Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Context Essay

Texts are a representation of their context and this is evident in Robert Stevenson’s novella: “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”, where many values of late nineteenth century Victorian England values were reflected through the themes of the novel using language and structural features. These values included: technological advances, reputation and masculinity and are demonstrated in the text through literary and structure devices as well as the characterisation of the main character.

During the reign of Queen Victoria, there were many technological and scientific advances that impacted how people viewed the society. The nineteenth century saw the rise of ideas such as the ‘fin-de-siecle”, where the progress in technology or science

If these rules were disobeyed, the individual’s reputation would be tarnished and this would mean that their position in the social hierarchy would be at risk. Stevenson recognises the importance of maintaining a good reputation and this value is evident throughout the characters of the novel, for example through Mr Utterson where he tries to prevent his good friend Dr Jekyll from ruining his reputation by being dragged into the vile affairs of Mr Hyde. This can be seen through the metaphor: ‘Ay, I must put my shoulder to the wheel’ implying that a good reputation is everything for a gentleman and as a close friend of Jekyll’s, he must prevent Jekyll’s credit to be ruined by Hyde. Even when Dr Jekyll has died, Utterson still tries to salvage what is left of Jekyll’s reputation seen through the defensive tone he uses when addressing Poole, the butler about the situation: “I would say nothing of this paper”, portraying that even after deaths, a man’s reputation is still very important as it will affect his family and friends. One of the ways that a reputation can be tainted is through the spreading of rumours and gossip. This can be seen through Enfield’s reluctance to talk to Utterson about the incident involving Hyde as he believes that by gossiping or asking questions he might ruin his own reputation. His use of an analogy: “You start a

Like the rules that were abide by upper-class citizens, there was also a code pertaining to what was acceptable for men and women. Men were expected to hold decent jobs, marry respectable women, and create the next generation of proper British citizens but however; masculinity was being challenged in the Victorian era by homosexuality and prostitution. Stevenson recognises that the value of masculinity was being challenged through the hidden references in his novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. A reference to prostitution and brothels can be seen when Enfield says: “I was coming home from some place at the end of the world, about three o’clock of a black winter morning.” The hyperbole ‘end of the world’ could imply East End, the part of London where brothels were common as this is the only reasonable solution to why Enfield would be walking that late at night alone. The reference of East End is again seen when Enfield describes the direction that Hyde was headed towards: “one a little man who was stumping along eastward at a good walk”, which further emphasises the breakdown masculinity as many men in Victorian England chose to remain as bachelors and enjoy the comforts of prostitutes instead of marrying a wife and starting a family. A reference of homosexuality is through Stevenson portraying Jekyll as the ‘damsel in distress’ and Utterson as the