Victorian Repression
English Lit: AQA GCSE Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, topic 8.2.2
Repression & Internal Conflict
The novella depicts the struggle of a man trying to live a good life while wrestling with desires frowned on by his society. Victorians had to repress their true feelings in public. This is why Jekyll thinks he is leading a double life.
“Not truly one”
- “Man is not truly one, but truly two”
- Jekyll is a well-respected gentleman, so he has to keep his sins and desires well-hidden and secret from the rest of society.
- The repressive society Jekyll lives in convinces him that man is "truly two".
- Jekyll’s struggle with his evil side leads him to create Hyde, but this experiment does not go to plan and his evil side ends up overriding his good side.
Battle language
- Stevenson uses language associated with battles and wars to illustrate and allude to this internal conflict within Jekyll.
- There is a "perennial war among [his] members" and the two sides of nature “contended in the field” of his psyche, like two opposing forces on a battleground.