Victoria London as an Essential Element of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson in 'Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde' makes London in
the Victorian era an essential element of the story, Text Box: Text Box: 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...
... middle of paper ...
...nerous, kind, and
respectable, and the other may be wild, but they are both the same
person; and it is this that Stevenson believes the Victorians need to
face.
London is vaguely like a character too, one like Doctor Jekyll. A
character which has a lesson to learn: to avoid the animal or dark
side of your character is wrong. The darker side will break loose, and
wreak havoc, like Mr Hyde murdering Sir Davers Carew after being
'cooped up' for so long, having been "long caged". With "a more
furious propensity to ill…the spirit of hell awoke in [Jekyll], and
raged". The result was murder, just as it was in Whitechapel in 1888
when the Victorians were finally forced to face up to the violence
hidden in their society and, through Jack the Ripper's killings, the
ghastly conditions that many of their citizens endured.
The sense of conflict being created through disapproval portrays duality that the Victorians had at the period; it is almost as if they were in a dilemma and confusion in deciding which element of sanity to maintain. Stevenson wrote the story to articulate his idea of the duality of human nature, sharing the mixture good and evil that lies within every human being. In the novel Mr Hyde represents the evil part of a person and of Dr Jekyll.
In Robert Louis Stevenson’s, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll’s struggle between two personalities is the cause of tragedy and violence. Dr. Jekyll takes his friends loyalty and unknowingly abuses it. In this novella, Stevenson shows attributes of loyalty, how friendship contributes to loyalty, and how his own life affected his writing on loyalty.
Within every being exists temptations, whether it be quiescent or dynamic, which fluctuates from one individual to another. Commonly negative, temptations ascend from lesser qualities of man and expose an individual to develop even more reprehensible ambitions. The story of a one man’s dark wishes is explored in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella, “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”. Properly termed, Stevenson perused the unnerving case of a respectable, proletariat-class doctor, who becomes associated and obsessed with Mr Hyde. It is this presence of the “duality of human nature that is created consistently throughout the Gothic Literature”.
Despite being published in 1886, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson remains to be recognized and referred to as one of the initial studies of the duality of human nature and mans struggle between two natural forces – good and evil. The story takes place during the Victorian Era in which society is already somewhat constrained and cruel and explores the human struggle between being civilized and facing the more primitive aspects to our being. According to author Irving S Saposnik, “Henry Jekyll’s experiment to free himself from the burden of duality results in failure because of his moral myopia, because he is a victim of society’s standards even while he would be free of them.” Henry Jekyll, an English doctor faces duality when he comes into battle with his darker side. Creating a personification under the name of Edward Hyde in order to fulfill his desires, Dr. Jekyll feels as if he will be able to control the face that he wants seen to public vs. the one in which he wants to keep more private. “Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me, and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life.” (10.1) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a story about how people are scared to acknowledge personal duality so they keep silent and in this case, create a personification in order to fulfill evil desires without thinking through the consequences of such actions.
Within the text of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson portrays a complex power struggle between Dr. Jekyll, a respected individual within Victorian London society, and Mr. Hyde a villainous man tempted with criminal urges, fighting to take total control of their shared body. While Dr. Jekyll is shown to be well-liked by his colleagues, Mr. Hyde is openly disliked by the grand majority of those who encounter him, terrified of his frightful nature and cruel actions. Throughout Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson portrays the wealthy side of London, including Mr. Utterson and Dr. Jekyll, as respected and well-liked, while showing the impoverish side as either non-existent or cruel.
Stevenson’s most prominent character in the story is the mysterious Mr Hyde. Edward Hyde is introduced from the very first chapter when he tramples a young girl in the street, which brings the reader’s attention straight to his character. The reader will instantly know that this person is a very important part of this book and that he plays a key role in the story. This role is the one of a respectable old man named Dr Jekyll’s evil side or a ‘doppelganger’. This links in with the idea of duality. Dr Jekyll is described as being ‘handsome’, ‘well-made’ and ‘smooth-faced’. On the other hand, Mr Hyde is described as being ‘hardly human’, ‘pale and dwarfish’, giving of an impression of deformity and ‘so ugly that it brought out the sweat on (Mr Enfield) like running’! These words all go together to conjure up an image in the mind of an animal, beast or monster. During the novel...
“Man is not truly one, but two.” (Chapter 10 page 125) Stevenson tells his prospective to the world through Jekyll. In his everyday life he saw a continuous struggle. He saw two natures fighting for control, and the winning nature determining his or her place in the dichotomous Victorian society. In the Victorian London society you were either the virtuous upper class that did no wrong or you were the scum of the earth. Jekyll did not only show his prospective, but many of the upper class in this particular society. Jekyll wanted keep the success and reputation that he had, but he also wanted to be able to enjoy his pleasures without being criticized by society. He felt as though society restricted him, and he hungered for freedom. He wanted...
A few weeks later Jekyll hosts a dinner-party. Afterwards Utterson stays to discuss the will and the meaning behind leaving such an important lifestyle to Edward Hyde. Jekyll jokes with Utterson but eventually asks him to end the discussion and promise to follow his will exactly. Almost a years later there is an incident involving Sir Danvers Carew and a mysterious man that beat him to death. With Carew, there was a letter addressed to Utterson. He leads the police to the home of Hyde where no one is found. The murder weapon and a burnt checkbook are discovered but in the weeks that follow, there are no signs of Mr. Hyde. On the same day of the murder, Utterson again visits a very ill Dr Jekyll. Jekyll says he has ended the relationship between himself and
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a tale that everyone is familiar with, or at least heard of; one of the earliest fictions of a character with a split personality. Based on the 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the 2015 adaptation Jekyll and Hyde produced by ITV in the UK alters the main tale while retaining the theme of dual personalities.
... man. Society in the Victorian era was consisted of two classes, trashy and wealthy. Jekyll was expected to be a gentleman, but he wanted to have fun. This was the reason he created Hyde, so he could both be respected and have fun. He was delighted at the freedom he now had. Lanyon was overly contolled, but Utterson knew all men had both good and bad within them and could control it. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, the dual nature of man is a main theme.
This paper highlights several problems that emerge during the Victorian age, a time of many changes and difficulties in England. During the Industrial Revolution, living conditions changed dramatically; as a result the economy to change from agricultural to industrial. The Victorian Era was also marked by immense progress and tremendous achievement. New values were placed on religion and faith in a society that was unrealistic for women. Robert Stevenson’s novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is being told through a third party, Mr. Utterson, who is the lawyer for Dr. Jekyll. There are no major female characters in this story. While women struggled for liberation from a male dominated society, Victorian men felt threatened by the feminist who sought personal liberties. Stevenson’s novel was influenced by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Stevenson pays homage to her at various points in his novel. Mr. Hyde’s rebellious nature threatened the balance of equality in English society. The escalation of horror in The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mr. Hyde depends on the oppression of women. The more oppressed women became, the more horror the characters experienced. In Robert Stevenson’s novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he channels Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, by leaving the voice of a woman character absent which alienates femininity, showing hypocrisy through the male characters and the influence of purity and sinful.
Victorian morals are significant in the establishment of duality due to the moral conflict it initiates. Stevenson introduced the theme of duality not merely because of contrasting characters and an appealing storyline. Present evidence indicates that Victorian society was constantly disturbed by an inescapable sense of division (Saposnik 88). The presence of two opposing personalities conflicted with the Victorian conscience. Likewise, Victorian society feared the type of behaviors and person represented by Jekyll and Hyde. Hyde is considered the "brutal embodiment of the moral, social, political, and economic threats which shook the uncertain Victorian world" (Saposnik 100). Everything about Jekyll was eerie and defied the Victorian ethics from his physical appearance to his inconsiderate actions. The setting also played an important role with Victorian morals. London was a location where virtue and vice was most clearly present. This is where evil battled the good of Christianity. London was the center of the Victorian world and was the great arena of moral conflict as well....
The Victorian Era lasted from (1837-1901), this era would drastically change society into the modern way of life. Throughout the era, came change within medicine, industry, science, cultural life and social manners. With the help of key characters we are able to see how a man should act in the era with different aspects. In the novel "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson, he is able to give us an insight of the Victorian lifestyle with the help of Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, Mr. Utterson, and Mr. Enfield each one representing a different norm.
In chapter 4 the assault by Hyde was a completely spontaneous and vicious attack on an innocent old man. Hyde’s assault on Carew can be vividly depicted in the text. The text on page 28 reads, “And then all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman.” This snippet of text allows the readers to fully understand the complete bizarreness of this unfortunate event. Robert Stevenson uses the phrase, “And then all of a sudden”, to capture the impulsiveness of Hyde. The maid describes Hyde as a “madman” before he has even committed the crime. This crime was based merely on unknown anger, but this text uses the word “brandish”, which gives the readers the idea that he may have bee trying to intimidate the old gentleman before his attack.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886 (About R.L.S). The concept of the book came from a nightmare Stevenson had (About R.L.S). His wife Fanny woke him up from a screaming terror and he said, “I was dreaming a fine bogey tale; why would you wake me?” (About R.L.S). He started writing furiously in bed the following morning. In three days he had completed the first draft of the book. When Stevenson finished, he read the story proudly to Fanny, but Fanny’s reaction was strange. In a rage, Stevenson threw the first copy into the fire; he rewrote the story as an allegory in another three days (About R.L.S). Stevenson would later state that it was the worst thing he ever wrote (Study Guide & Essay). The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sold forty thousand copies in Britain during the first six months, and brought Stevenson more attention than he had previously ever known (Study Guide & Essay). Even with all the fame that Stevenson received, he was still deathly sick and at times was