Jekyll And Mr Hyde Religion

Queen Victoria, an extremely influential matriarch and key figure in British history, ruled Great Britain for over sixty-three years and continually instilled in her citizens a strong sense of morality. Victoria attempted to virtuously navigate her country through the murky depths of religious skepticism brought about by the Enlightenment and sought for Great Britain to be a bastion of Christianity standing strong against the secular world. Although the British citizens outwardly followed Victoria’s stringent moral code and abstained from pleasure, many citizens, like Dr. Jekyll in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, began to fixate on the thought of pursuing vice, yet remained outwardly pious in order to protect their reputations

and careers. Written at a time when morality was constantly stressed and a good reputation was hailed as the measure of success in society, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde fully exemplifies the Victorian attitudes of the time, with Dr. Jekyll obsessing so much over his perfect reputation that he creates a separate entity (Mr. Hyde) just to carry out his pressing human desires, ultimately leading to Jekyll’s destruction.
The importance of The Strange Case of Dr.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde cannot be understood without first studying the cultural views of the period in which the story occurs. The obsession with morality in Victorian England was a reactionary response to the rise of secularism and atheism, and the newly popular philosophy of utilitarianism significantly influenced the attitudes of the times. When Henry VIII split from the papacy in the sixteenth century and created the Anglican Church, subsequently resulting in civil wars between Protestant and Catholic monarchs, like Edward VI and Mary I (Bloody Mary), he created a longstanding tradition of tying the country’s national identity to its religion. Therefore, when the world was increasingly turning away from religion, Queen Victoria reacted strongly against this and reinforced the importance of religion in Britain. Furthermore, utilitarianism greatly shaped the Victorian elites’ views on morality and the role of mystery in society. Ironically, many famous Victorians like “Carlyle, Tennyson, Macaulay, Thomas Arnold…and [Charles] Dickens” actively opposed utilitarianism, yet the moral views of the philosophy permeated their worldview and shaped their outlook on life (Madden 460). These thinkers and Queen Victoria viewed “mystery” with “widespread hostility,” viewing it as “daemonic,” sharing a strikingly similar view on the issue with their Utilitarian counterparts (Madden 460). Therefore, when Jekyll was secretly attempting to create a potion to separate himself from Mr. Hyde, his “scientific studies” were leading towards “the mystic and transcendental,” two things vehemently opposed by Victorian England (Stevenson 42). Jekyll was operating on the fringes of society and took great lengths to conceal his works because he knew the dire consequences if others were to discover his mystic experiments. Dr. Lanyon, one of Jekyll’s closest friends, represents the traditional rational, moral, and honorable Victorian man. Upon witnessing

the mystical transformation of Mr. Hyde into Dr. Jekyll after drinking a potion, “his soul sickened…[his] life [shook] to its roots” and he thought that the “moral turpitude” was the “deadliest terror” he had ever seen (Stevenson 41). Lanyon, influenced by Utilitarianism and British religion, exemplifies the traditional Victorian disgust with mystery and alchemy, and despite his close friendship with Jekyll, he could no longer associate himself with someone who so willingly violated the cultural norms.
Although Victorian England fervently opposed sorcery and mystical pursuits, it prized science greatly and elevated scientists to the top of society. Furthermore, the story takes place in London, the “center of British science,” and two of the three main characters are doctors (Lightman 1). Science was “central to [Victorian] culture,” and “Victorian novels abound with characters caught up in scientific pursuit” (Lightman 2). A wealthy, intelligent, middle-aged, white, male doctor, such as Dr. Jekyll, would have been at the pinnacle of British society. The “aristocratic gentlemen of science” like Dr. Jekyll “provided Victorians with a vision of culture and social order based on natural theology” (Lightman 3). Jekyll was supposed to be the perfect example of a Victorian man, yet internally he fixates on vice and ultimately becomes so consumed by his passions that he resorts to mysticism to create Mr. Hyde to fulfill his wants. Because he was such a prominent member of society, Jekyll went to great lengths to hide his pursuits. He “took and furnished [a] house in Soho” where Hyde could stay and Dr. Jekyll did not tell a soul about his double life until absolutely necessary (Stevenson 46). A lower class woman would never need to conceal her vices in the way Jekyll did, but because the image-obsessed Victorian society hailed science, men, wealth, and morality so highly, Jekyll could not afford to risk losing his upright reputation and therefore it was necessary for him to create Mr. Hyde.
The British government attempted to uphold morality by creating harsh social laws punishing those who were caught in an immoral situation. The “death sentence could be passed for picking pockets or stealing food,” as Victoria attempted to crack down on the rise of crime caused by the expansion of the inner city during the Industrial Revolution (Gooii 1). Furthermore, executions were “public spectacles,” and the people delighted in watching others receive punishment for their crimes (Gooii 1). Victoria’s policies brought about the hypocritical culture of this time. As the head of the Anglican Church, Queen Victoria wanted her citizens to live virtuous lives, and as the Queen of England, she wielded immense influence over the judicial system of the country. Victoria combined both of her roles and attempted to legislate morality. “Natural justice” became the “doctrine of the court” during this time, meaning that the British laws were designed to create a national “conscience” that would readily accept Church dogma and follow Christian traditions (Petch 124). While idealistically the legislation would deter the British citizens from vices, it ultimately bred hypocrisy amongst the residents and caused people not to fear for the ethical and religious consequences of their actions, but only to fear that their deeds would become public knowledge. In the same way, Dr. Jekyll felt no guilt for acting hedonistically when he travelled around London at night as Mr. Hyde because he had “concealed [his] pleasures” from the eyes of society, and no one would know that the grotesque looking animal prowling around at night was the same person as the upstanding Dr. Jekyll (Stevenson 42). It was essential for Jekyll to project a display of righteousness to the Victorian society because he had “a large fortune…the respect of the wise and good...and [had] every guarantee of an honourable and distinguished future,” and if someone of his status were found publicly guilty of violating a moral law, he would become a pariah and his career as a doctor would undoubtedly be decimated (Stevenson 42). However, Jekyll, like most Victorian citizens, did not have a pure heart, but only a pure reputation. The people constructed a righteous façade and learned to hide their sinful behaviors from the public because of the pressure from Queen Victoria to lead a principled life.
Victorian England proved to be a paradoxical time—many people claimed to support Victoria’s new legislation, yet crime rates dramatically increased and inner-city slums grew at unprecedented rates (Flanders 1). Victoria attempted to instill in her citizens a sense of integrity and civic duty to abstain from vice through her stringent criminal legislation, but it ultimately failed to bring lasting change to British society. The immense amount of pressure placed on a societal elite like Dr. Jekyll to act with moral perfection at all times undeniably produced enormous anxiety and paranoia and even caused Jekyll to create an alternate identity, Mr. Hyde, to conceal his debaucherous actions. All in all, while Victorian England appeared to be a time of great purity, the people merely constructed a religious façade and outwardly presented a pious life while internally fixating on vice, bringing about widespread hypocrisy, a hallmark of Victorian society.