ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

life
R.L Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850, son of a successful engineer. He went to
Edinburgh university studying engineering and law. He preferred literature and in 1875 he
decided to become a writer. He rebelled against his father’s Calvinism and led a Bohemian
life in his city. In 1873 he went to the French Riviera to recover from respiratory illness. In
1879 he moved to California and married Frances Osbourne in 1880.
His first adventure novel: Treasure Island, which is a pirate story, had immediate fame in
1883. This increased with the publication of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a
short novel. The interest in the ethical problems raised by the great progress of science in
the Victorian age is visible in the novel. Stevenson is considered the heir of Walter Scott.
Partly for Health reasons he sailed with a yacht for south pacific, and died in 1894.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Stevenson’s novel deals with the ethical problems raised by great progress of science. The
story of Dr Jekyll and his evil part Mr Hyde.Mr Hyde is a fascinating treatment of the “Double
personality” theme: the fact that a respectable figure like Jekyll leads a double life strikes at
the core of the victorian compromise. The novel presents a conflict: the attempt to separate
good and evil by means of science. The novel also demonstrates a new awareness of the
human mind, that is made up of different and contrasting incoherent pieces.
realism and symbolism:
The novel’s basic conflict is taken from Hyde’s letter before he commits suicide, that seems
like a spiritual will to the world, so that averybody can understand how complex man being
are. This complexity is presented to the reader through a combination of realism and
symbolism. Jekyll realises that his evil side is becoming stronger, Hyde is growing in stature
and also on a moral level evil is triumphing over good.
As in traditional thrillers, the trends that make up the story are pulled together at the end by
one character, in this case two: Dr. Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll. Other elements from crime stories:
- The title → “case”
- The setting → foggy london, most of the scenes take places at night
- The scattered clues that may lead to the solution of the story
Stevenson was a craftsman, and the novel has three narrators: the third person narrator, but
non omniscient, Dr Lanyon who writes his version of the story, and Dr Jekyll, whose
confessions take up the last chapter of the book.

THOMAS HARDY
Born in 1840 in Dorchester. The rural part of Dorset county inspired his fiction, Hardy
reviewed the term “Wessex” for it, which means land of the West Saxons. The central theme
of his novels is love, but a constant in his novels is man’s struggle with the impersonal
forces, both inside and outside oneself, that control life: an event or action in a pearson’s live
sets in motion a big serie of other events that trap the man in an implacable mechanism.
Hardy’s pessimism:
In 1860 the impression of The Origin of Species was fresh, but Hardy is more primordial: the
forces on man are natural, not social. Hardy rejects any belief in providential universe, and
adopted the idea of an “Immanent Will” from Arthur Schopenauer, an universal power
indifferent or hostile to the human beings.
TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES
The story, as in others Hardy’s novels, is a combination of imagination, autobiographical
events and real facts (but romanticized). The story was subtitled “A pure woman” because
he wanted to stress his disagreement with Victorian morality. In Hardy’s vision, Tess was
an innocent young girl, but her parents sold her for economic reasons, and the two men in
her life (Alec D’urbervilles and Angel Clare) are the representation of the stereotypes against
women in that time society.
Also if Hardy doesn’t write as a realist writer, Tess provides accurate portrayals of rural life.
The plot relies a lot on improbable events or exaggerated actions. The story is told by an
omniscient, third person narrator. The novel is divided into two parts that correspond to the
phases of Tess’ life.

OSCAR WILDE
Oscar Wilde was an Irish playwright, novelist, and poet who lived from 1854 to 1900. He is
best known for his wit, aestheticism, and flamboyant personality. Wilde attended Oxford
University, where he became interested in aestheticism, a movement that emphasized
beauty and art for art's sake. Later he became the leader of the aesthetic movement.
Oscar Wilde's early works include the novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1890). In his early
writings, Wilde's style was characterized by a focus on aestheticism, decadence, and the
pursuit of beauty for its own sake. He was also known for his wit and his use of paradoxical
statements. Oscar Wilde's final years were marked by personal and professional difficulties.
After his release from prison for homosexuality in 1897, he lived in exile in France and wrote
very little. However, in 1898 he wrote a long philosophical letter titled "De Profundis".

Oscar Wilde is often considered the epitome of a dandy - a man who cultivated an
extravagant and refined lifestyle, dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure, beauty, and style.
Wilde's public persona, with his trademark aesthetic clothing, wit, and love of art and
literature, embodied the dandy ideal.

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

In "The Picture of Dorian Gray," Oscar Wilde explores the aesthetic doctrine, which
emphasizes the importance of beauty, art, and pleasure in life. The novel's protagonist,
Dorian Gray, becomes obsessed with beauty and youth and wishes to remain young and
beautiful forever. His wish is granted when a portrait of him ages instead of him, allowing him
to pursue pleasure without consequence. The Preface to Dorian Gray contains some of
Wilde’s most famous statements and aphorisms.
Mystery story
Dorian Gray also contains an element of mystery that is essential to its success: the end of
the story is in line with classic horror and crime stories (Dr. Jekyll).
If read at face value, the novel seem to have no moral bases, as Wilde says in the Preface,
but it seems to suggest that there is a price to pay to have a life of pleasure; this is not
exposed in the novel, but in the work De Profundis, written later in prison.