Hardcore Literature Ep 88 - Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson)
Dec 7, 2025
Dive into the eerie world of Jekyll and Hyde as the narrator unveils Stevenson's tumultuous writing journey and cultural fears of the Victorian era. Explore the chilling elements that terrified readers, from societal anxieties to the haunting symbolism of names. Discover the unsettling reality behind Utterson's investigation and Hyde's grotesque nature. The discussion navigates the dangerous allure of duality, addiction, and the moral consequences of splitting one's self, culminating in a cautionary tale about the eternal battle of good and evil.
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The Burned Draft That Became A Hit
- Robert Louis Stevenson rewrote Jekyll and Hyde after his wife burned the first draft and completed the new manuscript in a three-day cocaine-fuelled frenzy.
- The finished novella rescued his family from debt and became his smash hit.
The Monster Is Inside Us
- The central terror of the novella is that "the monster is man": evil resides within ordinary people.
- Stevenson forces readers to confront the split between civility and base impulses inside every human heart.
Ripper Panic Sidelined The Play
- The public panic over Jack the Ripper led to the Jekyll and Hyde stage adaptation being pulled amid paranoid links between actors and the killer.
- Newspapers sold unprecedentedly well as fear and sensationalism fed one another in 1888.