Jekyll hyde Victorian background and context

• Victorian Gentlemen


  An important figure in Victorian society
• Characteristics of a Victorian gentleman

  • From the upper-classes of Victorian society
  • His profession was important (army officers, church ministers, doctors, lawyers, bankers, successful merchants)
  • Expected to have strong morals and be kind, particularly towards poorer people
  • Brought many benefits (chance to enter well-paid professions, gain respect of rich clients, arrange good marriages for daughters, well-paid jobs for sons)
• Obsession of Victorian gentlemen with their reputations


  • Determined to maintain their reputations - without a good reputation, a man couldn't be considered a gentleman
  • Would often walk through public places like Hyde Park to keep up their appearance as gentlemen
  • Expected to keep their emotions under strict control, forcing them to hide desires for things like sex and alcohol
  • Publicly snobbish about disreputable places like public houses and brothels, whilst visiting them secretly at night
  • Prepared to pay large sums of money to keep immoral activities private, making them vulnerable to blackmail
• "I had been safe of all men's respect, wealthy, beloved": 'To be a Victorian gentleman: keep conversation controlled, appearance perfect and immoral activities under the radar. And, you know, don't invent a potion that transforms you into a murderous, ape-like being of pure evil.'
• Why does utterson want to discover tge truth about hyde

  He is worried that it might damage his reputation so it slows him down
• Working-class London was overcrowded due to the Industrial Revolution causing migration to large towns and cities
• Slum housing was generally of poor quality because it was built so quickly, with whole families living in one or two rooms, leading to widespread outbreaks of fatal diseases caused there was no running water or proper sanitation
• The streets in the slums were narrow and poorly lit, and the East End slums were built close to factories so that people could easily work long hours, leading to high levels of pollution
• There were parts of London where most respectable men wouldn't want to be seen, such as the working-class slums and places like brothels and public houses
• Hyde is associated with the less respectable parts of the city, and Jekyll sets up a house for Hyde in the disreputable Soho area
• Gothic novel setting


  • Traditionally set in faraway places like abandoned castles, but Stevenson chose to set his story in a place very familiar to his readers, which might make the novel more frightening
• Why did gentleman travel to dismal areas

  Because there was less chance being recognized also to satisfy there the desires they hid in public jekyll takes this one step further by changing his identity
• What does jekyll do for hyde?


  He sets up a house for him in soho in luxury and good taste this makes him a respectable gentle man
• Victorian society was very religious
• Christianity had a strong influence on many areas of everyday life in Victorian England
• Influential branch of Christianity in Victorian England

  • Evangelicalism
• Evangelicals taught


  All people are naturally sinful and it's up to individuals to seek forgiveness from God by living according to a strict moral and religious code
• Jekyll is particularly critical of his own sinfulness, more so than any other character
• Jekyll thinks of sin as

  The doom and burden of our life
• Jekyll creates Hyde in an attempt to rid himself of this "extraneous evil"
• In the early 1800s, Christianity taught that God created every species to be perfectly adapted to its environment
• The Book of Genesis also taught that humans were made in God's image, different from all other animals and ruling over them
• Some scientists argued that species evolved (developed) gradually over time
• Darwin put forward his theory in 'On the Origin of Species', published in 1859
• Darwin's theory claimed that

  All creatures evolved from common ancestors through a process called 'natural selection' he wrote about humans sharing a common ancestors with
• Darwin's writings went against the Christian idea that man's nature was different from other animals
• Stevenson uses the idea of an animalistic side to everyone in the novel
• Hyde is described as the "animal within" Henry Jekyll
• Hyde "seems hardly human", lets out a scream of "animal terror" and Poole says he is "like a monkey"
• Hyde is also shorter than Jekyll, which could suggest that he's a less evolved version of the doctor
• Stevenson


  As a young man, he rebelled against the storm and conventional morality of his father, which he considered to be genteel hypocrisy of the wealthy in Edinburgh society
• Stevenson disliked


  The Presbyterian respectability (ie. being socially acceptable via faith in the Protestant church and the elders of the church)
• Novella


  The idea of the novella stemmed from a nightmare and was likely strongly influenced by the repressive societal norms that plagued society
• Rebellion against hypocrisy


  Reflected in the novella in the duplicity between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: one is a respected gentleman in society whilst the other is a degenerate
• Stevenson completely indicts any ideas of respectability and the weight it holds in society through undermining rigid social constructs
• The whole novella intermingles ideas of 'respectability' with the belligerent and horrifying reality-respectability is a façade that most feel they have to uphold
• The inspiration of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde having come from a nightmare is clearly reflected in the novel, as often the setting is painted as having such qualities; it is dark, eerie, and frightening as the normal rules of nature do not apply
• Victorian London


  Plagued with very restrictive and repressive 'social norms'
• Britain at the time

  • Seen as a pinnacle of excellence
  • Deemed as the 'progressive era'
• Although there were great economic advancements (such as the industrial revolution where Britain moved from farming to factories) society was far from progressive and advancing in the same way