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

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was published in 1886 as a shilling shocker novelette written by the young novelist Robert Louis Stevenson. At thattime in that respect was a surfeit of cheap horror novellas. Stevensons novellawas different because it explored the evil inside human kind. I willlook into Victorian attitudes and how these influenced Victorian life.The heathenish and historical context of the text is typical of theauthor but not his time because there was a contradiction betweenScience and religion and this novella sc bed people aboutpossibilities of evil. Victorian values at this time were very strictand those people who broke them were looked down on in the affableorder. Jekyll was the perfect upright Victorian man, he was tall, wellmannered, rich and had earned his place in society. Hyde on the otherhand was short, ugly and evil. Because Jekyll is so peachy he needs mostthing to take his fountainhead off his 9 tenths life of relentlessstruggling an d grinding. He created Hyde to do just that, to take hismind off and be evil and careless when he feels standardised it. This wholestory line would have shocked a Victorian reader because of the conundrum between religion and science. People were very duplicitous atthis time because they all knew about the underground prostitution,drug-abuse and pornography, yet they did not talk about it or lettheir friends know about their drug habit or weekly trip to thebrothel. his shows the corruption of the community and the fraudulentmorals.In the text there are elements of thriller and horror. In chapter tenHenry Jekylls Full Statement of The Case there is a horrificdescription of Jekylls transformation into Hyde. The most rackingpan... ...sickliness ofJekyll. This means that the more Jekyll is disgusted at Hydesactions, the more Hydes powers of evil and destruction grow graduallystronger.Jekyll now wants out f the whole double life and plans to kill himselfand Hyde as well.Henry Jekyll fe els some remorse about leaving Hyde in the world. Hesays Will Hyde die on the scaffold? Or will he find the courage torelease himself at the last moment? God knows I am careless this ismy true hour of death, and then as I lay down my en, and proceed to blockade up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyllto an end.Her Henry Jekyll has ended his own life rather than see himself turncompletely into Hyde. This novella has two morals one is not to messabout with your body and not to indulge too heavily in anythingbecause it turns out bad like the life of Henry Jekyll.