Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novella about a doctor named Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll creates a potion that allows himself to change into a man named Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde is the dark side of Dr. Jekyll and behaves in a way that defies the standards of how a man should act in the Victorian era. After taking this potion multiple times Dr. Jekyll loses control of himself and ultimately becomes into Mr. Hyde, losing himself forever. Dr. Jekyll physically and psychologically changes himself because he is not happy with who he is; more specifically with who society says he should be. Although this story is written in 1886 societal standards still lead people to feel as though they need to change in today’s era. There are similarities and different between how social standards influence people between these two eras. In today’s era the media plays a large part in social standards, and people strive to fit into the standard unlike in this novel where Dr. Jekyll tries to escape the standards.
In the Victorian era there were high expectations of how gentlemen should act in society. Gentlemen in this era were expected to be polite and to act in a civilized manner. Society also expected gentlemen to dress nicely and in a professional manner. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Utterson are both examples of how gentlemen were expected to act in the Victorian era. Although Dr. Jekyll choses to abandon those gentlemen traits when he becomes Mr. Hyde. These standards can be constraining, and lead people to want to defy them like Dr. Jekyll does.
Society’s standards of how people should look and act in the United States are very prevalent in today’s era. Because of the extensive use of the media people constantly see different people representing what society says is beautiful or normal. In today’s era the main issue relates to how people should look, and less on how they should act. Through the media both women and men are exposed to unrealistic expectations of how they should look. These standards can become dangerous in a psychological sense. A lot of people get caught up in wanting to change themselves so that they can be more like the people that they see in the media. This leads some people to physically make changes to their body, in both healthy and unhealthy ways.
Dr. Jekyll defies the social standards by creating the potion that turns him into Hyde. In the article “The Anatomy of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Irving S. Saposnik writes, “Hyde violates a norm of respectable behavior and his subsequent offer of monetary retribution is nothing more than automatic. Enfield’s description, therefore, accentuates Hyde’s mechanical regularity in contrast to the human concern which a gentleman should display” (723). Hyde is essentially the opposite of how gentlemen should act in the Victorian era. The more he takes the potion the farther he strays from societies standards of who he should be. Stevenson shows these changes starting with the scene that Mr. Hyde tramples over the little girl in the rode. As Dr. Jekyll continues to take the potion Mr. Hyde’s body also physically changes. In Dr. Jekyll’s full statement of the case, he writes about the physical change that Mr. Hyde experiences, “That part of me which I had the power of projecting, had lately been much exercised and nourished; it had seemed to me of late as though the body of Edward Hyde had grown in stature, as though (when I wore that form) I were conscious of a more generous tide of blood;” (82). This change is a physical change but reflect the psychological change that is happening within Dr. Jekyll as he further defies societies standards. The more that Dr. Jekyll is Mr. Hyde, the more power goes to Mr. Hyde and his personality and appearance. When Dr. Jekyll commits murder is the final tipping point where he strays the furthest from societies standards.
In a similar way that Dr. Jekyll changes himself in this novella, people in today’s era also try and change themselves. It is important to note however that Dr. Jekyll changes himself in order to escape and defy the societal standards of the Victorian era, while people in today’s society tend to change themselves in order to fit the roles of the societal standards set by the media. Some ways that people might change their physical appearance to match societies standards are, makeup, photo filters and either gaining weight or losing weight. Some of the more dangerous ways that people might change their physical appearance are developing eating disorders and having plastic surgeries that could result in dangerous side-effects. These changes help people of this era to fit in with societal standards.
Social standards in the Victorian era have a psychological effect on Dr. Jekyll in this novella. Dr. Jekyll creates the potion that turns him into Mr. Hyde in order to feel freedom from the social standard that he is trapped in. Martin A. Danahay writes in his introduction,
Jekyll’s autobiography, however, shows great resistance to making the “secret” world of the private individual into public knowledge through the use of the first person. Even in his last confession, Henry Jekyll says he cannot say “I” when describing Mr. Hyde’s actions, he much says “he”. (23)
Danahay brings up an important part of Dr. Jekyll’s transformation to Mr. Hyde. Because of this transformation he is bringing out his “secret world”, or in other words, his true self that he has to hide in order to fit in with the society. But through Mr. Hyde he can release that self and defy social standards without having himself (Dr. Jekyll) to blame, since he is Mr. Hyde while defying the standards. Mentally the social structure pushes him to physically and psychologically change himself in an unnatural way just to feel some freedom. In Dr. Jekyll’s full statement of the case he writes, “There was something strange in my sensations, something indescribably new and, from its very novelty, incredibly sweet.” (78). While Dr. Jekyll is Mr. Hyde, he feels the freedom to act however he feels. The ability to act however he feels gives him a pleasant feeling because he is not being held down by societies standards.
Just like in this novella social standards still have a psychological effect on people. The effects are different than those in the Victorian era and in some ways more severe. In the article “Cyberbullying and Self-Esteem” Justin W. Patchin writes,
Rosenberg defined self‐esteem as “a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the self.”31, 3 Moreover, Leary and Downs32consider self‐esteem to be an internal representation of social acceptance and rejection and a psychological gauge monitoring the degree to which a person is included versus excluded by others. These 2 conceptualizations underscore the fact that self‐esteem is a perception—one's belief as to his or her personal value and affected by one's participation in the social world—where there are often interpersonal conflicts that lead to behavior such as bullying. (616)
There is a lot more negativity towards people who do not fit the social standards because of the easy access to media, including hate comments and cyber bullying. This can lead some people to feel like they are not good enough, because they do not fit the social standards. Low self-esteem is a large reason why someone might try and change themselves to fit social standards, just like Dr. Jekyll chose to change himself.
Comparing Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with today’s societies shows many similarities and differences. This novella is still relevant today because it depicts how social standards can lead people to feel like they need to change. Although how they change might be different. In the novella Dr. Jekyll strives to change so that he can gain freedom from societies standards by changing into someone who defies the standards of that era. This is different than today’s era where some people chose to change so that they fit in with societies standards. Although there are some differences between how this novel applies to the Victorian era verses today’s era, the message is still very relevant today.
Work Cited
Danahay, Martin A. “Introduction”, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Edited by Martin
A. Danahay. Broadview, 2015.
Patchin, Justin W, and Hinduja, Sameer. “Cyberbullying and Self-Esteem*.” The Journal of
School Health., vol. 80, no. 12, 2010, pp. 614–621.
Saposnik, Irving S. “The Anatomy of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Studies in English Literature, 1500
1900, vol. 11, no. 4, 1971, pp. 715–731. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/449833.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Edited by Martin A.
Danahay. Broadview, 2015.
