A Review of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in Relation to the Victorian Society

The Victorian period is very much known for its scientific, social and pretty much economic changes. There were a lot of breakthroughs in science which are still relevant to this day, as its one aspect of it all is represented in the work The Strange Case of dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson. This kind of novel was very much strange to be published as it can be taken to be a commentary on the awakening of social life of repressed feelings and behaviourism.

As being portrayed in The Strange Case of dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the higher class can be taken to be displayed as a society of double identity during the Victorian period, and it is portrayed through the transformation and the potion of dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll is a very influential, wealthy and highly praised person and also a member of a higher class. He is represented to be very educated and needs to know social norms of behaving when talking to and being among higher class people. Whereas Mr. Hyde is another aspect of him, lower class character which is very displeasing and detestable meaning he does not really follow any kind of rules. The way Victorian society has an impact on this change is that dr. Jekyll actually wants freedom and wants to think and do what he wants, he does not want to follow all the social and political rules of these people, so he had to actually become another person in order to break free. Many of the characters in the novel actually show two sides to their personality. This duality can be shown in the respected public face and their behaviour in private. But apart from dr. Jekyll all the other characters actually have the control over their personalities. Victorian society is represented in The Strange Case of dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as the society that has a major role in making important decisions. Off course this goes for higher class. Lower class in represented through Mr Hyde, a character that needs to sit back in the corner of the mind and never to speak because he is not worthy and not "rich" to speak. But when this potion is taken by dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde actually gets something to say and even kill. Lower class society is represented as just a tool for the industry and fame of wealthy people. When sir Danvass Carew is found in the area of Soho which is undesirable part of London of poor and sick people, means that higher class people where not much different from lower class, in some aspects. Because sir Danvass Carew is a very respected man and of all a politician, and has a reputation but still is found dead in that part of the city. Feelings are very much the true nature of the novel, and that every person is just a "human", no matter the social class.

The way Victorian society is actually represented in this novel is that not everything is what it seems, and that all people are still people. This all leads at some point of trying to find one voice of society that will break free, and in this case it is Mr. Hyde, even with usage of a vessel such as potion. All in all, Stevenson actually gives this high level of reality by drawing the problems and actual desires of the Victorian Britain of which he was a big part of.

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