Jekyll and Hyde Context

Science vs Religion in the Victorian Era.

Almost everyone in London was religious before the Victorian Era, then Charles Darwin made the
theory of Evolution in which humans evolved from apes. This then caused people in London to
question how humans came to be. Also, the Victorian era was a big era for scientific discovery and
progress. Also, some people were upset with scientific theories that gave God a restricted or non-
existent role in the universe.

Atavism
Atavism is the tendency to revert to something ancient or ancestral. This was a big thing in the
Victorian Era because after the theory of evolution was published people began to believe that
eventually people will go back to becoming savages and then society will gall apart. This was
important for people in the Victorian Era because they had very high-held societal standards in
London.

Victorian London
In Victorian London there were extremely high moral and societal values. These were that you had to
have a good and respectable job. You also should be Christian because people wanted everyone to
believe the same thing as them. In Victorian London, the city became overpopulated so there was a
lot of crime all over the city which scared a lot of people. A lot of sinister individuals arose such as
Jack the Ripper who was a proficient murderer who killed women (mainly prostitutes).

The Victorian Gentlemen

During the Victorian Era, people were called Victorian Gentlemen. This meant that they did not need
to work in order to survive they also did not need to perform manual labour in order to get money.
These people also never inflicted pain on people at all.

Darwinism and Evolution

Charles Darwin released the theory, ‘On the Origin of Species’ released in 1859. He theorised that
humans and other species were evolved from a lesser species. For example, humans from primates.
He also said that all organisms change overtime so they all inherit the best physical and behavioural
traits from their ancestors.

Physiognomy
Physiognomy is when you judge someone and predict what they will do based on their facial or bodily
features, such as their ethnicity. This was big in the Victorian era because people wanted to stop
crime so they thought that you could tell if someone was a criminal based off of the way that they look.

Deacon Brodie
Deacon Brodies name is William Brodie, and he was born on the 28th of September 1741 and he died
in 1788. Deacon Brodie was a cabinet maker in Edinburgh who maintained a secret life as a
housebreaker so that he could fund his secret life as a gambler, also so that he could get the thrill out
of it. Deacon Brodie was thought to be the inspiration for Jekyll and Hyde.

The Gothic
The Gothic is a genre of literature and art that became popular in the Victoria Era. Gothic is a
subgenre of horror which combines fiction, horror, and death and sometimes a bit of romance. Gothic
fiction tends to focus on the emotion of the story.

Duality of Human Nature

Stevenson wrote about the duality of human nature. This idea is that every single human being has a
good and an evil side within them. Although the important part is which side the human acts on and
the decisions that they make. This is the idea that makes Jekyll turn into Hyde and the story reflects
the idea of the duality of human nature.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer. He is most noted for treasure
island, kidnapped and the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It is thought that he wrote books
because he suffered from haemorrhaging lungs which were probably caused by undiagnosed
tuberculosis.