Context Flashcards
Where was RLS born?
Edinburgh in 1850
What professions did his family include?
Engineers, scientists, a professor philosophy and a religious minister
What problems did RLS encounter as a child?
He had tuberculosis.
What did RLS like to read about?
Travel and adventure
What did RLS’s love of adventure and ill health lead to?
Him spending many years travelling the world to search for a climate healthier than Britain’s
Where did RLS move to live in 1890?
Samoan Islands in the South Pacific
What year did RLS die?
1894
What year did Darwin publish his Origin of Species?
1859
What did many people see Darwin’s book as?
An attack on religion as the book made it impossible to believe God created the world in seven days
What theory did Darwin put forward?
That all life evolved from more primitive forms
What were people’s views on Science and Religion at the time of the release of Darwin’s book?
That science and a belief in religion and the supernatural were at odds with each other. There was pressure to choose between the two.
What did people believe about science?
It was becoming dangerous and was meddling with matters only God had control over
When were the Jack the Ripper murders?
1888
True or False?
Stevenson did follow his parent’s expectations of him as a religious scholar.
False.
Stevenson did NOT follow his parent’s expectations of him as a religious scholar.
He became a bohemian who was critical of upper class hypocrisy and bourgeois values.
What was the economy like in Britain while the book was being wrote?
The book was written when the economic growth in England was booming, induced by the industrial revolution.
The Victorian period also saw a change in societal conventions - science played a more important role and there was a shift from religion to scientific theories.
The views of morality also changed: people started to engage in questionable activities and behaviours.