How does Stevenson Discuss and Reflect Victorian Society and Culture in the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

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How does Stevenson Discuss and Reflect Victorian Society and Culture in the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

     In this essay I will be exploring the ways in which Robert Louis Stevenson portrays and reflects the society into which his novelette, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was initially introduced.

     

   To do this I will explore setting, language and form within the novel. There are also a number of themes and ideals that I will also discuss Gothic Literary Tradition, Victorian Science, duality, hypocrisy and Victorian concepts of virtue and vice.

   

      Many of the characters in “Jekyll and Hyde” show two sides to their personality. This duality is shown in their spotless and respected public face that contradicts their despicable behaviour in private. Possibly the most obvious example of this is seen where Sir Danvers Carew, a respectable MP and gentleman, seemingly a perfect person in Victorian society, is seen and killed whilst in Soho. At the time, Soho was a very undesirable area of London where respectable men were not expected to be, at an unusual time of the night. The lateness of his visit there suggests that he was doing something that he didn’t want his friends or anyone from his social circle to see, probably something deviant. Soho was a haven for drug dealers, drug users, prostitutes, all types of crime and very poor people. This is reflective of a common situation that was seen in the late eighteen hundreds. It would have been a shocking and unthought-of of idea to discuss this concept openly at the time the book was written, however, as it would make those who carried out deviant acts feel scrutinised and less safe. As if their secret was being made public. This is a very innovative and original reflection of a Victorian situation that was commonplace yet underground.

   

      We see more of this social situation when Jekyll himself explains that, as Hyde, he could perform acts that in his normal form he could not. His social standing would prohibit such behaviour and yet he felt compelled to act in this way. Conscious within Hyde and free from social expectations, he gained a sickening sense of satisfaction, remorselessness and enjoyment when he acted upon his suppressed evil longings. Or, at least, at first he did. A sentiment shown in his statement of the case where he points to, “secret pleasures, that I had enjoyed in the disguise of Hyde.” This explains that, owing to his social standing being rather high and respectable, he could not act upon certain longings, but, as Hyde, an unrespected nobody, he could. This was a similar, if more extreme, version of a situation that society at the time forced many respectable people into. Obviously nobody had two separate appearances and personalities, in a literal sense, but some had a public face and life and a private one. Expectation was very high amongst people from respectable social positions and classes. There was no room for misbehaving. It is suggested that social expectation indirectly resulted in the birth of Hyde, as the potion to turn Jekyll into Hyde was formulated in order to separate good from evil. Social expectation was satisfied by Jekyll as the focus was on the good things. As Hyde, a separate persona, he could be evil without the worry of social pressure and reputation. Jekyll says:

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If each, I told myself, could but be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfast, and securely on his upright path”

 

      The duality shown in so many of the characters shows the inherent hypocrisy in Victorian society in which people had an open, public life and a secret life that only took place where the person was not available to come under scrutiny from ...

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