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Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) is one of the greatest of all Scottish writers and the author of many memorable works such as ‘Treasure Island’. Stevenson was born and educated in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. He came from a family of prominent engineers and suffered from ill-health all of his life. Despite suffering from bronchial problems all his life, he was a great traveler and wrote a great many works in a short span of years. While still a young man he began to write novels and short stories most of whom were well-received .<ref> Balfour, Graham, The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson (London, Signet, 1983), pp 17-18</ref>.  Stevenson wrote ‘Treasure Island’ in 1883 and this made him famous. In 1886 he was working on his follow-up. Stevenson had long been obsessed with the conflict in people, between good and evil. For many years he had been seeking to find a story that would allow him to tackle this subject. One day while lying in bed, because of ill-health, he had the idea, after recollecting a dream. Stevenson wrote the ‘Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ in a number of weeks in 1886. Many commentators have claimed that Stevenson was on drugs at the time, such as opium, for his illness .<ref>Balfour, p. 121</ref>. Later the Scottish author wrote ‘Kidnapped’, which was another great success. However, his health declined and he moved to Samoa in the South Pacific for the sake of his health, Stevenson died in 1894, in the South Sea island .<ref>Barbour, p. 2013</ref>.

The novel opens with John Utterson, telling an acquittance of his, the strange story of Dr. Jekyll. A man, Edward Hyde, has run over a child and for some reason, the injured girl’s family were compensated by Dr. Jekyll, a very respected medic. Utterson states that he believes that Hyde is blackmailing the doctor. The following year, Hyde attacks one of Edinburgh’s leading citizens and murders him, in the street. Utterson becomes involved in the case because he is Jekyll’s lawyer and not just his friend.  In the doctor’s house, the murder weapon used by Hyde is discovered. Jekyll claims that Hyde has run away and produces a handwritten note, allegedly written by the wanted man.<ref>Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (London, Penguin, 1991), p. 13</ref>. The doctor who is also an eminent scientist begins to lock himself away in his laboratory. One day, Utterson who has not seen Jekyll for some time and his servants break into the laboratory. They find Hyde dead and mysteriously dressed in Jekyll’s clothes. A letter is found alongside the body and Utterson takes it home and reads it. This letter was written by Jekyll and he states that he and Mr. Hyde are the same people.  In a second letter that had earlier been given to Utterson, Jekyll explains everything . <ref>Stevenson, p. 16</ref>. He narrates that he developed a potion, which he hoped to control his evil impulses. He had developed a potion or elixir which he hoped would enable him to control his dark desires and drives. Jekyll transformed himself when he drank the potion and he would transform, into a deranged and sinister figure, by the name of Edward Hyde. It is intimated in the novella that Jekyll when he transformed engaged in unnamed vices and crimes.<ref>Stevenson, p. 34</ref>.  However, soon, he began to transform involuntarily, without even drinking his concoction. The doctor writes that he knows that Hyde is evil and is the embodiment of his dark side. He believes that he is slowly transforming himself into Mr. Hyde and fears that his alter ego will commit many heinous acts and crimes. The letter suddenly breaks off, this suggests that Jekyll has permanently and irrevocably changed into the evil Hyde. Utterson, speculates that Hyde knew that he would soon be caught, and he committed suicide so that he would not be apprehended and hanged .<ref>Stevenson, p. 67</ref>.

The story and its characters are very much influenced by the Gothic horror literary tradition. These are tales of the supernatural and they are set in spooky places. Certainly, there are many of the motifs of this genre in the novella. ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ has many of the themes and motifs of this genre. The Gothic explored how humans could become inhuman. This can be seen in the transformation of Dr. Jekyll, a respectable member of society, into the sociopath Hyde, who is truly monstrous .<ref> John A. Evil The Shadow Side of Reality (NJ, Crossroad, 1981), p.. 113</ref>. Another theme in Gothic literature is that of the dangers of scientific investigation. This is perhaps seen in Shelley’s, Frankenstein. Dr. Jekyll is in many ways an archetypical ‘mad scientist’ who transgresses by peering into nature’s mysteries and pays a terrible price.

In the mid-to-late 19th century, doctors were beginning to understand the mental processes of the human mind and began to treat mental health as an illness and not as some character flaw or punishment from god. In the 1860s and 1870s, doctors were beginning to develop modern psychiatry, especially in France. There was a great deal of public interest in this new science and it was widely reported in British newspapers. One case of mental illness that caused a sensation at the time, was that of Louis Vivet. He  Vivet was the first person to be diagnosed with split or multiple personalities, known today as dissociative identity disorder. Vivet was born in 1863, to a prostitute in Paris, who neglected and abused him. He turned to crime at the age of 8 and was sent to a youth prison. When working on a farm he was bitten by a snake and became semi-paralyzed and unable to walk. At the time, those who were paralyzed were sent to a local asylum. One day, Vivet begins to walk suddenly and this astonished the doctors. A number of medics interested in psychiatry and placed him under hypnosis, to their amazement, they found that Vivet has multiple personalities.  The Vivet case, with his reported dozen personality, was a topic of much debate in intellectual circles. It appears that Stevenson was aware of the Vivet's story of the Frenchman. It seems that the idea for one person, to have two personalities was inspired by the story of Vivet. It was this case that persuaded him to write about the duality in human nature and our inner struggle, as they are torn between good and evil.

Stevenson got the name Jekyll from Reverend Walter Jekyll, a friend of Stevenson. He was a very respectable figure in Edinburgh. However, another friend of his youth appears to have at least partly inspired the character of Jekyll. In his youth, Stevenson became the friend of a former medical student and a French language teacher. It appears that the two were introduced by the former teacher of Stevenson. Chantrelle was a charismatic and charming figure and something of a ladies man. The future author of Kidnapped and Treasure Island, apparently liked to practice his French with Chantrelle, over drinks.  In reality, the Scottish author, know, that he was having a good time with a devil. Chantrelle was a sexual predator and possibly a serial killer. The Frenchman was arrested for the murder of his wife .<ref>Bradley, Jane Real-life Jekyll & Hyde who inspired Stevenson’s classic, The Scotsman, 25 November 2016, p. 4</ref>She was only a naïve 16-year-old girl from Edinburgh when she was introduced and fell in love with the French charmer. However, after their marriage, he abused her horribly and later coldly murdered her, for money.  At the trial, it emerged that Chantrelle had been preying on young women for years. It appears that he He also may have poisoned some and many may have died as a result.<ref>Bradley, p. 4</ref>. The trial, which Stevenson attended caused a sensation at the time. The young author was surprised and later profoundly shocked by the discovery that he had been a friend of a monster. Stevenson became preoccupied with the two-fold nature of people, who could be inexplicably evil and yet also decent, after the trial of Chantrelle. This theme of the double nature of humanity is one of the most important in his novella of 1883. Chantrelle was hanged in Edinburgh in 1878.