Queer Theory In Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

Madness and Mollyhouses: Queer Theory in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde “...[T]he same offence be from henceforth ajudged Felony,” said the Buggery Act of 1533. The offence, of course, was gay sex. It has never been easy to be a man who desires other men. In England, the punishment for sodomy was being hanged. Because of this, English authors frequently resorted to using subtext and coded language to explore homosexual relations in their country. This was especially true in the 19th century, a time of rapidly changing social mores and ideas about gender and relationships. It was a time when sex (of any sort) was not discussed in public, and women were supposed to remain at home. It was also a time when rapid industrialization meant more young men in the cities than ever before: it was both easier to meet other gay men and easier to feel immense guilt about being one. In Dr Jekyll

If he were truly a good man, he would have restrained himself in heterosexuality. This was what good Victorian men were supposed to be, after all. Even Oscar Wilde married and had children. (Robert Louis Stevenson too married and had children, despite several instances of his seeming uninterested in his wife and his delight at men finding him attractive.) Furthermore, Jekyll does not feel he deserves companionship, because he is gay and so unworthy of partaking in the normal heterosexual male homosocial relationships. The other reason for him to stay inside is because he knows that his desires will make his friends uncomfortable, and that they will view him as predatory. Dr Lanyon says as much to the narrator: "I wish to see or hear no more of Dr. Jekyll," he said in a loud, unsteady voice. "I am quite done with that person; and I beg that you will spare me any allusion to one whom I regard as dead." Henry Jekyll has effectively “come out” to Dr Lanyon, and he cannot deal with it. It makes him deeply uncomfortable, and so their friendship must