Interview 1886

By David Williams and Robert Louis Stevenson 

You wrote the book ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. What inspired you to write this book?

One of the reasons is because one night I had a dream. It was a harsh nightmare, nevertheless there was also a positive part about it. I got inspired by this nightmare. My wife woke me up and I was frustrated about that. Luckily I remembered the first few scenes, including the first transformation scene. After this nightmare I started writing the book and it worked out really well. Another reason is my fascination by the ‘dual nature of man’. I believe in the different polarities that exists within human beings.

What was the reason to make a good and evil side in one character?

First of all, I am a strong believer in religion. I have studied science, because if my writing career fails, I would have something to fall back upon. For that reason I saw things from a religious perspective and a scientific perspective. I believe that every person has a good and bad side. I wanted to separates these two hence why I made a good and an evil side in one person.

Why do you think everyone has a good and bad side?

Almost everyone has more good sides than bad sides. If everyone only had good sides, it would be a perfect, boring society. I wanted to experiment that a person only has a good side and another time a bad side. That is why I made Dr. Jekyll the good person and Mr. Hyde the bad person.

Why did you make the decision that Jekyll had to decide if Jekyll or Hyde would be stronger?

Dr. Jekyll needs to know that being evil without any consequences does not work. Mr. Hyde became a strong man and he would dominate the good side. That would be dangerous so a decision had to be taken.

Did you enjoy writing this story and was it not inconvenient?

Yes, I relished writing this story. I had no complications, because I got my inspiration from my nightmare thus I knew where I was going to write about.