It happened in a bedroom in Bournemouth. Imagine a man, thin as a rail and plagued by a "hemorrhage of the lungs," screaming in his sleep. When his wife, Fanny, woke him up to end the nightmare, he didn't thank her. He was actually furious. He told her she’d interrupted a "fine bogy tale." That man was Robert Louis Stevenson, and that feverish nightmare became the foundation for one of the most famous stories in the history of the English language.
If you’ve ever wondered who wrote Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the short answer is a sickly Scotsman with a penchant for velvet coats and a deep-seated obsession with the duality of the human soul. But the long answer is way more interesting. It involves a literal bonfire of the first draft, a six-day writing binge that should have been physically impossible, and a local Edinburgh criminal who lived a double life long before Stevenson ever picked up a pen.
The Man Behind the Monster
Robert Louis Stevenson wasn't just some dusty Victorian novelist. He was a rebel. Born in Edinburgh in 1850, he was supposed to be a lighthouse engineer like his father and grandfather. Instead, he spent his youth hanging out in the seedier parts of town, much to the chagrin of his deeply religious parents.
He was a guy who felt the "split" in personality long before he wrote about it. By day, he was the respectable son of a professional family. By night, he was exploring the foggy, dangerous wynds of Old Town Edinburgh. This tension—between what we show the world and what we hide in the dark—is exactly why we're still talking about him today.
Honestly, his health was a wreck. He suffered from what was likely undiagnosed tuberculosis or bronchiectasis for most of his life. He wrote Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde while bedridden, fueled by medicinal cocaine (which was standard at the time) and a desperate need to make some money.
The First Draft Went Up in Smoke
Here is a bit of literary lore that is actually true: the first version of the book no longer exists. After that initial nightmare, Stevenson supposedly hammered out about 30,000 words in three days. He read it to Fanny.
She wasn't impressed.
Fanny Stevenson was a sharp critic. She told him he’d missed the point. He’d written a "shilling shocker"—a basic horror story—instead of a moral allegory. Most writers would have pouted. Stevenson? He threw the entire manuscript into the fireplace. He watched his work turn to ash so he wouldn't be tempted to keep the "bad" version. Then, he sat back down and wrote the entire thing again from scratch in another three to six days.
Think about that.
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The man was coughing up blood and managed to produce a masterpiece of psychological horror in less than a week. It’s a feat of productivity that puts modern "grind culture" to absolute shame.
Why Edinburgh is the Real Mr. Hyde
Even though the book is set in London, any local will tell you it’s secretly about Edinburgh. The city is literally divided. You have the New Town—orderly, rational, wealthy, and bright. Then you have the Old Town—cramped, dark, ancient, and filthy.
Stevenson grew up with this architectural schizophrenia. It seeped into his brain.
The Real-Life Inspiration: Deacon Brodie
You can't talk about who wrote Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde without mentioning William Brodie. He was a respected cabinet maker and a city councilor (a "Deacon") in 1780s Edinburgh. By day, he was the pillar of society. By night? He was a gambler and a thief who used his locksmithing skills to rob his own clients.
He was eventually hanged on a gallows he had actually helped design.
Stevenson was obsessed with Brodie. He even had a cabinet made by Brodie in his childhood bedroom. The idea that a "good" man could harbor a "bad" man wasn't just a metaphor for Stevenson; it was local history.
The "Cocaine" Theory and the Feverish Pace
There has been a lot of academic debate about how Stevenson wrote so much so fast. Many historians, including William Gray, have pointed to the medical records of the time. Stevenson was being treated with a variety of "tonics," many of which contained ergot or cocaine derivatives.
It explains the frantic energy.
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It also explains the visceral, hallucinatory quality of the transformation scenes. When Henry Jekyll drinks that potion and feels the "grinding in the bones" and the "deadly nausea," Stevenson might not have been imagining those physical sensations. He was likely living them through his various illnesses and the aggressive treatments used to keep him alive.
Why the Title Doesn't Have a "The"
Check the cover of an original edition. It’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. No "The" at the beginning.
It was written to look like a legal or medical brief. Stevenson wanted it to feel like a real file you’d find on a lawyer’s desk. That’s why the story is told through the eyes of Mr. Utterson, a dry-as-dust lawyer. By framing the supernatural through the mundane, Stevenson made the horror feel much more grounded. It wasn't a ghost story. It was a case study in addiction and repression.
The Psychological Impact
We use the term "Jekyll and Hyde" today to describe anyone with a mood swing. But Stevenson was digging deeper. He was writing before Sigmund Freud published his major works on the ego and the id.
Stevenson was basically a DIY psychologist. He recognized that we don't just have one "bad" side; we have a part of us that wants to be free from the consequences of social standing. Mr. Hyde isn't just "evil." He’s free. He doesn't care about what the neighbors think. For a Victorian gentleman like Stevenson, that was the most dangerous—and tempting—idea of all.
Beyond the Lab Coat: Stevenson’s Legacy
While Jekyll and Hyde made him a household name, Stevenson wasn't a one-hit wonder. He gave us Treasure Island and Kidnapped. He eventually moved to Samoa, seeking a climate that wouldn't kill him. The locals there called him Tusitala, or "Teller of Tales."
He died young, at only 44, from a cerebral hemorrhage. He wasn't even writing horror at the time; he was opening a bottle of wine and talking to his wife when he suddenly collapsed.
The man who spent his life writing about the thin line between life and death finally crossed it.
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How to Experience Stevenson’s World Today
If you want to move beyond just knowing who wrote Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and actually feel the vibe of the book, there are a few things you should do.
- Visit the Writers' Museum in Edinburgh. It’s tucked away in Lady Stair's Close. They have Stevenson’s wardrobe and some of his original manuscripts. You can feel the cramped, eerie atmosphere that birthed the story.
- Walk the "Jekyll and Hyde" pubs. In Edinburgh’s New Town and Old Town, there are spots dedicated to the duality of the man. The contrast between the bright gin palaces and the dark basement bars is exactly what Stevenson was talking about.
- Read the original text. Forget the movies. Most films make Hyde a giant hairy monster. In the book, he’s actually smaller than Jekyll—representing how that part of the soul has been stunted and repressed. He's also described as having a "displeasing smile" and an aura of deformity that no one can quite put into words. It’s way creepier than a guy in a gorilla suit.
Fact-Checking the Myths
Did he really write it in three days? The exact timeline varies between three and six days, but the consensus among biographers like Graham Balfour is that the second draft—the one we read today—was indeed produced with superhuman speed.
Was he a drug addict? Not in the modern sense. He used the medicine available to him to stay functional. Without those stimulants, he likely wouldn't have had the physical strength to hold the pen, let alone finish a novella.
The book was an instant bestseller. It sold nearly 40,000 copies in the first six months in the UK alone. It was even used in sermons at St. Paul’s Cathedral. People were terrified because they saw themselves in the pages.
Actionable Steps for the Curious Reader
If you’re looking to dive deeper into the world of the man who wrote this masterpiece, here is how to get the most out of it:
- Compare the Drafts: Look for annotated versions of the text that explain the "Allegory vs. Shocker" debate between Stevenson and his wife. It changes how you view the characters.
- Explore the Scottish Gothic: Stevenson is part of a larger tradition. If you liked Jekyll and Hyde, check out James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. It’s another Edinburgh-based tale of a man haunted by a double, and it heavily influenced Stevenson.
- Trace the Medical History: Research the Victorian pharmacopeia. Understanding what "tinctures" Stevenson was taking gives you a massive insight into the "potion" Jekyll uses in the book. It wasn't pure fantasy; it was a distorted reflection of 19th-century medicine.
Robert Louis Stevenson didn't just write a horror story. He mapped out the interior of the human mind before we even had the tools to talk about it. He showed us that the monster isn't waiting under the bed or in a dark alley.
The monster is already inside us, waiting for the right chemical trigger to come out and play.