Context in Jekyll and Hyde

Question 1

Victorian Values

Answer 1

-Reputation was more important than anything else in the Victorian Era.

-British society outwardly displayed values of sexual restraint, low tolerance of crime, religious morality and a strict social code of conduct

-Victorians were hypocrites as they claimed to be moral and pious in ways they weren’t.

Question 2

Fear of scientific progress

Answer 2

-Religion was important to communities and individuals. Many people believed that God created the universe and he was the sole creator of life therefore the principles of the bible must be followed.

-The implications of darwinism and evolution haunted Victorian Society.

-‘Ape-like’ suggests reverting back to primitive nature.

Question 2

Physiognomy

Answer 2

Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso introduced a theory that the ‘born criminal’ could be recognised by physical characteristics e.g. Asymmetrical facial features, sloping forehead.

Question 3

Victorian London and Urban terror

Answer 3

London was the biggest and most important city in the world during the Vic era.

-The overcrowded city became rife with crime.

-The crowd being presented as something that can hide criminals became a trope in gothic and detective literature.

(Links to Stevenson’s presentation of East vs West divide, foggy and nightmarish imagery).

Question 4

Body snatching

Answer 4

-References to illegal scientific activity made in Jekyll and Hyde.

-Jekyll’s back door where Hyde enters and exits is similar to when people bring corpses in through backdoors so scientists can investigate.

-Jekyll’s lab is also hidden away.

Question 5

Genre

Answer 5

-The genre of Jekyll and Hyde is a mystery, and a gothic and detective.

-Shilling shockers were very popular at the time.

-Sense of mystery created due to the novella’s disjointed time frame and non-chronological order

-The setting of London being so close to readers instead of a fantasy land created fear.