British Culture - User contributions [en]

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

2011-01-18T18:01:43Z

Claire:

“He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point. He’s an extraordinary-looking man, and yet I really can name nothing out of the way. No, sir; I can make no hand of it; I can’t describe him. And it’s not want of memory; for I declare I can see him this moment.”
(The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Chapter I)

----

''The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde'' is a famous novella by the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) that was published in 1886. The work is probably the best known piece of literature about the doppelgänger motif.

----

'''Plot'''

The laywer John Utterson goes on his weekly walk with his cousin Richard Enfield who tells him the story of a brutal man trampling down a little girl. Enfield had forced this man called Hyde to write a cheque for 100 pounds. Utterson is very unhappy because he knows who has signed the cheque: his good friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll.

Utterson begins to investigate this curious case, eventually meeting Hyde who looks dark and scary.
Jekyll then asks Utterson as his laywer, to make sure that in case of his sudden death, Hyde will be heir of everything he owns.

One year later, a client of Utterson, Sir Danvers Carew, is brutally murdered; Utterson suspects Hyde to be the killer but Hyde has disappeared.
After these events, Jekyll appears in publicity more often, and seeming much happier than before. He has told Utterson that Hyde has written a letter in which he apologized for the agony he had caused, and that Jekyll has no more contact with him.

But then, the mishap comes to a dramatic climax: Poole, Jekyll's servant, urges Utterson to come with him to Jekyll's house; Jekyll has locked himself into his laboratory and gives very disturbing, angry noises.
They break into the laboratory, only to find the dead Hyde who has obviously committed suicide. Utterson finds a letter written by Jekyll, adressed to himself and reads the letter at home which explains everything:

In one of his experiments, Jekyll had found a formula which enables a person to seperate his body into two parts: the good and the bad. Hyde is Jekyll's bad counterpart. At the beginning all went well but after a while the experiment got out of hand. Without drinking the potion, Jekyll began to transform into Hyde, soon he had lost control over the transformations and in one angry rage, Jekyll, as Hyde, killed Carew.
Jekyll began to change into Hyde in the midst of the day and changing back into Jekyll became even more difficult. So to put an end to this dreadful experiment, Jekyll locked himself into his laboratory and killed himself, leaving Utterson with his letter.

----

'''Reception'''

''The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' without question is a classic and one of the most important representatives of the doppelgänger literature. It is also a very capturing, dark plot, hence, the story has been used for many movies, such as the following:

Movies (examples)

- 1920: Der Januskopf (nach Jekyll und Hyde), Director: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, with Conrad Veidt

- 1925: Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride, Director: Scott Pembroke, with Stan Laurel

- 1959: Das Testament des Dr. Cordelier (Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier), Director: Jean Renoir, with Jean-Louis Barrault

- 1973: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Director: David Winters, with Kirk Douglas

- 1989: Split (Edge of Sanity), Director: Gérard Kikoïne, with Anthony Perkins

- 1996: Mary Reilly, Director: Stephen Frears, with Julia Roberts and John Malkovich

- 2001: Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical, Director: Don Roy King, with David Hasselhoff

- 2007: Jekyll (Fernsehserie) (BBC), Director: Douglas Mackinnon, Matt Lipse with James Nesbitt

- 2008: Dr.Jekyll und Mr.Hyde. Director: Paolo Barzman, with Dougray Scott

----

'''Bibliography'''

- http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/novels/12-strange-case-dr-jekyll-mr-hide

- Stevenson,Robert L.: The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. London: Penguin Popular Classics, 1994.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

2011-01-18T17:59:11Z

Claire:

“He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point. He’s an extraordinary-looking man, and yet I really can name nothing out of the way. No, sir; I can make no hand of it; I can’t describe him. And it’s not want of memory; for I declare I can see him this moment.”
(The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Chapter I)

''The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde'' is a famous novella by the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) that was published in 1886. The work is probably the best known piece of literature about the doppelgänger motif.

----

'''Plot'''

The laywer John Utterson goes on his weekly walk with his cousin Richard Enfield who tells him the story of a brutal man trampling down a little girl. Enfield had forced this man called Hyde to write a cheque for 100 pounds. Utterson is very unhappy because he knows who has signed the cheque: his good friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll.

Utterson begins to invevstigate this curious case, eventually meeting Hyde who looks dark and scary.
Jekyll then asks Utterson as his laywer, to make sure that in case of his sudden death, Hyde will be heir of everything he owns.

One year later, a client of Utterson, Sir Danvers Carew, is brutally murdered; Utterson suspects Hyde to be the killer but Hyde has disappeared.
After these events, Jekyll appears in publicity more often, and seeming much happier than before. He has told Utterson that Hyde has written a letetr in which he apologized for the agony he had caused, and that Jekyll has no more contact with him.

But then, the mishap comes to a dramatic climax: Poole, Jekyll's servant, urges Utterson to come with him to Jekyll's house; Jekyll has locked himself into his laboratory and gives very disturbing, angry noises.
They break into the laboratory, only to find the dead Hyde who has obviously committed suicide. Utterson finds a letter wriiten by Jekyll, adressed to himself and reads the letter at home which explains everything:

In one of his experiments, Jekyll had found a formula which enables a person to seperate his body into two parts: the good and the bad. Hyde is Jekyll's bad counterpart. At the beginning all went well but after a while the experiment got out of hand. Without drinking the potion, Jekyll began to transform into Hyde, soon he had lost control over the transformations and in one angry rage, Jekyll, as Hyde, killed Carew.
Jekyll began to change into Hyde in the midst of the day and changing back into Jekyll became even more difficult. So to put an end to this dreadful experiment, Jekyll locked himself into his laboratory and killed himself, leaving Utterson with his letter.

----

'''Reception'''

''The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' without question is a classic and one of the most important representatives of the doppelgänger literature. It is also a very capturing, dark plot, hence, the story has been used for many movies, such as the following:

Movies (examples)

- 1920: Der Januskopf (nach Jekyll und Hyde), Director: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, with Conrad Veidt

- 1925: Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride, Director: Scott Pembroke, with Stan Laurel

- 1959: Das Testament des Dr. Cordelier (Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier), Director: Jean Renoir, with Jean-Louis Barrault

- 1973: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Director: David Winters, with Kirk Douglas

- 1989: Split (Edge of Sanity), Director: Gérard Kikoïne, with Anthony Perkins

- 1996: Mary Reilly, Director: Stephen Frears, with Julia Roberts and John Malkovich

- 2001: Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical, Director: Don Roy King, with David Hasselhoff

- 2007: Jekyll (Fernsehserie) (BBC), Director: Douglas Mackinnon, Matt Lipse with James Nesbitt

- 2008: Dr.Jekyll und Mr.Hyde. Director: Paolo Barzman, with Dougray Scott

----

'''Bibliography'''

- http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/novels/12-strange-case-dr-jekyll-mr-hide

- Stevenson,Robert L.: The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. London: Penguin Popular Classics, 1994.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

2011-01-18T17:57:53Z

Claire:

“He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point. He’s an extraordinary-looking man, and yet I really can name nothing out of the way. No, sir; I can make no hand of it; I can’t describe him. And it’s not want of memory; for I declare I can see him this moment.”
(The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Chapter I)

''The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde'' is a famous novella by the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) that was published in 1886. The work is probably the best known piece of literature about the doppelgänger motif.

----

'''Plot'''

The laywer John Utterson goes on his weekly walk with his cousin Richard Enfield who tells him the story of a brutal man trampling down a little girl. Enfield had forced this man called Hyde to write a cheque for 100 pounds. Utterson is very unhappy because he knows who has signed the cheque: his good friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll.
Utterson begins to invevstigate this curious case, eventually meeting Hyde who looks dark and scary.
Jekyll then asks Utterson as his laywer, to make sure that in case of his sudden death, Hyde will be heir of everything he owns.
One year later, a client of Utterson, Sir Danvers Carew, is brutally murdered; Utterson suspects Hyde to be the killer but Hyde has disappeared.
After these events, Jekyll appears in publicity more often, and seeming much happier than before. He has told Utterson that Hyde has written a letetr in which he apologized for the agony he had caused, and that Jekyll has no more contact with him.
But then, the mishap comes to a dramatci climax: Poole, Jekyll's servant, urges Utterson to come with him to Jekyll's house; Jekyll has locked himself into his laboratory and gives very disturbing, angry noises.
They break into the laboratory, only to find the dead Hyde who has obviously committed suicide. Utterson finds a letter wriiten by Jekyll, adressed to himself and reads the letter at home which explains everything:
In one of his experiments, Jekyll had found a formula which enables a person to seperate his body into two parts: the good and the bad. Hyde is Jekyll's bad counterpart. At the beginning all went well but after a while the experiment got out of hand. Without drinking the potion, Jekyll began to transform into Hyde, soon he had lost control over the transformations and in one angry rage, Jekyll, as Hyde, killed Carew.
Jekyll began to change into Hyde in the midst of the day and changing back into Jekyll became even more difficult. So to put an end to this dreadful experiment, Jekyll locked himself into his laboratory and killed himself, leaving Utterson with his letter.

----

'''Reception'''
''The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' without question is a classic and one of the most important representatives of the doppelgänger literature. It is also a very capturing, dark plot, hence, the story has been used for many movies, such as the following:

Movies (examples)

- 1920: Der Januskopf (nach Jekyll und Hyde), Director: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, with Conrad Veidt
- 1925: Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride, Director: Scott Pembroke, with Stan Laurel
- 1959: Das Testament des Dr. Cordelier (Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier), Director: Jean Renoir, with Jean-Louis Barrault
- 1973: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Director: David Winters, with Kirk Douglas
- 1989: Split (Edge of Sanity), Director: Gérard Kikoïne, with Anthony Perkins
- 1996: Mary Reilly, Director: Stephen Frears, with Julia Roberts and John Malkovich
- 2001: Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical, Director: Don Roy King, with David Hasselhoff
- 2007: Jekyll (Fernsehserie) (BBC), Director: Douglas Mackinnon, Matt Lipse with James Nesbitt
- 2008: Dr.Jekyll und Mr.Hyde. Director: Paolo Barzman, with Dougray Scott

----

'''Bibliography'''

- http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/novels/12-strange-case-dr-jekyll-mr-hide

- Stevenson,Robert L.: The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. London: Penguin Popular Classics, 1994.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

2011-01-18T17:49:36Z

Claire: Created page with '“He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I sca…'

“He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point. He’s an extraordinary-looking man, and yet I really can name nothing out of the way. No, sir; I can make no hand of it; I can’t describe him. And it’s not want of memory; for I declare I can see him this moment.”
(The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Chapter I)

----

'''Plot'''

The laywer John Utterson goes on his weekly walk with his cousin Richard Enfield who tells him the story of a brutal man trampling down a little girl. Enfield had forced this man called Hyde to write a cheque for 100 pounds. Utterson is very unhappy because he knows who has signed the cheque: his good friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll.
Utterson begins to invevstigate this curious case, eventually meeting Hyde who looks dark and scary.
Jekyll then asks Utterson as his laywer, to make sure that in case of his sudden death, Hyde will be heir of everything he owns.
One year later, a client of Utterson, Sir Danvers Carew, is brutally murdered; Utterson suspects Hyde to be the killer but Hyde has disappeared.
After these events, Jekyll appears in publicity more often, and seeming much happier than before. He has told Utterson that Hyde has written a letetr in which he apologized for the agony he had caused, and that Jekyll has no more contact with him.
But then, the mishap comes to a dramatci climax: Poole, Jekyll's servant, urges Utterson to come with him to Jekyll's house; Jekyll has locked himself into his laboratory and gives very disturbing, angry noises.
They break into the laboratory, only to find the dead Hyde who has obviously committed suicide. Utterson finds a letter wriiten by Jekyll, adressed to himself and reads the letter at home which explains everything:
In one of his experiments, Jekyll had found a formula which enables a person to seperate his body into two parts: the good and the bad. Hyde is Jekyll's bad counterpart. At the beginning all went well but after a while the experiment got out of hand. Without drinking the potion, Jekyll began to transform into Hyde, soon he had lost control over the transformations and in one angry rage, Jekyll, as Hyde, killed Carew.
Jekyll began to change into Hyde in the midst of the day and changing back into Jekyll became even more difficult. So to put an end to this dreadful experiment, Jekyll locked himself into his laboratory and killed himself, leaving Utterson with his letter.

'''Reception'''
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde without question is a classic and one of the most important representatives of the doppelgänger literature. It is also a very capturing, dark plot, hence, the story has been used for many movies, such as the following:

Movies (examples)

- 1920: Der Januskopf (nach Jekyll und Hyde), Director: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, with Conrad Veidt
- 1925: Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride, Director: Scott Pembroke, with Stan Laurel
- 1959: Das Testament des Dr. Cordelier (Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier), Director: Jean Renoir, with Jean-Louis Barrault
- 1973: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Director: David Winters, with Kirk Douglas
- 1989: Split (Edge of Sanity), Director: Gérard Kikoïne, with Anthony Perkins
- 1996: Mary Reilly, Director: Stephen Frears, with Julia Roberts and John Malkovich
- 2001: Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical, Director: Don Roy King, with David Hasselhoff
- 2007: Jekyll (Fernsehserie) (BBC), Director: Douglas Mackinnon, Matt Lipse with James Nesbitt
- 2008: Dr.Jekyll und Mr.Hyde. Director: Paolo Barzman, with Dougray Scott

Charlotte Bronte

2010-12-01T21:33:27Z

Claire: Created page with ''''Charlotte Bronte''' Charlotte Bronte was a British novelist, born in Thornton, 21 April 1816 and died in Haworth, Yorkshire, 31 March 1855. She was the eldest of the three (…'

'''Charlotte Bronte'''

Charlotte Bronte was a British novelist, born in Thornton, 21 April 1816 and died in Haworth, Yorkshire, 31 March 1855. She was the eldest of the three (famous) Bronte-sisters who all were writers.
----

'''Biography'''

Charlotte Bronte was one of six children of Patrick Bronte, an English clergyman and his wife Maria. She had four sisters: Maria, Elizabeth, Emily and Anne Bronte, the last two best known for their novels "Wuthering Heights" (Emily) and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" (Anne). She also had one brother: Branwell who later became a painter and a poet.

Because Patrick Bronte got appointed a Reverend in Haworth in 1820, the family moved and lived there. The village of Haworth itself and the landscape around it served as model for many settings in all the Bronte novels. Maria Bronte, died of cancer the year after that, and her sister Elizabeth moved in with the family to help Patrick with the children.

In 1824 the four elder daughters were enrolled at the Clergy Daughter's School at Cowan Bridge. This was quite an undesirable change for the girls who had spent their time with their parents, playing the piano, reading, or doing needlework. But after one year the two elder daughters, Maria and Elizabeth, died of tuberculosis and hence, Patrick Brontee took his two remaining daughters, Emily and Charlotte, from school.

In 1831, Charlotte returned to school, enrolled in Miss Wooler's school in Roe Head, but soon left again in order to teach her siblings at home. In this time at home she wrote her novella "The Green Dwarf". She then returned to Roe Head to teach as a governess, helping to pay for her sister Emily's attending as a pupil there. In 1838, she left the school and returned to Haworth again.

With the aim to start a school someday, Charlotte travelled with Emily and Anne to Brussels, Belgium to complete her studies. She then learned French and German and studied literature very intensively. The sisters returned to their home, Haworth, and tried to open a school, but failed tremendously. So, in 1846, the three sisters published their collection of poems under the pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, among the poems Charlotte's "Pilate's Wife's Dream", "The Teacher's Monologue" and "Passion". The same year, Charlotte wrote "The Professor" which was rejected for publication, but still, the following year, her very successful novel "Jane Eyre" was published, as well as Emily's "Wuthering Heights" and Anne's "Agnes Grey" (still under the pseudonyms).

Then followed a sad time for Charlotte: in 1848 her brother Branwell, an alcoholic and drug addict, died in September and her sister Emily died in December, probably from tuberculosis. Still worse, her youngest sister Anne died one year later, also from tuberculosis. In this depressing time Charlotte wrote her epic novel "Shirley" which was received very well. Thus she made her way into the literary circles of London, meeting Elizabeth Gaskell and William Thackeray.

In 1852, Reverend Arthur Nicholls proposed to Charlotte and was first refused because her father did not approve of it and because she was not really in love. In 1853, Charlotte published "Vilette", which features the struggles of a woman who tries to be independent, but still is looking for love. In 1854, her father did not object to Arthur Nicholls anymore and so, the two of them married.
While pregnant, Charlotte got ill with pneumonia and tried little to cure her illness. Hence, she died in 1855 from dehydration and weakness and rests with the remains of her mother, her sisters Maria and Elizabeth and her brother Branwell in the family vault of the Church of Saint Michael and All Angels in Haworth, West Yorkshire.

----
'''Works'''

- Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (1846)

- Jane Eyre (1847)

- Shirley (1849)

- Vilette (1853)

- The Professor (1857)

----

'''Sources'''

- http://www.online-literature.com/brontec/

- http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/brontbio.html

- Gaskell, Elizabeth. ''The Life of Charlotte Bronte''. Edited with an Introduction by Winifred Gérin. London: The Folio Society, 1971.