Aurora Cathrin Eidem Adolfsen, Queer Case of Dr Jekyll’s Double Life. A Queer Reading of R. L. Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) (2023)

Aurora Cathrin Eidem Adolfsen, Queer Case of Dr Jekyll’s Double Life. A Queer Reading of R. L. Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886)

Bachelor’s thesis in English for teacher training students, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Supervisor: Wassim Rustom, May 2023

Abstract
This bachelor’s thesis is a queer reading of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The discussion explores the motif of the double in context of Michel Foucault’s concept of discipline and the Labouchère Amendment of 1885. This exploration is carried out through analyses of the three following character dyads: Dr Lanyon and Mr Utterson, Mr Utterson and Dr Jekyll, and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The analyses paint a holistic picture of the effects of discipline, which reveals substantial connections between the double life conducted by Dr Jekyll and the double life conducted by homosexuals in late 19th century London.