The Victorian Age was the height of the British Empire. They had a strong middle class who had very high standards. In Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the life of Victorian society is determined. In the novella, Stevenson was trying to identify how the people of Victorian society dealt with living dual lives and struggled with addiction. During Victorian society, the high class individuals led dual lives. One side of their life would be devoted to making a good reputation of themselves in front of the public. The other side of their life would involve releasing all their desires by carrying out reckless actions. These actions aren’t meant to be seen by the public because the reputation of the individual would be ruined. …show more content…
This lifestyle could be especially affiliated with high class individuals. After Dr. Jekyll found a potion to split his personality, he had gained an addiction to it. In an article studying the psychology of addiction in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the author states that an addict “will always so mistakenly suppose that he can regulate the use and effects of his intoxicant” (Wright 255). Dr. Jekyll is going through denial as he tries to convince Utterson that he is capable of controlling himself. He tells Utterson that he is able to get rid of Mr. Hyde if he desired to. Dr. Jekyll is not only making it more evident that he is an addict, but also making it the addiction harder to resist. The character of Mr. Hyde is the reason Dr. Jekyll is addicted, and he can be compared to a drug addict. A drug addicts tends to go mad and are unaware of their actions, therefore being incapable of controlling themselves. With that being said, they also continuously convince others and themselves that they are completely capable of controlling themselves when in reality they cannot. The same can be said for Mr. Hyde. The potion addiction of Dr. Jekyll exposes the drug addictions that the people of the Victorian society