Jekyll + Hyde: Victorian Society
Here’s some contextual detail on the Victorians and late Victorian society, in order to help you understand the background of Jekyll and Hyde in more detail. Use these ideas in essays in order to analyse the text more deeply - the more you understand about the society in which a book was produced, the more accurate and precise your analysis will be.
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VICTORIAN SOCIETY
The Victorian Era (identified as the period between 1837 and 1901 in England’s history) itself was characterised by duality, especially when the discussion was about gender. Double standards were applied in almost every aspect of life. For example, it was believed that men were driven by their sexual desires and needed sex to function, whilst women lacked this instinct and engaged in sex only to please their husbands and fulfil their duty to procreate.
The place of men was in the public sphere (they were supposed to work and provide for their families), whilst women were given reign over the domestic sphere, where they needed to stay home and take care of the house and children. This wasn’t always the case though, as many families couldn’t afford to live on only one salary.
During this period, England began to create laws that helped the impoverished. More people received the right to vote, and education became more accessible. However, there was also a hidden, ugly side to the country’s problems, where social issues such as illegal prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases were in bloom.
Religion still held great influence over society, and every relationship that diverged from what was accepted as normal would bring repudiation. This led to many homosexual people leading double lives, trying to hide their true selves behind the accepted familial scene. In some cases, if someone got a hold of their secret, they would blackmail them, as speaking would have meant social suicide for the blackmailed. Stevenson’s novella perfectly reflects the double standards of the era and its treatment of homosexuality. In Jekyll and Hyde, Jekyll’s lawyer suspects that Hyde may be a former lover blackmailing him to leave him all his fortune in case he died or went missing.
Stevenson, most likely, meant for there to be parallels between the novella and the experience of Victorian homosexuals. We know this for a number of reasons. The theme is relevant to the text's publication as the Labouchere Amendment, criminalising homosexuality, was published in 1885, making issues surrounding the matter more prevalent at the time.
Furthermore, while Stevenson was living in Bournemouth and writing this novella, he met the former Reverend Walter Jekyll who provided Dr Jekyll’s name. The Reverend was most likely homosexual, having renounced his job as an Anglican Reverend and exiling himself to Europe for an extended period. Other homosexuals that Stevenson interacted with included Horatio Brown, Edmund Gosse and the bisexual John Eddington Symonds, all of whom lived complicated lives due to societal conventions.
Symonds even commented on the text that “as an allegory, it touches one too closely” making the links between the text and homosexuality, clear.
However, the greatest effect that Victorian society had on the novella was in its obsession with the gap between peoples public and private perceptions. Society expected people to, publicly, be studious, moral and dignified. Meanwhile, the growth in crime, poverty and illicit acts in general meant that not everyone followed these public ideals in their private lives.
We generally know that Stevenson’s political views were complex. At a young age he was a self-acclaimed Socialist, but as he grew older he admitted that his views were becoming more Conservative. While, as we have seen from his lifestyle, he was at the very least very liberal in the way he dealt with matters for a Victorian, this is not to say that his views would still be considered Socialist nowadays.
For example, he was incredibly fond of American political thinking, maintaining little government influence, and keeping a greater sense of individuality, but at the expense of laws that could help the poor in favour of keeping taxes low.
To summarise, Stevenson seems to have always been an individualist, with a dislike for anything that could restrain his, or anyone’s, freedom, for better or worse. This always influenced his view of Victorian England.
Potentially he was also aware of the somewhat destructive nature such an individualistic philosophy could have, as shown by Jekyll’s death which was, in part, caused by his insistence on doing things his own way and pursuing his own urges without respecting collective stances on morality and ethics.
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