Robert Louis Stevenson in ‘Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ makes London in the Victorian era an essential element of the story, because London at the end of the 19th century was the centre of a massive empire. It was the epitome of what other towns and cities should be like. The gentlemen of London were the ‘perfect’ example of how everyone should behave. A respectable gentleman was thought to be a rational man, a good Christian, a responsible person. This was the vital concept to the leaders of Victoria’s Empire. This, however, put extreme pressure on the gentlemen of London to be absolutely perfect; they were unable to commit even the slightest sin. They were the example to the entire British Empire; they were the role models of gentlemen all around the world. One such gentleman in ‘Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ is Mr Utterson: “[His face] was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse.” He seems to have no emotions; he seems to be “backward in sentiment” and “lean, lost, hungry, dreary”. He didn’t allow himself pleasures; “he drank gin…to mortify a taste for vintages” and “he enjoyed the theatre, [but] had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years”. This repression and denial of pleasures causes dire consequences for Doctor Jekyll. He was born into a rich family, had a liking for the respect of others (particularly the respected and the wise), and became a respectable gentleman like Utterson. However, he felt the stress of the pressure on the gentlemen of Victorian London; and we learn that as a young man he indulged in “undignified” pleasures. As he grew older he had to hide these pleasures and lead a double life. He already believed that there was an animal side to men, that “man was not truly one, but truly two”, but to remain in the high positions of society, Jekyll had to hide his darker side.
