Concetti Chiave
- Robert Louis Stevenson, a Scottish writer, lived through Queen Victoria's reign, reflecting societal changes in his works with a focus on moral dichotomy.
- "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" explores the theme of duality, with Jekyll embodying the rational, respectable side, and Hyde representing evil and irrationality.
- The symbolic suicide in the story suggests that one must suppress part of their nature to conform to societal norms.
- Victorian society's duplicity is mirrored in Jekyll and Hyde, where Jekyll is the public persona and Hyde the hidden dark side.
- The setting of foggy, dark Victorian London adds to the narrative's theme, highlighting the misleading nature of appearances and societal horror.
Robert Louis Stevenson and Victorian society
The Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, who was born in 1850 and died in 1894, lived all his life during the Reign of Queen Victoria and witnessed the mood of chaning of the last decade of the 19th century. As a consequence he depicted the new shape of the society into his works where he expressed, above of all, the moral dichotomy between good and devil. This is a fundamental theme in his masterpiece ‘’the strange case of dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde’’ where the hypocrisy is embodied by the double.
What is the symbolism in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?
The protagonist is in fact a man divided into two different characters, Jekyll, a respectable and rational doctor, and Hyde, an evil genius devoted to crime and irrationality. Jekyll, who has previously managed to create a potion that brings Hyde to life, is overcome by his evil part and, as a final conclusion, he has to kill himself in order to assassinate Hyde. The final suicide has a symbolic meaning: for Stevenson a man must kill one part of his nature to live in a civilized society.
Victorian society and its duplicity
The two main characters are also a symbol of the duplicity in Victorian society: Jekyll represents the public face of the individual but at night in the bad areas of London he is Hyde who represents the dark side that is present in everyone. It is also important to underline that even the narrator and the set communicate something important: the set ,the Victorian London full of fog and dark corners, and the multiple prospective of narration mislead the narrator who is lost in horror.
Domande da interrogazione
- How does Robert Louis Stevenson's life influence his depiction of Victorian society in his works?
- How does "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" reflect the duplicity of Victorian society?
Robert Louis Stevenson lived during the reign of Queen Victoria and witnessed the societal changes of the late 19th century. This experience influenced his works, where he often explored the moral dichotomy between good and evil, as seen in "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," highlighting the hypocrisy and duality of Victorian society.
The characters of Jekyll and Hyde symbolize the duality of Victorian society, where Jekyll represents the respectable public persona, and Hyde embodies the hidden, darker side. The setting of Victorian London, with its fog and dark corners, along with the narrative's multiple perspectives, further emphasizes the theme of societal duplicity and the hidden horrors within.
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