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Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson’s Background. Born November 3, 1850, in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was an only son. Died December 3, 1894. He was 44 when he died. Conflict #1- Family Expectations. For generations, Stevenson family had been lighthouse engineers.
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Stevenson’s Background • Born November 3, 1850, in Edinburgh, Scotland. • He was an only son. • Died December 3, 1894. • He was 44 when he died.
Conflict #1- Family Expectations • For generations, Stevenson family had been lighthouse engineers. • Family wanted Robert to become an engineer, too. • Robert wanted to write. • He studied law as a compromise.
Conflict #2- Parental Beliefs • Stevenson rejected his parents’ religion and bourgeois hypocrisy. • Bourgeois: a person of the middle class, such as a merchant, businessman, or salaried worker with a higher status than a farmer or a laborer and a lower status than an aristocrat or a person of great wealth; common, ordinary.
Conflict #2- Parental Beliefs • Stevenson pursued a bohemian lifestyle. • Bohemian: a free and easy, unconventional sort of life adopted by artists, writers, and others.
Conflict #3- Finding Love • Stevenson was plagued by illness his entire life. • At 23, Stevenson developed respiratory illness. • Recovered on French Rivera.
Conflict #3- Finding Love • While in France, fell in love with Fanny Osbourne, an American. • Fanny was married, but separated. • Robert courted her for 2 years, despite his parents’ disapproval.
Conflict #3- Finding Love • Fanny moved back to California. • Robert followed her and they married. • Robert’s family finally accepted the marriage and offered much-need financial help. • Robert and Fanny moved back to Scotland.
Travels Influence Literature • Stevenson traveled to many places, which he wrote about in his literature. • Places include France, England, Samoa, and the United States.
Travels Influence Literature • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde set in London, England. • Treasure Island set in Samoa. • Kidnapped set in the United States.
Conclusion • Robert Louis Stevenson died on December 3, 1894, at the age of 44. • He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, which killed him instantly. • He went to the wine cellar to get a bottle of burgundy, uncorked it in the kitchen, and abruptly cried to his wife, “What’s the matter with me, what is this strangeness, has my face changed?”