Social Anxieties In Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

Just as a mirror reflects one’s face, the horror genre is a physical representation of how fear is portrayed to discuss the social anxieties of one’s time period. Representations of fear have continued to vary in accordance to reflect a particular time period’s social anxieties. Robin Wood, in the essay American Nightmare: Essays on the Horror Film, articulates how the ‘true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilisation represses or oppresses.’ He contended that the way in which any given horror narrative determines this conflict, uncovers its ideological orientation, and further, that most of these compositions will be conservative; stifling desires inside of the self and disavowing it by projecting

it outward as a monstrous Other. The vessels of monstrosity have therefore evolved across time and this can be seen through the following works of fiction, The Vampyre and The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde as well as the short story, The Black Cat written by John Polidori, Robert Louis Stevenson and Edgar Allan Poe respectively.
The two prescribed texts, The Vampyre and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde were together written within the same century, however one was published at the beginning of the Romantic era, whilst the other near towards the end of the Victorian era. There was a considerable amount of years between the publication dates of these two particular texts, and the monstrosity featured with the two texts differ accordingly. Representations of fear have indeed evolved since The Vampyre, onto the Victorian concepts of monstrosity; through this, the monster changes over time in the way that society sees the fear reflected with the depiction of monstrosity. John Polidori explores his view on aristocracy’s behaviour by establishing Lord Ruthven within the elite. Polidori’s criticism of Romanticism is illustrated through the configuration of the monster. The novella stands as a damning critique of the Byronic hero – the deconstruction of this hero’s errors are self-indulgent and subjective to the whims of the elite, which contrasts to the figurative image of Prometheus who stole fire from the gods for the benefit of mankind. The intrinsically corrupt motives of the Romantic idea of rule breaking therefore becomes questioned, as Lord Ruthven is not a heroic transgressor. Similarly, the corruption of London society is evident through Aubrey’s naiveté within the short story. The naiveté of Aubrey adds to the uncertainty of Lord Ruthven's appeal and proposes that in the bland and self-indulgent world of the elite, titillation replaces true sensibility. Hence it is conceivable to see that the story turns into an analysis of the refined perspectives represented by Lord Ruthven. Additionally, the vampiric exploitation which Lord Ruthven spreads both in England and abroad, is an extended metaphor for the generosity and patronage of the upper class, as experienced by Polidori himself. The dissipations the high society enjoy continues to emphasise their moral vacancy which Polidori suggests the susceptibility for evil. Indeed, John Polidori’s The Vampyre according to Michela Vanon Alliata in The Physician and His Lordship, contends that ‘Polidori’s vampire, a restless, defiant and yet overpowering seductive figure, became instead a potent metaphor for acting out private fantasies such as identification and projection, as well as fear of failure and self-destructive drives.’
The monstrosity that John Polidori constructed has noticeably evolved over time, and indeed, the manner through which Robert Louis Stevenson addresses the social anxieties of his time period, differs significantly in comparison to Polidori’s representation of monstrosity.

Stevenson truly voices the anxieties and fears of the late Victorian age, and such can be seen throughout his novella, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in the late eighteenth century. Stevenson identifies the double standard of society that he explores through the two characters, Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde. Peri Bradley, in Monstrous Makeovers: Transforming 'Monsters’ into Beauty Queens, affirms that ‘each culture and each era creates its own monsters that embody and express the fears and anxieties specific to the environment of that particular generation.’ Within his novel, Stevenson alludes towards the concealment of vice which in turn creates an environment of hypocrisy, leading towards the cultivation of monstrosity. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde truly captures the Victorian era in the way that it has configured the monster and reconstructed the setting of the narrative. Traditional Gothic conventions, such as the use of distant and foreign locations, have been dismissed as Stevenson replaces it with the dark geography of contemporary London; which in turn, literally and metaphorically reinforces the duality in the psychology of late Victorian Britain. An equally significant aspect is Stevenson’s narrative style, which dismisses the omniscient narrator prevalent in the Gothic genre; this allows him to employ conventions involving a scientific nature which explores monstrosity of a different kind. Through this, Stevenson explores evil as an internal element that lies at the heart of human nature itself. The evolution of monstrosity has therefore evolved since Polidori’s construction of the monster; Stevenson highlights society’s creation of its own monsters in its own likeness whilst

Polidori’s Lord Ruthven is an external evil, welcomed by a dissipated elite but not a creation of it.
In addition to what was previously stated, Stevenson’s scientific nature within his short story allows monstrosity to manifest itself within the Victorian world, which is a mechanism that allows Stevenson to explore evil through a darker view. This in turn paints a world in which the picture of monstrosity mirrors the very world that created it. Stevenson’s anxiety involving the scientific development that was occurring during his time period, is evident in the way that he employs the use of a potion that allows Jekyll to transform into Hyde. Sylvia A. Pamboukian in The Monstrous Hero: Medicine and Monster-making in Late Victorian Literature, states that ‘Stevenson represents monster-making as scientific, and this choice implies that it is morally neutral compared with the supernatural evil of earlier monstrous creations.’ This clearly illustrates how indeed, Polidori’s representation of fear has evolved over time, and through this, he is able to depict social anxieties of his time period through the representation of monstrosity.
Whilst The Vampyre and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde took place in London, The Black Cat was published by the American author, Edgar Allan Poe. In the novella, Gothic conventions are illustrated, and supernatural and superstitious elements can therefore be seen. The allusion of witchcraft is demonstrated as the titular cat is entirely black. Additionally, the symbolic name ‘Pluto’ further depicts the supernatural elements within the short story, as the cat is named after the Roman god of the Dead. Through the use of flashback, the shift in the man’s personality becomes evident, with the consumption of alcohol being attributed as the catalyst for this change. Poe’s own drinking habits are physically represented through the man’s consumption of it, and the consequences of his inebriation causes the narrator to cut out the cat’s eye after biting him. Kenneth Silverman, in Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembering states that the ‘dread of being consumed often leads the narrator to destroy who or what he fears.’