How important is the setting in R L Stevenson's portrayal of a double life in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Authors Avatar

How important is the setting in R L Stevenson’s portrayal of a double life in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

The strange case of ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ was written in 1886 by Robert Lewis Stevenson. Robert Lewis Stevenson was born and brought up in Edinburgh in the 1850’s. He was part of a middle class family, his parents were strict Christians and it was very important to them that Stevenson behaved respectfully. When Stevenson was a child, Stevenson’s nanny frightened him with stories of hell and suffering which may have contributed to his ideas in the novel. When he was a young man in Edinburgh he may have used a false name or a hidden identity in order to indulge himself in forbidden activities or he may have fantasized about them, like crime, affairs and homosexuality. In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson uses his experiences to describe the unpleasant side of life. The novel is about how Dr Jekyll leads a double life and its devastating consequences. The book reflects Victorian concerns about city life such as crime and poverty.

The novel is set in the city of London and is significant in the novel because in general most gothic novels at that time were set far away or in unfamiliar surroundings, yet Stevenson sets the novel in London which shocked readers because it was a place they all knew which made them think that the themes discussed in the novel could be happening near them. This makes it more frightening to the reader and therefore made it a more popular novel. In the novel Stevenson describes London as ‘labyrinths of lamp lighted city’. This suggests that the city makes it possible for people to easily lose themselves in London. We see this in the novel when Stevenson says ‘he was often absent; for instance, it was nearly two months since she had seen him till yesterday’ (the day of the murder). This tells us that Hyde was often absent and it relates back to people losing themselves in the city.

Join now!

Another important aspect of the setting is the weather, which for most of the novel is described as ‘fogged city moon’ This creates an atmosphere of mystery and unknown and it also suggests that something might be about to happen. The chapter which describes the Carew murder case is an important event in the novel because the murder forces Mr Utterson to investigate and piece together the link between his friend Dr. Jekyll and the murderer Mr Hyde. The reader learns, however, that they are the same person. Stevenson sets the murder scene in a lane which the maid’s ...

This is a preview of the whole essay