London at this time was very divided between the prosperous and the underprivileged. A lot of Londoners were having a difficult time with high unemployment, no schooling for the poor, the apprehension of the mob and amongst the middle class who feared that a revolution was imminent. Stephenson uses this contrast in Jekyll and Hyde in many scenes for example the description of Guests house and the contrasting exterior of the street outside. In this scene Mr Utterson and Mr Guest are discussing a letter that is apparently from Hyde. They are sat at a “nicely calculated distance from the fire” which already brings a warm atmosphere to Guest’s house and a “bottle of a particular old wine that has dwelt unsunned” gives us the image of a wealthy man enjoying a fine wine sat by his fireplace. It then contrasts with the street and the fog that “still slept on the wing above the drowned city”. This is a extreme contrast to Guests cosy residence. It then contrasts further when it talks of the street being “great arteries with a sound as of a mighty wind” and talks of Guest’s house being “gay with firelight” bringing the warmth imagery in again. Stephenson then describes the view out of the window and says that the “colour grows richer” as the sun goes down and then emphases this with powerful imagery “Hot Autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards” but then contrasts this with the cold “fogs of London”. Another scene that illustrates this is in scene one with the contrasting street. It starts by giving us the thought of it being quiet for London but still it “drove a thriving trade on the week-days”. It also makes us believe that the people of this street are affluent by saying that the, “inhabitants were all doing well”. It then brings a warm welcoming side to the street “the shop fronts stood along that through fare with an air of invitation, like rows of smiling saleswomen”. It highlights this by using very descriptive phrases such as “Florid charms” and “shone out”. This is emphasised with a simile, “Like a fire in the forest”. And to make it more appealing it shows other peoples views and says that it would “please the eye of the passenger”. It then contrasts this to “two doors from one corner, on the left hand going east” it says that this house was “broken by the entry of a court”, making us feel that it is out of place. It then gives us imagery of a “a sinister block of buildings thrust forward its gable on the street”. This is a very violent quote with its “sinister blocks” and then is emphasised by “buildings thrust forward”. It then goes on to describe Hyde’s house which “showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower storey”. This shows the unwelcoming cold house, which isn’t just an extreme contrast to the street outside but also to Guests house. It continues to describe the deprived loving of the house with its “discoloured wall on the upper… the marks of sordid negligence”. This clearly shows how Stephenson is trying to portray that good and evil exist in everyone with the house being used as a metaphor for the evil in Hyde.
Stephenson portrays good and evil in other ways such as the weather. He uses this to create an atmosphere for foreboding. An example of this is the fog scene on page 31-2 when Stephenson uses this technique. As Utterson driving from the police station to Hyde’s house there is a clear sense of foreboding evil in the atmosphere. “The first fog of the season…The wind was continually charging and routing” this introduces the fog again but also personifies the wind “charging” and also the give animism to the car as it “crawled from street to street”.
Stephenson shows that there are two sides to every person in many ways. The rich and the poor are never to far away from each other for example Jekyll’s rich well-respected house on Cavendish Square backs on to Hyde’s deprived house on a more squalid street. Victorians believed that if you were well respected you would use the front door but the person who is not completely respectable would use the back door. Poole Dr Jekyll butler informs us that Hyde uses the back entrance which in Victorian times was thought of as being a social inferior thing to do. The servants of Victorian times weren’t just thought of as being supportive to their masters and trustworthy but, as we can see in Hyde's servant who serves him well but also took delight in Hyde’s involvement in crime, they are also very two-faced and hypocritical.
Good and evil are the central conflict of the novel. At first they are very close and like each other’s attributes but as they see how different they are the start to loathe each other. I believe that evil wins in the end although good destroys Hyde evil has already conquered two people, Jekyll and Lanyon, and has also killed Carew and seriously injured a little girl. This shows us that Stephenson believes that in the future of Victorians there will always be evil even in the rich estates with people that have everything for them.
