Abstract: Robert Louis Stevenson(1850-1894) was a great author who was the founder and outstanding representative of new romanticism in the late 19th century. His work, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, drew a lot of attention of critics because of its profound theme. Henry James believed that this work was “full of philosophical meaning”. In this novel, Dr. Jekyll is totally a gentleman at least in the eyes of others, at the same time, he is the demon, Mr. Hyde. This paper compares the evil to “black”, the good to “white” and mainly talks about the “gray zone” between “black” and “white” combined with Victorian morality, and attempts to have dialectical view of good and evil.   

Key words: Robert Louis Stevenson; The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; good and evil; Victorian era; morality

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 About Robert Louis Stevenson-1

1.2 About The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-1

1.3 An Overview of the Victorian Era-2

 1.3.1 The History of Victorian Era-2

 1.3.2 London in Victorian Era-3

2. Good and Evil in the Victorian Era-4

2.1 The Definition of Good and Social Phenomena-4

2.2 The Definition of Evil and Social Phenomena-5

3. The Duality of Good and Evil in the Novel-6

3.1 The Good Reflected by Dr. Jekyll-7

 3.1.1 The Implication of Jekyll ’s Name-7

 3.1.2 The Essential Goodness of Dr. Jekyll-7

 3.1.3 Dr. Jekyll’s impurity of goodness-9

3.2 The Evil Reflected by Mr. Hyde-11

 3.2.1 The Implication of Hyde’s Name-12

 3.2.2 Mr. Hyde’s Evil Nature-12

 3.2.3 Mr. Hyde’s End: Going to Ruin-13

3.3 The Symbiosis of Good and Evil-14

 3.3.1 Good and Evil Integration-15

 3.3.2 Contradictory Stevenson-16

4. Conclusion-17

References-19