Knowledge is power and this month marks the first installment of my literary reviews of classic works and the themes that evoked from them. These literary works have maintained a strong influence over generations of readers, these reviews will hopefully shed some light onto the underlying issues that resided within these memorable and timeless texts.
Case study #1: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1857) By. Robert Lewis Stevenson
Dr Jekyll, Mr. Hyde & the Double Effect on Gothic Theory.
(Part 1)
A characteristically Victorian gothic work, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is located in a cold, contemporary metropolitan setting. Upon reading just the first page, it becomes obvious to the attentive eye that what the reader is about to embark on is a story thrust amongst the inner-core of gothic horror. The definition of “Gothic Horror” must first be established and its elements identified before the reader can truly digest the work fully. Those elements will be examined closely. Questions will be raised and their answers explored in hopes of providing a more concise dissection of the novel in a critical sense.
For instance, what exactly makes a work gothic in nature? How does it apply to this particular work? What, if any comparisons can be made between the elements found in Robert Lewis Stevenson’s work and those of its gothic predecessors. By exploring these vast and varied areas of the gothic realm, a strong foundation can be created to help better explain and appreciate the gothic elements lurking within the shadows of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
One of the best known of the doppelganger (doubles) stories is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Society as a whole was undergoing a drastic transformation in science and industrialization at a time when the gothic novel was beginning to emerge as a literary force. The emergence of capitalism led to new types of work and a changing of the guard on social roles in society. There was a growing sense of isolation created by the introduction of mechanization that disconnected workers from their roles as product makers. These scientific breakthroughs and discoveries only fed the paranoia and fears that aggravated workers and threatened their notion of human identity. The mysteries and questions surrounding the scientific world were running rampant at the time that Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1886) was written.
“As soon as science begins to disturb notion of the human, it becomes a site of particular interest to the gothic writer.” (Punter & Byron 21) Stevenson’s story is one of the first works of Gothic fiction to loosely explore evolutionary theories and the idea that the civilized was strongly dependent upon a prior existence of the savage and its brutality. Thus, in relation to the plot, Jekyll’s civilized and respectable being is strongly linked and dependent on the existence of Hyde and vice versa.
With the emergence of science came the emergence of criminal anthropology. As new sciences developed, members of this particular field began to offer numerous ways to explain and theorize acts of deviance by linking said actions of criminality to some primitive past of human evolution. Conventional beliefs concerning the human were largely discarded in favor of new and explorative theories based largely on our own evolution over time.
It was even suggested for a time that the criminal or deranged could be easily identified by his or her physical characteristics (usually through some sort of physical deformity) or behavior. Others felt that a criminal could be identified by examining the skull and brain of these individuals for any visible signs of distinct depressions commonly found in lower forms of animal life. “Gothic fiction increasingly began to suggest that the chaos and disruption previously located mainly in such external forces as a vampire or monster was actually produced within the mind of the human subject.”(Punter and Byron 24). Stevenson worked with these ideas in forming his story about the dangers of scientific progress and how it can lead to disaster if not guided by some sense of moral principle.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde was working under the premise that within all human psyches there exists a form of primitive sensations and that a person who is otherwise rational and civilized under certain conditions can revert to that repressed primitive state of being. The savage that we evolved from returns and survives in the midst of society. The perception was that the criminal was such a being, one who reproduces within himself the animalistic instincts of primitive humanity. Hyde is that very embodiment as Jekyll’s other person.
Upon meeting him for the first time, Mr. Utterson, the friend and lawyer of Dr. Jekyll describes Hyde as something “barely human and with a savage laugh.” (15). The split is evident not just in the physical contrasts of Jekyll and Hyde, but also by the scientific beliefs that were influential at the time. The split provides very literal evidence of the mutual dependency between the always conflicting civilized and primitive states of the mind. In Hyde, resides the face of evil at its core. He wears the signs of decay and deformity upon himself, that repulses all that come into contact with him. He inspired feelings of loathing and fear, though even the astute Mr. Utterson can’t quite place any visual disfigurement, only that “he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation” (15.)
It has been previously pointed out that there is significance to the location of this story in relation to the historical scientific discoveries being made at the time. Thus, the story shares many similar elements found in other gothic texts of this particular historical moment. An example would be Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, which also dealt with the consequences of science, as well as, the idea of a primitive force emerging from this science and raising havoc across civilized society.
However, it is not so much the idea of evolution that’s the central theme here, as much as it is the idea of devolution, which is man’s descent into a being low or devoid of human qualities. A figure of unbridled lust and hatred devolved from the human race; as a result of mankind’s own greed for knowledge is what results in exploring too deeply the realm of the unknown, in this case the world of science and experimentation. Many novels and short gothic works of the mid to late 19th century explored this world of the unknown that questioned the seemly limitless capabilities of science.
To be continued...
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