The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Book Analysis

During the Victorian era, gothic fiction had become one of the most popular genres for novels. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written in 1886 by Robert Louis Stevenson, was and still is one of the most popular gothic fiction novels there is. This novel encloses the story of a man, Mr. Utterson, who investigates the odd behavior of his friend, Dr. Jekyll, as well as the strangeness of an unfamiliar, unnatural-looking man, Mr. Hyde, who are actually the same person. These men are two of the main characters in this story, and represent aspects of the Victorian era, such as class and manners. Mr. Gabriel Utterson who is a rational, well-respected lawyer, is not a narrator but the story does follow his point of view for almost all of the novel. Dr. Henry Jekyll, a kind and respected doctor, becomes one of the two narrators that speaks through their letters of confession towards the end of the novel. While this novel is mainly narrated by an anonymous third person and somewhat by Dr. Jekyll, the two both play a role in delineating Victorian culture, along with Mr. Hyde, who depicts a gothic character of the Victorian era.

Mr. Utterson is depicted as a wealthy, upper class lawyer of “rugged countenance” (Stevenson 1), who seems to be unemotional. The individuals of the upper class during the Victorian Era had an “obsession with class”( Nord 2018, pg. 628). They always wanted to maintain their status and feared losing their power to those of the lower class. Mr. Utterson is explained to be of the upper class through his initial description in the first chapter in which Stevenson writes that “he enjoyed the theatre” (Stevenson 2), which indicates that he is wealthy because those who were able to watch plays and such at the theater were wealthy individuals of the upper class. He is very much a Victorian character, as he is a very proper and dull man that never really smiled, although he did have many friends. Mr. Utterson did not tend to gossip around town, and he attempted to maintain his status and reputation of himself and of his friends, as he made sure to maintain good behavior and etiquette when in public. During the Victorian era, etiquette was very strict and important in societal standards in order to show others respect and sustain a good reputation. There were many rules and expectations when greeting or talking to others, such as not using any profanity while speaking in a conversation or not gossiping to other individuals, which were seen in gothic novels, and seen in Mr. Utterson’s character. While Mr. Utterson discovers some questionable actions of Dr. Jekyll and suspects him of protecting a murderer (Mr. Hyde), he refuses to look too deeply into the situation and neglects to believe anything supernatural or out of the ordinary is going on. Because it was not a person’s place to spread word of unnatural occurrences, Mr. Utterson didn’t interfere much in Dr. Jekyll’s life, and when he did attempt to interfere, he searched for reasoning that was natural and made sense to human nature which of course was not the case for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s occult situation. Victorian society chose to stay away from shocking or overwhelming ideas and affairs, and that is what Stevenson chose Utterson to represent. Not only does Mr. Utterson portray a man of the Victorian age, his point of view is followed throughout the novel by a limited third-person narrator, and he is directly characterized by the author, as opposed to other characters who are indirectly characterized by the others in the story. This makes him a vital character to the novel, and allows the reader to picture the novella through his eyes. 

During this time period, there were drastic changes in the science and technological aspects of life. Many scientific discoveries or technological advancements were looked down upon or criticized by many, including that of mental health. It was not typically normal for individuals during the Victorian era to express their true emotions to others, and mental health issues were not taken seriously. If a person was to express any emotional distress or turmoil, they would be looked down upon and would be institutionalized, in which “mechanical restraint and seclusion” (Brimblecombe 2005, p. 59) were utilized on patients to treat them. Because of this, individuals were afraid to show any signs of upset or unnatural emotions and behaviors so they were not locked up or treated poorly. This is seen in the novel as Dr. Jekyll takes on a new experiment, one of which turns him into his evil, dark alter ego Mr. Hyde. Because he is a Victorian man who is well-known and respected in society, he didn’t want to show his true unhappiness and disinterest in his life, so he created a substance that would bring out his alter ego, as he believed man had a “dual nature” (Stevenson 107). In doing so, Jekyll felt happier with himself, younger, and more free. He wanted to escape the realities of life and be in a better state of mind, and Mr. Hyde was that. Dr. Jekyll was first perceived as a kind, wealthy, intelligent, and caring man to those around him, but later he is seen by Mr. Utterson and those around him becoming unstable and erratic as Mr. Hyde began to take over his body and commit heinous crimes. Although it ended unfortunately, his experiment worked and gave Dr. Jekyll an escape for a short period of time. At the end of the novel, Dr. Jekyll narrates his perspective of the story through his letter of confession, which allows the reader to understand Dr. Jekyll’s reasoning behind protecting and creating Mr. Hyde, and his point of view through his experience of changing into Mr. Hyde. In the novel, Dr. Jekyll is also identified as a man of the upper class, seen through descriptions of his home and attempt to maintain his reputation. His home was large, was “furnished with costly cabinets of oak” (Stevenson 27), and “wore a great air of wealth and comfort” (Stevenson 26), showing his wealthiness. In contrast, Mr. Hyde depicts that of a lower class man, as his clothes don’t fit properly, he doesn’t partake in etiquette or manners in public, and doesn't respect those around him. This difference exhibits Stevenson’s belief, as an upper class man, that those of the lower class have poor mannerisms and are less sophisticated, and utilizes Mr. Hyde eventually taking over Dr. Jekyll as a way to suggest the lower class may overpower the upper class. Because this was a fear of the upper class in the Victorian era, Stevenson included this to point out the poor behavior of the lower class and to shed light on the upper class, which he is a part of.

Although Mr. Hyde doesn’t narrate at any point in the novel or speak for longer than a few lines, he does play a major role in depicting a gothic novel. Mr. Hyde was described as unnatural, pale, ugly, deformed, and “particularly small and wicked looking” (Stevenson 39). He was murderous and evil. He trampled over a young girl and murdered Sir Danvers Carew, which was written by Stevenson to exhibit the violent acts that Mr. Hyde was capable of, as he was seen as a monster and represented the evil side of Dr. Jekyll. Victorian gothic fictions shifted from humanity versus evil in 1764 to that of the supernatural in 1818, and gothic fiction had then begun to utilize horror, violence and terror, typically through monsters or creatures of the supernatural, as well as mystery and skepticism, in novels. These aspects of gothic fiction allowed the audience to become more interested in the story, and allowed the author to depict their own life story within their novel, as characters would portray traumatic events or other aspects of the author’s life. This was extremely common in gothic literature, especially by Stevenson in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Robert Louis Stevenson explored the duality of existence and how darkness and light could reside in the same day, the same life, or even the same person. This is a clear relationship between the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as they represent this theory of the two-sidedness of man. 

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a gothic fiction novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886, represents the Victorian class system, gothic characters, and individuals of the Victorian Era through it’s characters, Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde and Mr. Utterson. While there is a third person narrator throughout the majority of the novel, it follows the perspective of Mr. Utterson, utilizing his character to portray men of the upper class and the etiquette required of people during that time. While Dr. Jekyll was utilized to depict the upper class, he was also used to exhibit the scientific and technological shift of the Victorian Era, as well as the aspects of hiding mental issues of that period. Mr. Hyde’s character depicted that of a gothic character that was created during the Victorian period, and represented, with Dr. Jekyll, the theory of man being two-sided, both good and evil.