The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is Robert Louis Stevenson's famous exploration of humanity's basest capacity for evil, and has become synonymous with the idea of a split personality.
Reading & Writing Workshop: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
By Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)
Full text at Project Gutenberg
Overview
This workshop explores Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as a psychological and moral allegory about human duality, repression, and scientific ethics. Students analyze Stevenson’s gothic style, tone, and characterization while developing AP Literature reading and writing skills through structured essay practice.
Session 1: The Mystery of Duality – Close Reading & Annotation
Objective: Practice AP Lit annotation by analyzing Stevenson’s use of description, mood, and narrative ambiguity.
Excerpt (Document 1):
“Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable.”
— Chapter 1, Story of the Door
Project Gutenberg
Activities:
Objective: Identify how Stevenson uses setting and imagery to examine the boundaries between morality and science.
Excerpt (Document 2):
“It was a fine dry night; frost in the air; the streets as clean as a ballroom floor; the lamps, unshaken by any wind, drawing a regular pattern of light and shadow.”
— Chapter 4, The Carew Murder Case
Project Gutenberg
Activities:
Objective: Write a full FRQ 2-style prose analysis essay focusing on tone, imagery, and symbolism.
Excerpt (Document 3):
“He put the glass to his lips and drank at one gulp. A cry followed; he reeled, staggered, clutched at the table, and held on, staring with injected eyes, gasping with open mouth; and as I looked there came, I thought, a change.”
— Chapter 9, Dr. Lanyon’s Narrative
Project Gutenberg
Activities:
Objective: Connect Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to other works exploring the duality of human nature and moral corruption.
Comparative Excerpts (Documents 4 & 5):
Objective: Strengthen analytical writing by focusing on sophistication and depth.
Activities:
Objective: Apply all analytical skills in a 45-minute timed FRQ 2 simulation.
Excerpt (Document 6):
“I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse.”
— Chapter 10, Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case
Project Gutenberg
Activities:
Deliverables
By Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)
Full text at Project Gutenberg
Overview
This workshop explores Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as a psychological and moral allegory about human duality, repression, and scientific ethics. Students analyze Stevenson’s gothic style, tone, and characterization while developing AP Literature reading and writing skills through structured essay practice.
Session 1: The Mystery of Duality – Close Reading & Annotation
Objective: Practice AP Lit annotation by analyzing Stevenson’s use of description, mood, and narrative ambiguity.
Excerpt (Document 1):
“Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable.”
— Chapter 1, Story of the Door
Project Gutenberg
Activities:
- Annotate diction and syntax that reveal both personality and tone.
- Discuss: How does Stevenson’s description of Utterson establish the novel’s moral atmosphere?
- Quickwrite: How does Stevenson’s prose style foreshadow the theme of duality?
Objective: Identify how Stevenson uses setting and imagery to examine the boundaries between morality and science.
Excerpt (Document 2):
“It was a fine dry night; frost in the air; the streets as clean as a ballroom floor; the lamps, unshaken by any wind, drawing a regular pattern of light and shadow.”
— Chapter 4, The Carew Murder Case
Project Gutenberg
Activities:
- Discuss: How do contrasts between light and dark, clean and corrupted, reflect moral duality?
- Track motifs: doors, mirrors, fog, and transformation.
- Analytical Paragraph: Explain how Stevenson uses setting to mirror internal conflict.
Objective: Write a full FRQ 2-style prose analysis essay focusing on tone, imagery, and symbolism.
Excerpt (Document 3):
“He put the glass to his lips and drank at one gulp. A cry followed; he reeled, staggered, clutched at the table, and held on, staring with injected eyes, gasping with open mouth; and as I looked there came, I thought, a change.”
— Chapter 9, Dr. Lanyon’s Narrative
Project Gutenberg
Activities:
- Analyze Stevenson’s syntax and sensory imagery.
- Model FRQ 2 outline: thesis → evidence → commentary.
- Writing Task: Write a prose analysis essay explaining how Stevenson uses vivid description and tone to portray the horror of transformation.
Objective: Connect Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to other works exploring the duality of human nature and moral corruption.
Comparative Excerpts (Documents 4 & 5):
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth:
“Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires.”
Project Gutenberg - Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray:
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”
Project Gutenberg
- Comparative chart: Stevenson | Shakespeare | Wilde → desire, morality, and self-deception.
- Discussion: Is Hyde an external monster or an honest reflection of Jekyll?
- Writing Task (FRQ 3): Compare how Stevenson and another author use moral duality to explore the nature of evil.
Objective: Strengthen analytical writing by focusing on sophistication and depth.
Activities:
- Mini-lesson: Turning literal interpretation into thematic insight.
- Peer review using AP rubric (thesis, evidence, commentary, sophistication).
- Writing Task: Revise either the FRQ 2 or FRQ 3 essay for clarity, syntax, and layered analysis.
Objective: Apply all analytical skills in a 45-minute timed FRQ 2 simulation.
Excerpt (Document 6):
“I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse.”
— Chapter 10, Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case
Project Gutenberg
Activities:
- Timed prose analysis essay.
- Self-score using AP rubric and discuss improvements.
- Reflection: How does Stevenson’s narrative style make moral transformation both terrifying and inevitable?
Deliverables
- Annotated excerpts
- One analytical paragraph (motif or theme)
- One FRQ 2 prose analysis essay (Transformation Scene)
- One FRQ 3 comparative essay (Moral Duality)
- Peer-reviewed and revised essay
- One timed practice essay