANTIC ELEMENTS
Jane’s journey to poverty, hardship and emotional isolation to the condition of a happily-married woman touches on themes of
horror, madness, passion and dreams are typical of Gothic genre. The setting is Gothic: Thornfield Hall is an old mansion
which hides the dark secret of Rochester’s past. Gothic is also represented by supernatural situations, such as the
communication between Jane and Rochester when she hears his voice across the wild heaths from miles away.
As Dickens talks about the problem of Victorian education, Bronte talks about the problems of the society: children
weren’t allowed to feel any emotion.It’s also a social novel with a strong and overt critique of the role of the women in
Victorian society because is criticized the role of woman, considered inferior, and the education. Being poor, Jane must
struggle to have an education and she must endure the hardships of the victorian school system.
The novel is very clear on the fact that it is only through education that a woman who is poor can live in a dignified way.
Jane, as a working woman, must accept the humiliations of a society rigidly divided into classes. But after she succeeds in
asserting herself without losing her dignity and autonomy. Her belief in the primary importance of intellectual fulfillment and
independence of women challenges the Victorian prejudices against them. In fact she didn’t have any man because she was
looking for a relationship based on love, with a man that she would not be submitted to.
— Also in Pride and Prejudice there is the theme of marriage: Elizebeth was strong and independent as Jane. Elizabeth
does not care about Darcy’s wealth and ‘dares’ to reject a marriage proposal that every woman in her condition would have
accepted simply because she would never accept a marriage not based on love. By doing so Elizabeth declares that
independence and love are the two most important values of her life.
— Rochester and Jane are Romantic heroes. Rochester is a kind of byronic hero, cynical and mysterious man, arrogant
but intelligent and cultured, with strong sense of guilt caused by his mysterious past. Jane is a passionate individual, a
strong and independent woman and also a complex one. On one hand, Jane defends her independence; on the other, she
refuses to become Rochester’s mistress after she discovers she cannot marry him. In this case, Jane’s principles are
rigidly Victorian.
‘Jane Eyre’ is a realistic novel because of the description of the life of Jane Eyre, social novel because of the critics to the
system, romantic novel for love and marriage, novel of manners because of marriage and gothic novel because of the dark
and misteriosa settings and also the hero, who is a dark, strong man with double life (Rochester).
INNER CONFLICT: there is a inner conflict due to moral code between beauty and desire , so the physical attraction and the
fact that he was married
THE IDEA OF MARRIAGE: Elizabeth does not care about Darcy’s wealth and ‘dares’ to reject a marriage proposal that
every woman in her condition would have accepted simply because she would accept a marriage based on love and not on the
submission of woman to man.
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ELEMENT: is the theme of independence of women because Bronte’s sisters were
supporters of feminism movement . In fact they had to change their name to see their books.
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN CHARACTERS:
Elizabeth and Jayne: clever, intelligent, looking for real love, independent.
Darcy and Rochester: they are byronic heroes
Rochester is mysterious
Darcy is cinic, he has a double life
Both are able to love but have a lot of secrets
SETTING JAYNE EYRE:
GATES HEAD: her home, symbol of her unhappines compared to Gate way, the place where she wanted to live
LOW WOOD: dark like a wood, bc of the dark atmosphere (it is called LOW bc her life inside of this place was horrible
TORN FIELD: it’s the house of Rochester, here happens strange things, place where the ghost appear to tell the truth
FENDING: happiness, final house where she lives with her husband