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3. Chapter 1 – Mr Utterson (pp. 5-6)
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About this Lecture
Lecture
In this module, we read the epigraph of the novel and its first sentence, focusing in particular on: (i) the themes that emerge from the dedicatory poem that precedes the novel; (ii) the importance of doors and windows in the novel, both physical and psychological; (iii) the description of Mr Utterson in the first sentence of the novel, a man who was “never lighted by a smile … and yet somehow lovable”; (iv) the name ‘Utterson’ itself, and the importance of Mr Utterson as the driving force in the telling of the story; (v) Mr Utterson’s respectability and good nature, and his importance in providing a moral yardstick against which the inhumanity and violence of the later chapters can be measured.
Course
In this course, Professor John McRae (University of Nottingham) explores Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. In the first two modules, we provide a broad introduction to the social, historical, cultural context of the novel, focusing in particular on Stevenson’s life and career, his literary and cultural influences, and his own influence on later writers. In the seventeen modules that follow, we read through the novel chapter-by-chapter, providing close reading and analysis, including commentary on themes and motifs, the structure of the novel, its multiple narrators and narratives, significant objects (keys, doors, hands, mirrors, etc.), literary influences (Shakespeare, Marlowe, James Hogg, etc.), intellectual influences (Darwin, Nietzsche, Freud), important elements from Stevenson’s own life – and much, much more.
Note: Page numbers in these lectures refers to the Penguin Classics edition of the novel (‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror’, ed. Robert Mighall). Students using a different version of the novel may encounter slight differences in page numbering.
Lecturer
John McRae is Special Professor of Language in Literature Studies and Teaching Associate in the School of English at Nottingham University, and holds Visiting Professorships in China, Malaysia, Spain and the USA. He is co-author of The Routledge History of Literature in English with Ron Carter, and also wrote The Language of Poetry, Literature with a Small 'l' and the first critical edition of Teleny by Oscar Wilde and others.
Cite this Lecture
APA style
McRae, J. (2020, October 22). Stevenson: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Chapter 1 – Mr Utterson (pp. 5-6) [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://www.massolit.io/courses/stevenson-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-mcrae/chapter-1-mr-utterson-pp-5-6
MLA style
McRae, J. "Stevenson: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Chapter 1 – Mr Utterson (pp. 5-6)." MASSOLIT, uploaded by MASSOLIT, 22 Oct 2020, https://www.massolit.io/courses/stevenson-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-mcrae/chapter-1-mr-utterson-pp-5-6