Stevenson's Representation of Evil in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Stevenson's Representation of Evil in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a classic novel telling the story of the

struggle between good and evil. The good being shown in the form of a

well-respected Doctor Henry Jekyll and the evil being released from a

lengthy repression in the form of Mr Edward Hyde. In my essay I will

be concentrating on the influences of the Victorian age and how

Stevenson involved aspects of his own life into the writing of the

book.

The 64 years from 1837 to 1901, which was the Victorian age, was a

repressive society to live in. There were strict codes of morality,

which meant that everyone had to look, sound and more importantly act

in a certain way. Society was very judgemental and a single step out

of line and your reputation could be crushed. Middle class men, like

Stevenson, were expected to work hard and treat women with a high

amount of respect. The strict ways in which they were forced to live

meant that the dark, or evil, side of people was hidden away and

repressed until they could find a suitable means of letting it out.

This is the same as Doctor Jekyll, a well respected man who could not

lose face in front of his friends or colleagues, he decided to make a

potion which could turn him into someone who could release his wild

side. The fact that Mr Hyde, when finally released, was small in

stature, may have been to do with the fact that he'd been hidden away

inside for so long, and also because of the fact that in Dr Jekyll,

there was more good than evil. Stevenson would have looked at the

society he lived in and seen people as good on the outside but he

knew, deep down, that they had...

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... inappropriate. Stevenson is saying that humans

possess both good and evil and it's up to the individual person how

much of their evil side they let out. Hyde may have been a product of

the repressive Victorian society but he was also the product of a man

who wasn't happy with being the perfect role model, everyone needs to

be able to let out things and if the only way that Jekyll was able to

do that was creating what seems like a monster then that was what had

to be done. It would be great to be able to let off steam without

having to face the consequences and by creating a good and an evil

side to one person Stevenson showed that the only way this is possible

is to completely change the human ways. It is therefore shown that if

we want to release our evil or bad sides we have to take the

consequences for our actions.