Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essay -- English Literature

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was published in 1886 as a 'shilling shocker' novella written by the young novelist Robert Louis Stevenson. At that time there was a surfeit of cheap horror novellas. Stevenson's novella was different because it explored the evil inside human kind. I will look into Victorian attitudes and how these influenced Victorian life. The cultural and historical context of the text is typical of the author but not his time because there was a contradiction between Science and religion and this novella scared people about possibilities of evil. Victorian values at this time were very strict and those people who broke them were looked down on in the social order. Jekyll was the perfect upright Victorian man, he was tall, well mannered, rich and had earned his place in society. Hyde on the other hand was short, ugly and evil. Because Jekyll is so good he needs something to take his mind off his "9 tenths life of relentless struggling and grinding". He created Hyde to do just that, to take his mind off and be evil and careless when he feels like it. This whole story line would have shocked a Victorian reader because of the paradox between religion and science. People were very duplicitous at this time because they all knew about the underground prostitution, drug-abuse and pornography, yet they did not talk about it or let their friends know about their drug habit or weekly trip to the brothel. ^his shows the corruption of the community and the fraudulent morals. In the text there are elements of thriller and horror. In chapter ten 'Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of The Case' there is a horrific description of Jekyll's transformation into Hyde. 'The most racking pan... ...sickliness of Jekyll. This means that the more Jekyll is disgusted at Hyde's actions, the more Hyde's powers of evil and destruction grow gradually stronger. Jekyll now wants out f the whole double life and plans to kill himself and Hyde as well. Henry Jekyll feels some remorse about leaving Hyde in the world. He says 'Will Hyde die on the scaffold? Or will he find the courage to release himself at the last moment? God knows; I am careless; this is my true hour of death, and then as I lay down my en, and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end. Her Henry Jekyll has ended his own life rather than see himself turn completely into Hyde. This novella has two morals; one is not to mess about with your body and not to indulge too heavily in anything because it turns out bad like the life of Henry Jekyll.