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- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: themes and context
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: themes and context
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Stevenson wrote at a time of scientific change and strict public respectability. His novella explores the darkness hidden under polite society.
Context
Published in 1886. Robert Louis Stevenson grew up in Edinburgh, a city with a respectable new town and a poorer old town.
Charles Darwin's *On the Origin of Species* (1859) made people fear that humans were close to animals and might degenerate.
Victorian gentlemen were expected to keep a respectable reputation, which led many to hide secret vices.
Charles Darwin's *On the Origin of Species* (1859) made people fear that humans were close to animals and might degenerate.
Victorian gentlemen were expected to keep a respectable reputation, which led many to hide secret vices.
Key themes
Duality: Jekyll writes of "the thorough and primitive duality of man".
Good and evil: Hyde is evil let loose.
Science and religion: Jekyll's experiments go beyond natural limits.
Reputation and secrecy: the gentlemen avoid scandal and keep silent.
Good and evil: Hyde is evil let loose.
Science and religion: Jekyll's experiments go beyond natural limits.
Reputation and secrecy: the gentlemen avoid scandal and keep silent.
Setting and form
London is full of fog and dark streets, reflecting mystery and moral confusion.
The story uses multiple documents and narrators, building mystery like a detective story. It is a Gothic novella.
The story uses multiple documents and narrators, building mystery like a detective story. It is a Gothic novella.
How does Darwin's theory link to Hyde?
- Darwin argued humans evolved from earlier ancestors.
- Hyde is described as ape-like and troglodytic.
- Readers would see him as a frightening throwback to a primitive state.
Answer: Hyde embodies Victorian fears of humans slipping back to an animal state.
1886, Edinburgh, Darwin and degeneration, Victorian respectability. Themes: duality, good and evil, science, reputation and secrecy. Foggy London setting; multiple narrators; Gothic.
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