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Questions tagged [robert-louis-stevenson]

Questions about the works of the Scottish novelist and poet Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) or his life as a writer.

6 votes
0 answers
97 views

Did the Master of Ballantrae poison Chew?

The main plot of The Master of Ballantrae, by Robert Louis Stevenson, revolves around two brothers, who, over the course of their lives, become consumed with hatred for each other to the exclusion of ...
Peter Shor's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
87 views

"And there was yet a greater difficulty. I had read somewhere an aphorism that everything may be false to itself save human nature."

(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter II, passage 36, published 1892) The house, by daylight, had proved to be six stories high, the same as ever. I could find, with ...
philphil's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
141 views

"But there is one more (question) that I daresay you are burning to put to myself; and that is, what your own name is doing in this place"

(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Epilogue, passage 425/427, published 1892) (Passage 425) But there is one more (question; added by me) that I daresay you are burning ...
philphil's user avatar
  • 329
4 votes
1 answer
227 views

Meaning of "Am I clear? Have I a certificate, or what have I to do to get one? And when will it be dated? You can't think what hangs by it!"

(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XVIII, published 1892) Passage 286 “Even so, Jim. My questions,” I repeated. “I put questions as well as yourself; and however ...
philphil's user avatar
  • 329
7 votes
1 answer
154 views

Why did blood build the House of Shaws in Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson?

Does anyone know why allegedly blood built the House of Shaws? My dim memories of watching Kidnapped (1960) and reading the novel long ago include someone warning David Balfour that the House of Shaws ...
M. A. Golding's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
704 views

Meaning of "My owners'll have to rank with the rest on their charter-party"?

(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XVI, published 1892) Passage 256 “All the same,” continued Nares, “you went into the opium-smuggling with your head down; and a ...
philphil's user avatar
  • 329
5 votes
1 answer
118 views

What historical reference is Stevenson making with "shouting in the streets"?

In The Master of Ballantrae, in the section “The Master's Wanderings”, Stevenson writes: and I dare say these plaudits had their effect on Master Teach in the cabin, as we have seen of late days how ...
Peter Shor's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
55 views

What is the metre in the Scotch dialect of Thrawn Janet by Robert Louis Stevenson? [closed]

What is the metre of this specific part of dialect: e.g is it iambic, trochaic, spondaic, anapaestic, dactylic? Fifty years syne, when Mr. Soulis cam’ first to Ba’weary, he was still a young man––a ...
Jasa's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
436 views

Long John Silver, "you may lay to that"

In Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, the "ambiguous rogue" (I saw this phrase somewhere and it's my favourite description of the character) Long John Silver frequently uses the ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
113 views

How could the current bear the coracle southward, if the current was northwards earlier?

In R.L. Stevenson's Treasure Island's chapter "Cruise of the Coracle", Jim sails northward (due to northward current) from Haulbowline Head past the the Cape of the Woods and that is when he ...
Tim Lee's user avatar
  • 73
7 votes
0 answers
151 views

Do Stevenson's pirates speak in Cornish dialect?

In a literature-related thread on another SE site, I found the claim that the pirates in Robert louis Stevenson's Treasure Island speak in a Cornish dialect. This makes sense only thematically (given ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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4 votes
3 answers
2k views

How many members of Captain Flint's crew are known?

In Treasure Island, the most prominent character who never appears on-stage is surely Captain Flint, the notorious pirate captain whose treasure drives the plot. Almost as important as the treasure ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
  • 74.1k
11 votes
1 answer
968 views

What's the evidence for "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" being secretly set in Edinburgh?

Stevenson's famous novel Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is set in London, but some critics have claimed that it would seem to fit better in Stevenson's native Edinburgh, almost as if he wrote a story set in ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
981 views

How can "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" be read as a commentary on Scotland?

In the Wikipedia page for Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, one of the mentioned interpretations of the story is as a symbolic representation of Scottish nationalism vs union with ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
547 views

Does R L Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde have a hidden anti-science agenda?

In the novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Dr. Jekyll creates a serum that turns him into Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde commits several crimes. Even though Dr. Jekyll recognises Mr. Hyde as evil, he ...
Tsundoku's user avatar
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