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Socioeconomic Conditions Of Victorian London

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Aidan Marinace Mrs. Cunningham English 10 13 April 2023 The setting of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is essential in highlighting the cultural and socioeconomic conditions of Victorian London. The contrasting settings of the luxurious and the poverty-stricken areas of the city emphasize the duality of human nature. The two settings of the novel expose Victorian class division and problems. With the use of detailed descriptions, the author describes buildings and weather to explore the novel’s grim setting. The differences in setting in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde highlights Victorian London’s Class divisions. The lavish town that Dr. Jekyll lives in is described as clean, lively and respectable while poorer …show more content…

Through these descriptions, the novel emphasizes socioeconomic conditions at the time with higher classes living comfortable lives, lower class citizens struggling constantly in the city’s slums.The setting reflects the connection between specific characters in the novel such as Dr. Jekyll and Edward Hyde. Although Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde are the same people they live completely different lives. Dr Jekyll home is respectable and well kept representing his economic status and personality. “ One house, however, second from the corner, was still occupied entire; and at the door of this, which wore a great air of wealth and comfort, though it was now plunged in darkness” (Stevenson 16) Contrary to the streets of Soho, where Hyde is often seen is grim, frightful and crime-ridden reflecting the current society at the time of the novel. “Two doors from one corner, on the left hand going east, the line was broken by the entry of a court; and just at that point, a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on

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