1.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, first
published in 1886. The work is also known as The Strange Case of Jekyll Hyde, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, or
simply Jekyll & Hyde.

It is about a London legal practitioner named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange
occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll, and the evil Edward Hyde. The novella's impact is
such that it has become a part of the language, with the phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" entering the
vernacular to refer to people with an unpredictably dual nature: usually very good, but sometimes
shockingly evil.

PLOT: Gabriel John Utterson and his cousin Richard Enfield reach the door of a large house on their
weekly walk. Enfield tells Utterson that months ago he saw a sinister-looking man named Edward Hyde
trample a young girl after accidentally bumping into her. Enfield forced Hyde to pay £100 to avoid a
scandal. Hyde brought them to this door and provided a cheque signed by a reputable gentleman (later
revealed to be Doctor Henry Jekyll, a friend and client of Utterson). Utterson is disturbed because Jekyll
recently changed his will to make Hyde the sole beneficiary. Utterson fears that Hyde is blackmailing
Jekyll. When Utterson tries to discuss Hyde with Jekyll, Jekyll turns pale and asks that Hyde be left alone.

One night in October, a servant sees Hyde beat to death Sir Danvers Carew, another of Utterson's
clients. The police contact Utterson, who leads officers to Hyde's apartment. Hyde has vanished, but
they find half of a broken cane. Utterson recognizes the cane as one he had given to Jekyll. Utterson
visits Jekyll, who shows Utterson a note, allegedly written to Jekyll by Hyde, apologising for the trouble
that he has caused. However, Hyde's handwriting is similar to Jekyll's own, leading Utterson to conclude
that Jekyll forged the note to protect Hyde.

For two months, Jekyll reverts to his former sociable manner, but in early January, he starts refusing
visitors. Dr Hastie Lanyon, a mutual acquaintance of Jekyll and Utterson, dies of shock after receiving
information relating to Jekyll. Before his death, Lanyon gives Utterson a letter to be opened after Jekyll's
death or disappearance. In late February, during another walk with Enfield, Utterson starts a
conversation with Jekyll at a window of his laboratory. Jekyll suddenly slams the window and
disappears.

In early March, Jekyll's butler, Mr. Poole, visits Utterson and says Jekyll has secluded himself in his
laboratory for weeks. Utterson and Poole break into the laboratory, where they find Hyde wearing
Jekyll's clothes and apparently dead from suicide. They find a letter from Jekyll to Utterson. Utterson
reads Lanyon's letter, then Jekyll's. Lanyon's letter reveals his deterioration resulted from the shock of
seeing Hyde drink a serum that turned him into Jekyll. Jekyll's letter explains that he had indulged in
unstated vices and feared discovery. He found a way to transform himself and thereby indulge his vices
without fear of detection. Jekyll's transformed personality, Hyde, was evil, self-indulgent, and uncaring
to anyone but himself. Initially, Jekyll controlled the transformations with the serum, but one night in
August, he became Hyde involuntarily in his sleep.
Jekyll resolved to cease becoming Hyde. One night, he had a moment of weakness and drank the serum.
Hyde, furious at having been caged for so long, killed Carew. Horrified, Jekyll tried more adamantly to
stop the transformations. Then, in early January, he transformed involuntarily while awake. Far from his
laboratory and hunted by the police as a murderer, Hyde needed help to avoid capture. He wrote to
Lanyon (in Jekyll's hand), asking his friend to bring chemicals from his laboratory. In Lanyon's presence,
Hyde mixed the chemicals, drank the serum, and transformed into Jekyll. The shock of the sight
instigated Lanyon's deterioration and death. Meanwhile, Jekyll's involuntary transformations increased
in frequency and required ever larger doses of serum to reverse. It was one of these transformations
that caused Jekyll to slam his window shut on Enfield and Utterson.

Eventually, one of the chemicals used in the serum ran low, and subsequent batches prepared from new
stocks failed to work. Jekyll speculated that one of the original ingredients must have some unknown
impurity that made it work. Realizing that he would stay transformed as Hyde, Jekyll decided to write his
"confession". He ended the letter by writing, "I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end."

2. Frankenstein

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley (1797–
1851) that tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a hideous, sapient
creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and
the first edition of the novel was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was
20.[2] Her name first appeared on the second edition, published in 1823.

Shelley travelled through Europe in 1814, journeying along the river Rhine in Germany with a stop in
Gernsheim, which is 17 kilometres (11 mi) away from Frankenstein Castle, where, two centuries before,
an alchemist was engaged in experiments. Later, she travelled in the region of Geneva (Switzerland)—
where much of the story takes place—and the topic of galvanism and occult ideas were themes of
conversation among her companions, particularly her lover and future husband, Percy B. Shelley. Mary,
Percy and Lord Byron decided to have a competition to see who could write the best horror story. After
thinking for days, Shelley dreamt about a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he had
made; her dream later evolved into the novel's story.

Frankenstein is infused with elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement. At the same
time, it is an early example of science fiction. Brian Aldiss has argued that it should be considered the
first true science fiction story because, in contrast to previous stories with fantastical elements
resembling those of later science fiction, the central character "makes a deliberate decision" and "turns
to modern experiments in the laboratory" to achieve fantastic results. It has had a considerable
influence in literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories, films and
plays.

Since the novel's publication, the name "Frankenstein" has often been used to refer to the monster
itself. This usage is considered erroneous, but some commentators regard it as well-established and
acceptable. In the novel, Frankenstein's creation is identified by words such as "creature", "monster",
"daemon", "wretch", "abortion", "fiend" and "it". Speaking to Victor Frankenstein, the monster says "I
ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel" (which ties to Lucifer in Paradise Lost, which the
monster reads, and which relates to the disobedience of Prometheus in the book's subtitle).

3. Dracula

Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. It introduced the character of Count
Dracula, and established many conventions of subsequent vampire fantasy.[1] The novel tells the story
of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so that he may find new blood and spread
the undead curse, and of the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and a woman led by
Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

Dracula has been assigned to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic
novel, and invasion literature. The novel has spawned numerous theatrical, film, and television
interpretations.

PLOT: The story is told in an epistolary format, as a series of letters, diary entries, newspaper articles,
and ships' log entries, whose narrators are the novel's protagonists, and occasionally supplemented with
newspaper clippings relating events not directly witnessed. The events portrayed in the novel take place
chronologically and largely in England and Transylvania during the 1890s and all transpire within the
same year between 3 May and 6 November. A short note is located at the end of the final chapter
written 7 years after the events outlined in the novel.

The tale begins with Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English solicitor, visiting Count Dracula at his
castle in the Carpathian Mountains on the border of Transylvania, Bukovina, and Moldavia, to provide
legal support for a real estate transaction overseen by Harker's employer, Mr Peter Hawkins of Exeter.
At first enticed by Dracula's gracious manners, Harker soon realizes that he is Dracula's prisoner.
Wandering the Count's castle against Dracula's admonition, Harker encounters three female vampires,
called "the sisters", from whom he is rescued by Dracula. Harker soon realizes that Dracula himself is
also a vampire. After the preparations are made, Dracula leaves Transylvania and abandons Harker to
the sisters. Harker barely escapes from the castle with his life.

Dracula boards a Russian ship, the Demeter, taking along with him boxes of Transylvanian soil, which he
required in order to regain his strength. Not long afterward, the ship having weighed anchor at Varna,
runs aground on the shores of Whitby in the east coast of England. The captain's log narrates the
gradual disappearance of the entire crew, until the captain alone remained, himself bound to the helm
to maintain course. An animal resembling "a large dog" is seen leaping ashore. The ship's cargo is
described as silver sand and 50 boxes of "mould", or earth, from Transylvania. It is later learned that
Dracula successfully purchased multiple estates under the alias 'Count De Ville' throughout London and
devised to distribute the 50 boxes to each of them utilizing transportation services as well as moving
them himself. He does this to secure for himself "lairs" and the 50 boxes of earth would be used as his
graves which would grant safety and rest during times of feeding and replenishing his strength.

Harker's fiancée, Mina Murray, is staying with her friend Lucy Westenra, who is holidaying in Whitby.
Lucy receives three marriage proposals from Dr. John Seward, Quincey Morris, and Arthur Holmwood
(the son of Lord Godalming who later obtains the title himself[2]). Lucy accepts Holmwood's proposal
while turning down Seward and Morris, but all remain friends. Dracula communicates with Seward's
patient, Renfield, an insane man who wishes to consume insects, spiders, birds, and rats to absorb their
"life force". Renfield is able to detect Dracula's presence and supplies clues accordingly.

Soon Dracula is indirectly shown to be stalking Lucy. As time passes she begins to suffer from episodes of
sleepwalking and dementia, as witnessed by Mina. When Lucy begins to waste away suspiciously,
Seward invites his old teacher, Abraham Van Helsing, who immediately determines the true cause of
Lucy's condition. He refuses to disclose it but diagnoses her with acute blood-loss. Van Helsing
prescribes numerous blood transfusions to which he, Seward, Quincey, and Arthur all contribute over
time. Van Helsing also prescribes garlic flowers to be placed throughout her room and weaves a
necklace of withered garlic blossoms for her to wear. However she continues to waste away – appearing
to lose blood every night. While both doctors are absent, Lucy and her mother are attacked by a wolf
and Mrs. Westenra, who has a heart condition, dies of fright. Van Helsing attempts to protect her with
garlic but fate thwarts him each night, whether Lucy's mother removes the garlic from her room, or Lucy
herself does so in her restless sleep. The doctors have found two small puncture marks about her neck,
which Dr. Seward is at a loss to understand. After Lucy dies, Van Helsing places a golden crucifix over her
mouth, ostensibly to delay or prevent Lucy's vampiric conversion. Fate conspires against him again when
Van Helsing finds the crucifix in the possession of one of the servants who stole it off Lucy's corpse.

Following Lucy's death and burial, the newspapers report children being stalked in the night by a
"bloofer lady" (i.e., "beautiful lady"). Van Helsing, knowing Lucy has become a vampire, confides in
Seward, Lord Godalming, and Morris. The suitors and Van Helsing track her down and, after a
confrontation with her, stake her heart, behead her, and fill her mouth with garlic. Around the same
time, Jonathan Harker arrives from Budapest, where Mina marries him after his escape, and he and
Mina join the campaign against Dracula.

The vampire hunters stay at Dr. Seward's residence, holding nightly meetings and providing reports
based on each of their various tasks. Mina discovers that each of their journals and letters collectively
contain clues to which they can track him down. She tasks herself with collecting them, researching
newspaper clippings, fitting the most relevant entries into chronological order and typing out copies to
distribute to each of the party which they are to study. Jonathan Harker tracks down the shipments of
boxed graves and the estates which Dracula has purchased in order to store them. Van Helsing conducts
research along with Dr. Seward to analyze the behaviour of their patient Renfield who they learn is
directly influenced by Dracula. They also research historical events, folklore, and superstitions from
various cultures to understand Dracula's powers and weaknesses. Van Helsing also establishes a criminal
profile on Dracula in order to better understand his actions and predict his movements. Arthur
Holmwood's fortune assists in funding the entire operation and expenses. As they discover the various
properties Dracula had purchased, the male protagonists team up to raid each property and are several
times confronted by Dracula. As they discover each of the boxed graves scattered throughout London,
they pry them open to place and seal wafers of sacramental bread within. This act renders the boxes of
earth completely useless to Dracula as he is unable to open, enter or further transport them.
After Dracula learns of the group's plot against him, he attacks Mina on three occasions, and feeds Mina
his own blood to control her. This curses Mina with vampirism and changes her but does not completely
turn her into a vampire. Van Helsing attempts to bless Mina through prayer and by placing a wafer of
sacrament against her forehead, but it burns her upon contact leaving a wretched scar. Under this curse,
Mina oscillates from consciousness to a semi-trance during which she perceives Dracula's surroundings
and actions. Van Helsing is able to use hypnotism twice a day, at dawn and at sunset, to put her into this
trance to further track Dracula's movements. Mina, afraid of Dracula's link with her, urges the team not
to tell her their plans out of fear that Dracula will be listening. After the protagonists discover and
sterilize 49 boxes found throughout his lairs in London, they learn that Dracula has fled with the missing
50th box back to his castle in Transylvania. They pursue him under the guidance of Mina. They split up
into teams once they reach Europe; Van Helsing and Mina team up to locate the castle of Dracula while
the others attempt to ambush the boat Dracula is using to reach his home. Van Helsing raids the castle
and destroys the vampire "sisters". Upon discovering Dracula being transported by Gypsies, the three
teams converge and attack the caravan carrying Dracula in the 50th box of Earth. After dispatching many
Gypsies who were sworn to protect the Count, Harker shears Dracula through the throat with a kukri
knife, while the mortally wounded Quincey stabs the Count in the heart with a Bowie knife. Dracula
crumbles to dust, and Mina is freed from her curse of vampirism, as the scar on her forehead
disappears. Soon after, Quincey dies from his wounds.

The book closes with a note left by Jonathan Harker seven years after the events of the novel, detailing
his married life with Mina and the birth of their son, whom they name after all four members of the
party, but address as "Quincey". Quincey is depicted sitting on the knee of Van Helsing as they recount
their adventure. Seward and Arthur have each gotten married.