Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, part 1

Robert Louis Steven's gothic novella explores the duality of human nature. Written as a 'shilling shocker', it was published in 1886 and the account swiftly became a proverb. The shocking portrait of outward respectability and inner depravity is only one of its salient features. It also depicts the thin veneer of civilization covering a nature still prone to barbarism and the way in which modern science, while seeking to advance itself, often results in the most horrific monstrosities, none more than the scientist himself. In that sense, it is a continuation of the concerns about modern science's attempt to gain power over human nature, to disastrous effect, as the recent COVID-19 virus demonstrates.