浙江万里学院外语学院 ___2012___级读书报告
姓 名 胡君青
学 号 2012013113
专 业 班 级 英语129班
读书报告题目 The Book Report of The Strange Case
of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
2013 年 11 月 20 日
I. Introduction
The author was named Robert Louis Stevenson; he was born in Edinburgh in 1850. And he was the only son of Thomas Stevenson, a successful engineer, and his wife, both of whom were very strictly religious. But Stevenson gave up the religion of his parents, and went to Edinburgh to study engineering, but soon discovered that he had no interest in the subject and studied law instead. While at university he decided, much to his father?s disappointment, that he wanted to be a writer. He travelled widely after this, and wrote about his travels in France, Belgium and California. Throughout his life, he was suffered from his poor health and travelled often in a desperate quest for health. In 1883, he wrote his first full-length work of fiction, Treasure Island, which brought him fame. This fame increased when, three years later, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde appeared. This book, which has been made into a number of different films, was a success at the time and has been so ever since. Many people living under Queen Victoria believed that human beings have to struggle continually against their lower, ?animal? urges, and can defeat them by obeying strict rules of morality. This account of the struggle between the good and evil sides of the same person is the more serious subject of the story, and it is one that Stevenson returns to again and again.
II. The Story or A Summary of the Book
This book describes the fight between Jekyll and Hyde, each trying to defeat the other?s values. Dr Henry Jekyll is a well-respected and wealthy doctor in London. He does a great deal of good work and is liked by many including his two oldest friends, Mr. Utterson (a lawyer) and Dr Lanyon. The two friends are worried when they meet the unpleasant and mysterious Mr. Hyde and discover that he seems to have some terrible influence on Dr Jekyll. A serious of nasty events, ending in a murder, appears to be the responsibility of Mr. Hyde. The friends decide to help Dr Jekyll, but as they do so they discover a secret of unimaginable horror. Because Jekyll managed to mix a drug that would change the whole substance of his body and mind and turned into Edward Hyde. At the moment, he felt younger, lighter and happier in his body; in his mind. He took the drugs again and again, and each time he suffered a lot of pain. But at last he found that he lost balance between his two sides and Hyde won. Because the first drug he took was impure that it contained something unknown that produced powerful effect, but now the drug had no effect and Hyde would appear finally and lived in the world forever as a murderer. III. Comments or My Views on the Book
The story of Dr Jekyll is quite famous around the world, however, Dr Jekyll himself is a typical tragic person. He is a kind and wise doctor in front of the public, but might not wise enough to adjust himself. As an old saying goes: every coin has two sides. Dr Jekyll also has his own negative side, which finally become Mr. Hide. Mr. Hide is always hunger for violence, and all the bad things he did tell us that too. People may treat him as a criminal, but to me, he is just unable to find a way to abreact.
It really doesn?t matter if you are a man lives in 19th century or comes from stone age, we are all people, we all have feelings, we all have our own Mr. or Ms
Hide, the only question is, can you find a way to maintain your mental health? Maybe we can?t afford to have our own psychological consultant, but we can play games to relax ourselves, or realize any wildest dream in this virtual world. Imaging this, once our Dr Jekyll has some evil minds, he can turn to his computer for help. Maybe he can play some action games to satisfy his desire for “passion”, just like people today. Since the video game is always about the adventures of some superheroes, the game will guide him to the daydreaming of everything good but a criminal. As soon as he feels good again, then he will never try to become Mr. Hide in the reality. Maybe you will consider this as a na?ve idea, but computer game does reduce the crime rate in America.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of the most stylish works of Stevenson. As a result of the author?s early religious upbringing, the book uses religious language. It is a fantastic story that describes the two sides inside a person, one is good and the other is evil. The main character in this book—Dr. Jekyll has dual characters. He appears respectable in the eyes of the public, but in his heart of hearts, he has the desire for the freedom and to enjoy his evil pleasures. There is doubt that the author has successfully used highly difficult writing techniques. In addition, the bizarre convolutions of the story drag readers from reality to another world where a serious of unusual things happens. However, these things can be reasonably explained. Since the author writes the novel in first person, readers seem to be experiencing what exactly happens on the character. In this book, the author has expressed his deep doubt about humanity through the fantasy state and described the counterparts of people?s appearance and the essence of morality.
The work is known for its vivid portrayal of a split personality, split in the sense that within the same person there is both an apparently good and an evil personality each being quite distinct from the other. The novel's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the phrase \who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next.