Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Analysis

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In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson narrates the story of the respectful and reputable doctor Henry Jekyll who transfigures into Edward Hyde, his hideous alter ego who permits the good doctor’s wild desires while maintaining his reputation in society. Thus, the indulgences of Dr. Jekyll expands beyond the personal areas of his – and Mr. Hyde’s – life, symbolizing the inner struggles, the threats to the respectful gentlemen’s society and their professional world, and looking at a greater perspective, the social anxieties of late 19th century England. Considering that the Victorian era was being shaken by new changes and expectations, writers found in literature an alternative to address the public fears. In…show more content…
The economic scenario depicted great prosperity, result of the first industrial revolution; the military and naval scenario involved a dominant and stable England; the social scenario painted the gradual emergence of workers revolutions, human rights and medical and technological advancements. However, the transition from ancient manners to modernity was marked by distress and anxieties, result of the public fear of progressing and adapting to new transformations. To account for these concerns, 19th century writers attempted to describe through literature and fictional stories the mysticism of a developing society. Stevenson, through the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, describes the intriguing narrative of the cherished doctor Jekyll, who leads a fancy and reserved – though suppressed – life; eventually, through his own scientific potion he transforms into Hyde, a dwarf-like and repulsive man who wildly indulges into evil pleasures. Therefore, Hyde is the secret connection between Jekyll’s good reputation and his devious inner desires; he is the method the doctor creates to satisfy himself without harming his reputable image, which leads to one of the story’s morals: the coercion of the Victorian’s hierarchical differences and the influence of social status in one’s
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