Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde Research Paper

Robert Louis Stevenson: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde landed Robert Louis Stevenson in the history books of legendary writers. First published in 1886, it was an instant hit with the public. He wrote a gothic tale, which were quite popular during the time, and brought it to the masses. It makes one question their own inner self, and what they may be capable of if they were to let their true self take over. The dark secrecy within the tale gives way to the shining specter that is the human psyche and all its wonderful, loathsome desires. Stevenson was a Scottish born gentleman that lived his life with awful health, and in personal opinion, this may be why he was curious about the things

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde fully embodies and demonstrates the course’s objectives and learning goals.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written during the prominent Victorian Age. England was going through major changes on all fronts and was expanding itself in ways unseen before. Consequently, subjects of Queen Victoria found themselves in a bit of confusion and struggling with the rapid transformation of the world around them. Writers were no exception to this conundrum, and literature and poetry saw a shift in its focus from a wide variety of angles. Gone were the days of blindly following the church. Sealing himself in the history of Science, Charles Darwin published his book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, in 1859. This momentous event brought the world, not just England, many steps into the future. England was a global power that held an expansive amount of land and people within its clutches during Queen Victoria’s reign on the throne. It is recorded that, “Between 1837 (when Victoria ascended the throne) and 1901 (when she died) the population of London grew from about 2 million to well over 6 million―an unparalleled population boom” (Greenblatt). Furthermore, England was the first to become industrialized, and this had many

Although, this seemed like a wonderful achievement of the time, people were still starving all over the region, and working conditions for all were absolutely horrific. Public transportation was on the rise with the spread of the Railroad system. This allowed speedier transport of goods and people throughout the British Empire. British society was separated into classes during this time. The upper class included people of nobility, aristocrats, and other rich families. A vast majority of the upper class in the British Empire had no need to trouble themselves with working as their families had spent generations and generations amassing a fortune for their heirs to live off of. They spent their time living lavishly, serving on the royal court, and busying themselves with political matters. Counting themselves lucky to at least not living the lives of the less fortunate souls that they employed was the middle class. Middle class families typically were business owners and led moderately comfortable lives. Although, this class was very sparse at the beginning of Victoria’s time. And then there was the unfortunate many people, or to be more realistic, most of the population,