The Victorian Age

The Victorian Age • The Victorian era, spanning from 1830–1901, was a period of dramatic change the world over, and especially in England, with the rapid extension of colonialism through large portions of Africa, Asia, and the West Indies, making England a pre-eminent centre of world power and relocating the perceived centre of Western Civilization from Paris to London.

The Victorian early period (1830–48) can be described as a time of dramatic change, with the improvement of the railroads and the country's first Reform Parliament, but it was also a time of economic distress.

Although the mid-Victorian period (1848–70) was not free of the previous period's problems, it was a time of overall prosperity and general social satisfaction with further growth of the empire improving trade and economic conditions.

The later period (1870–1901) was a time of changing attitudes about colonialism, industrialization, and the possibility of making scientific advancements.

The conditions of publishing, including the prominence of the periodical press, dramatically shaped the form and production of literature in the Victorian era.

We are interested in the era of 1870-1901 • There is an attitude of change: • Colonialism • Industrialization • Scientific advancements

The later period (1870–1901) was a time of changing attitudes about colonialism, industrialization, and scientific advancement. • Rebellions and war in the colonial territories made the public increasingly more aware of the costs of empire. • Various events challenged the sense of England's endless prosperity as a world power, such as the emergence of Bismarck's Germany and its threats to English naval and military positions and the expansion of the American grain industry, driving down the price of English grain. • Socialist movements grew out of this discontentment, as well as a melancholy spirit in the writing of the end of the century. Oscar Wilde's making a pun of "earnest," a typical and sincerely used mid-Victorian word, is typical of a dying Victorianism.

In addition to social and economic changes, dramatically affecting the content of literature during the Victorian era, other technological changes in publishing shaped literary production in other ways. • The conditions of publishing, including the prominence of the periodical press, dramatically shaped the form of literature. • Serialization of novels, for example, allowed for an author to alter the shape of his narrative based on public response to earlier instalments.

In the later years of the era, authors started to position themselves in opposition to this broad reading public and serialization gave way to three-volume editions. • The Victorian novel was primarily concerned with representing a social reality and the way a protagonist sought and defined a place within this reality. • The increased popularity of periodicals also allowed non-fiction to become a widespread and popular literary genre.

Victorian poetry was also published in periodicals and underwent its own dramatic changes during the era, with Victorian poets seeking to represent psychology in new ways. • Theatre, on the other hand, was a popular form of entertainment, but did not flourish aesthetically until the end of the Victorian era.

There was a rich connection in the Victorian period between visual art and literature. • Much Victorian aesthetic theory makes the eye the most authoritative sense and the clearest indicator of truth. • Victorian poetry and the Victorian novel both value visual description as a way of portraying their subjects. • This emphasis on the visual creates a particularly close connection between poetry and painting. Books of fiction and poetry were illustrated, and the illustrations amplified and intensified the effects of the text. • The texts, engravings, and paintings provide an insight into the connection between the verbal and the visual so central to Victorian aesthetics.

"All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their own peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their own peril."--by Oscar Wilde, Preface, "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

Very brief synopsis of ‘Dorian Gray • The novel opens with Henry Wotton and his friend, Basil Hallward. The pair are admiring a painting recently of ‘a young man of extraordinary personal beauty.’ (Wilde, 1992, pg.5) The young man in question is Dorian Gray. • One evening, Dorian realises that his beauty will soon wither and fade, and makes a deal with the devil to retain his youth: ‘If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old!’(Wilde, 1992, pg.24) • Dorian and Sybil • Dorian meets a young actress, Sybil Vane and spends his evenings watching her perform at a local theatre. He woos her for a short time and soon proposes marriage, which she accepts. Sybil’s brother James vows that ‘if this man wrongs my sister, I will find out who he is, track him down and kill him like a dog.’ (Wilde, 1992, pg.58) • The next evening Dorian, Basil and Henry go to watch Sybil perform, but her acting is appalling. After the performance Dorian breaks off his engagement to Sybil, declaring that he cannot ever love her. Upon returning home Dorian realises that the facial expression of his portrait has altered to reflect his cruel treatment of Sybil.

Dorian decides that the proper thing to do is to go back to Sybil and reaffirm his love for her; however, the next day Dorian hears the news that the young actress has killed herself in the night. • The Altered Portrait • After this incident and over the following years Dorian leads a life of debauchery: the portrait alters each time a sin is committed. Dorian’s debauchery is heavily influenced by an unnamed book given to him as a gift by Henry. • Many years later Basil goes to visit Dorian with the intention of confronting him about the sinful life he has been living. Dorian does not deny the things he has done and takes Basil to see the portrait that has always remained hidden. • Murder • On seeing the altered portrait, Basil begs Dorian to repent his sins. Dorian, in a fit of madness and resentment stabs Basil to death. He seeks out Alan Campbell, an acquaintance, and blackmails him into destroying Basil’s corpse. • Following this incident, James Vane inadvertently catches Dorian leaving an Opium den but releases him, believing him too young to have been the man involved with his deceased sister. A passing woman reveals to James that he is indeed the man in question. The following week, Dorian spots James on the grounds; but the next day James is accidentally killed while Dorian and his friends are out hunting.

Dorian’s Final Act • Dorian finally realises the error of his ways and reaffirms his desire to be good, hoping that the portrait will change to reflect his new life. When he inspects the painting he finds that there is no real change except that the painting has ‘a look of cunning, and in the mouth the curved wrinkle of the hypocrite.’ (Wilde, 1992, pg.176) • In a fit of rage, Dorian seizes the knife he used to kill Basil and stabs the portrait with it. His servants hear a scream and call for the police. When they arrive they find the portrait as it originally was and a corpse aged horribly and unidentifiable: ‘it was only when they examined the rings that they recognised who it was.’ (Wilde, 1992, pg.177) • References: • Wilde, O., 1992,‘The Picture of Dorian Gray,’ Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited

What’s it all about? • Homoerotic love? • Homoerotic love is an underlying theme of the novel, although it is never stated directly. Both Lord Henry and Basil Hallward are deeply attracted to Dorian Gray on account of his great physical beauty. Basil insists that his love for Dorian is "noble and intellectual," and there is no reason to doubt him. But he also speaks about Dorian in terms that a man would normally speak about a lover and about falling in love. "I worshipped you," he says to Dorian. "I grew jealous of every one to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you all to myself. I was only happy when I was with you" (chapter 9). Basil sublimates any erotic dimension to his feelings about Dorian by pouring them into his art.

Lord Henry prefers the company of Dorian to that of his wife, and he consistently expresses misogynist views. He worships youthful male beauty as embodied in Dorian, and he encourages Dorian to give full rein all his secret desires. When he says the following to Dorian, he may well be suggesting that Dorian has a previously unacknowledged sexual attraction to men: "You have had passions that have made you afraid, thoughts that have filled you with terror, day-dreams and sleeping dreams whose mere memory might stain your cheek with shame-" The language here, and the use of the word "shame," suggests that Dorian's "sins," although they are never explicitly described, may be of a sexual nature. One has to remember that in the Victorian age, attitudes to homosexuality are very different from what they are today.

Art vs. Life • The novel presents a contrast between art and life. Art possesses beauty and form; it is contrasted with the ugliness and shapelessness of real life. Lord Henry encourages Dorian to treat his own life as if it were a work of art. He must experience it fully, as one would a piece of art, but at the same time remain detached from it, in the way that one might appreciate a great painting or a play. This involves a paradox: he must be at once involved and uninvolved, fully participating, not drawing back from anything, but always remaining a spectator. Such is Lord Henry's notion. He is depicted as being a connoisseur of all the arts and surrounds himself with objects of beauty. He maintains the essential detachment that enables him, or at least he claims it does, to avoid the pain of the world. It also means that he does not adopt moral positions on anything, since that would mean taking life more seriously than art. For Lord Henry, the purpose of life is not to exhibit one's moral prejudices but to contemplate beauty.

The contrast between art and life can be seen in the chapters that describe Dorian's walk to the theater where Sibyl Vane performs and on his ride to the opium den. In both instances, the sordidness of these parts of London is described. Dorian feels this keenly, and he takes refuge in the art that Sibyl creates. Her value to him is that she enables him to live out Henry's creed. When she ceases to show an interest in art, Dorian ceases to be interested in her. On the ride to the opium den, Dorian's position has changed. He now embraces the ugliness of life. He has forgotten the creed that Henry taught him. He has exchanged art for life-and that itself is a sin, in Oscar Wilde's credo.

Sensual GratificationLord Henry's philosophy of life, which is adopted by Dorian, is that the senses should be indulged to the full. In the fleeting sense experience lies the intensity of life, and all life is simply a series of these intense moments. This is not intended as a mindless indulgence for the sake of it, but is a conscious quest for beauty.

Dorian thus learns to cultivate all kinds of sense experience, passions and sensations in the pursuit of beauty. He studies exotic perfumes, he collects musical instruments and precious stones. He once went to a costume ball wearing an outfit covered with 560 pearls. Neither Henry nor Dorian believe in any restrictions on desire, because desire is life itself, whereas self-denial in the name of morality is exactly that-a denial of life. Henry's belief is that self-development, not self-restraint, is the purpose of life. He describes this philosophy as a new Hedonism. It is a refined understanding and appreciation of life that amounts to a form of spirituality.

And so Henry's friend and disciple Dorian believes that in indulging the senses he is freeing them to be what are intended to be, a channel for the experience of beauty. In chapter 11, he states his belief that the senses have never been properly understood before: "they had remained savage and animal merely because the world had sought to starve them into submission or to kill them by pain, instead of aiming at making them elements of a new spirituality, of which a fine instinct for beauty was to be the dominant characteristic"

1. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. (Preface) • 2. There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." (Ch. 1, Lord Henry, to Basil.) • 3. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies. (Ch. 1, Lord Henry) • 4. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. (Ch. 2, Lord Henry) • 5. "To me, beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances." (Ch. 2, Lord Henry)

6. "I can sympathize with everything, except suffering." (Ch. 3, Lord Henry at the lunch at Aunt Agatha's.) • 7. "Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious; both are disappointed." (Ch. 4, Lord Henry explains why he advises Dorian never to marry.) • 8. "Acigaretteis the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want? (Ch. 6, Lord Henry.) • 9. "It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But . . . it is better to be good than to be ugly." (Ch. 17, Lord Henry to the Duchess of Monmouth.) • 10. "To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except takeexercise, get up early, or be respectable." (Ch. 19, Lord Henry to Dorian.)

. What are the mythic elements in the novel? • There are allusions to two myths: first, the story in the book of Genesis about the garden of Eden, the temptation of Eve by the serpent, and the fall of man; and second, to the Faust legend. • The second chapter of the novel strongly suggests a temptation scene. It takes place in a garden. Basil Hallward, the painter, is like God the creator; he has just created the picture of Dorian in all his perfection.

The tempter is Lord Henry, who wants to persuade Dorian to ignore all the conventional rules of society, just as the serpent wants Eve to disregard the commandments from God. Dorian is like the first man, Adam, innocent in his perfection, who is being told by the serpent totasteof the forbidden fruit of sensual experience. At various crises in Dorian'slife, Henry retains the role of the tempter. He is at Dorian's side encouraging him to adopt an attitude toward life that will cost him dear in the long run. For example, when Dorian and Henry discuss the death of Sibyl, Henry encourages him to view it from a detached point of view, like an episode in a play. This means that Dorian never develops the moral sense necessary to balance his love of sensual experience. He "falls" and his soul is blackened.

In the Faust legend, Faust sells his soul to the devil in order to gain knowledge and power. Dorian is a Faustian figure because he wants to obtain eternal youth, something that under normal circumstances no human being can obtain. He enters into a Faustian bargain when he prays that he might be able to remain forever young while the process of aging is confined to the picture. When the woman at the opium den says that "Prince Charming" sold himself to the devil for a pretty face, she is unconsciously referring to the Faust myth.

2. Wilde was condemned by his critics for writing an "immoral" book; he claimed it was a very moral work. What justification is there for either view? • On publication,The Picture of Dorian Graymet with a storm of hostile reviews which condemned the book for its alleged immorality. The tone of the reviews was often virulent. The critic for theDaily Chroniclewrote, "It is a tale spawned from the leprous literature of theFrenchDecadents-a poisonous book, the atmosphere of which is heavy with the mephitic odours of moral and spiritual putrefaction." Others suggested that the authorities should consider prosecuting Wilde for the content of the book. Wilde replied, in letters to literary magazines, that the novel had a moral message that "all excess, as well as all renunciation, brings its own punishment." He points out that Dorian, "having led a life of mere sensation and pleasure, tries to kill conscience, and at that moment kills himself." Wilde also claimed that Basil worshiped physical beauty too much and instilled vanity into Dorian, and that Henry suffered because he sought merely to be a spectator of life.

Wilde is correct in the sense that Dorian does meet a badend, and one could find passages where he is explicitly condemned, such as when he leaves the opium den, "Callous, concentrated on evil, with stained mind and soul hungry for rebellion." But the novel is far from being a simple moral parable that sin meets with punishment. There is a discrepancy between the moral framework and the overall tone of the novel. Wilde takes such relish in the luxurious sensual descriptions of Dorian's life that it can sound as if he approves of it. His heart is more in the varieties of sensation that he gives to his protagonist than in his moral condemnation of him. There is perhaps a parallel here with Milton'sParadise Lost. Many readers feel that the hero of the epic is not Christ but Satan, because Milton seems to put so much more energy and life into his devil than in his God. The poet William Blake once famously said of Milton that he was "of the devil's party without knowing it." Perhaps it might be said that Wilde was of Dorian's party-and only succeeded in partially disguising the fact.

The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde – brief synopsis • Mr. Utterson is a London lawyer who is a friend of Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll gave up his regular practice to experiment with non-traditional medicine. Utterson is concerned because Jekyll has written a will that leaves all his money to his new partner Mr. Hyde. Utterson has heard bad things of Hyde and disliked him at first sight. The lawyer thinks his friend is being blackmailed. • One day, the lawyer is asked to identify the body of a murdered man, Sir Danvers Carew, one of Utterson’s clients. Hyde is suspected of the murder, but he has disappeared. Jekyll swears that he has not seen Hyde and has broken with him forever. The case remains unsolved and Jekyll becomes more sociable than he had been.

Suddenly, though, he locks himself into his laboratory, yelling to the servants through the door, directing them to gather chemicals for him. The servants recognize a change in his voice and think that their master has been murdered; another man has taken his place in the lab. They call Utterson who breaks down the door. On the floor lies Hyde, who has killed himself with poison. Sadly, Utterson assumes Hyde returned and killed Jekyll, but the doctor’s body is nowhere to be found. • He does find, however, a letter in which Jekyll explains his relationship to Hyde. Jekyll had sometimes indulged in debauches which, if discovered, could have ruined his reputation and of which he is ashamed. Pondering this split in his personality, he decides to find a way to separate his two beings. Jekyll creates a potion that releases his evil side, Mr. Hyde. Hyde is shorter and smaller than Jekyll, having not had as much exercise.

For a while Jekyll enjoys his two bodies; he can do whatever he likes without fear of discovery. His pleasure is stunted when Hyde kills Carew in a nonsensical fit, and he resolves never to take the potion again. Hyde is now strong, however, and emerges whether Jekyll will have him or not. Indeed, Jekyll must use the potion to be rid of him if only for a moment. Jekyll knows that it is only by killing his body that Hyde’s body, too, will die.

Commentary • The story has a complex view of the relationship between body and mind. The mind and body are intricately linked. Indeed, the mind can make a body different. Thus, Hyde must have his own distinct body; he does not merely "take over" Jekyll’s body. On the other hand, before the experiment, Hyde and Jekyll both live in one body. Or, perhaps they are not two minds, then, but two aspects of one mind. Stevenson does not try to resolve these complexities so much as make them available. His story is primarily a critique of non-rational science.

How Does Robert Louis Stevenson Challenge and Criticise Victorian Ideals Through the Story of Jekyll and Hyde? • http://bookstove.com/book-talk/how-does-robert-louis-stevenson-challenge-and-criticise-victorian-ideals-through-the-story-of-jekyll-and-hyde/ • The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 by Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist andtravelwriterwho is best known for two of his novels, Treasure Island and the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. • The novella was published toward the end of the Victorian era, a period that was a time of change for England. It was the time of the industrial revolution and a lot of new technology came about, most people moved to the big cities and developed new lifestyles, and a lot of ideas in science also came about. During this period the lifestyles depended on personal wealth and status. Everyone was divided into social classes and communities. The society was very patriarchal but things were changing.

The Victorian society preferred not to acknowledge the rational and prized reputation and decorum above all. If something threatened to upset the social society they preferred to repress the truth and this led to a lot of the upper classes being blackmailed by lower classes because if the word got out that they had done wrong their reputation would be soiled and for this reason the lower classes made the upper classes pay them to keep quiet about bad things. • The Victorians often feared the Unknown, the Uncanny, a concept developed by Sigmund Freud where something can be familiar yet foreign at the same time leading to uneasiness, and also theSupernatural. • Jekyll and Hyde challenges several Victorian values by showing several of the flaws that were ‘brushed under the carpet’ to make it seem as if nothing was wrong and to make it seem like everything was perfect. Jekyll and Hyde is written in the genre of gothic fiction, often called gothic horror, which is a literature genre that combines horror and romance. The genre is believed to have been created by Horace Warpole, an English author, in 1764 in the novel ‘the castle of Otanto’. The features in the novella that are gothic are the setting and the way it’s described, supernatural, doubles and death, and also the reaction to Victorian values, the way it exposes the fears of main society and the elements of detective fiction, e.g. “if he be Mr Hyde, I shall be Mr Seek”, which shows how they wish to find out about particular things in life. The features of romanticism are the way it asserts emotion and intuition over rationalism, strong examples of fear and a slight fascination with death.

Stevenson used the character of Jekyll to criticise and challenge Victorian values. He does this as Jekyll lives in a nice house, is quite wealthy, is well respected and has a good background. This reputation led to repression, a Freud theory which means ‘the unconscious hiding of uncomfortable thoughts’, of certain urges such as to do wrong and to be Hyde. Hishouseis described as being in “a square of ancient, handsome houses” which shows that he is well off in life, Jekyll himself is described as “well known”. These things show that he is upper class and the contrast shown with his experimentations and creation of Hyde shows that not everyone is how they seem on the outside. His scientific experiments are done with a particular drug, whose name is not mentioned, and Jekyll is determined to find a way to unlock his second side, “man is not truly one, but truly two”. This shows how he was asserted that humans have a dual nature, this challenges Victorian ideals as they believed that dualism was a theory that was not possible and they believed it to be unacceptable, and it was this that led to his experimentations with a drug that he knew risked his life. When he first becomes Hyde he says that he “felt younger, lighter, happier in body” which shows how he initially enjoys being Hyde and that he feels better within himself, he also says later in this chapter that he was “tasting delight from every blow” which shows how he likes beating people and also reveals his ‘guilty pleasures’ as it shows what, deep down, he really wants to do at times and he uses Hyde as an emotional outlet.

After Hyde murders Carew, Jekyll starts to hate Hyde and says “it was the horror of being Hyde that racked me”, which suggests torture, and also “I, who sicken and freeze at the mere thought of him” which shows his complete transformation from loving Hyde to hating Hyde and also shows how Hyde makes him feel sick. At first Jekyll feels no guilt about being Hyde and of the bad deeds he is doing which suggest he is quite shallow and also that he doesn’t really think about his actions and what would come of them which show him to be quite hypocritical. Jekyll eventual complete transformation into Hyde suggests that eventually evil will prevail over good if society represses individuals. For this many Victorians would have seen Jekyll as mentally ill and would view him as an outcast and also a degenerate. • The novella shows the disintegration of Jekyll as it shows how he was very friendly and sociable and how he slowly changed to locking himself away and speaking to no-one, it is said that he would “write his orders on a sheet of paper and throw it on the stair”. This shows how he wanted no-one to see or hear him because of unexpected transformations into Hyde.

Hyde is described by several people throughout the novella and none have anything good to say about the way he looks. Enfield states “there is something wrong with his appearance, something displeasing, something downright detestable” which shows he is a very unpleasant looking man who doesn’t have to do much to scare you. Jekyll says “his every act and thought centred on self” which shows selfishness. Throughout the novella quite a lot of animalistic expressions are used to describe Hyde, “my devil had long been caged, and he came out roaring”, and the word ‘devil’ suggests that he is not very nice, the word ‘caged’ is a comparison to animals which show how Hyde was ‘locked’ away and the word ‘roaring’ suggests anger and demonstrates his want to do evil. When Jekyll describes the murder of Carew in the last chapter he says that Hyde was “tasting delight from every blow” which once again shows his selfishness, it also shows how he gets pleasure and enjoyment from this act, it also challenges Victorian values as this would have been seen as outrageous. • Hyde’s house is described as being in a “dismal quarter of Soho” and is described as “a district of some city in a nightmare” which shows the bad aura the place gives and also suggests something of Hyde’s personality as it is dark and unknown and is quite an ugly place which represents the less respectable side of London which challenges Victorian values as they wanted everything to seem perfect.

Early in the novella Utterson thinks that Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll as Hyde seems to be lower class and it was quite common for lower class members blackmailing higher classes. Many people believe Hyde to be uncanny, a theory developed after the novella was originally published. Hyde has a tendency toward the repetition of criminal behaviour, also called recidivism, as first there is the trampling of the little girl and then the murder of Carew and this suggests that he may have amentaldisorder. Victorian people believed strongly in the theory of physiognomy and when they read the description of Hyde they would have thought he was a criminal because of his demeanour as he represents the common criminal who has a disorder. • Stevenson’s description of London makes it sound like a dark, scary place and this was done as it challenges Victorian ideals as they wanted London to be seen as a nice respectable place. Stevenson also uses pathetic fallacy to emphasise the gloom and crime going on in London, such as Hyde’s crimes. The character of Hyde is used to show what was really happening in London and to imply that London wasn’t as perfect as it seemed. • Early in the novella Utterson dreams of Hyde storming around London like a “human juggernaut” who just knocked people down and carried on walking. The fact that it is set in London suggests that London, like Hyde, has a deep, sinister inside and that once you looked past the appearance you found a dark, bad place. The description as they travel to Hyde’s house also suggests that London’s a bad place and the weather also mirrors the eeriness of the situation as it says that “a great chocolate coloured pall lowered over heaven”. A good example of London being described as a bad place is “some city in a nightmare” which makes it sound very scary and quite gloomy.

Stevenson seems to suggest that Hyde is a man free from the restraints of society. He proves this in the last chapter as Jekyll, who is Hyde, says “I did not even exist” which is how he shows how he was so confident as Hyde and this was why he didn’t care what he did. He also says “Jekyll was now my city of refuge” which shows that after his crimes he could just take the drug, turn back to Jekyll and no-one would figure out that it was really him, it also shows a self confidence knowing he could do what he wanted and never be discovered. Jekyll frees himself through Hyde as the things he wishes to do he cannot do himself as it would ruin his reputation. • Lanyon represents the common Victorian who tries to blend into the background and keep secrets quiet to uphold the perfect world view. He seems to have a problem revealing the truth, “never refer to this again” which shows how he wishes to not speak about things that threaten the worldly view. Lanyon is, like Jekyll, a scientist, but believes in material science and because of this he says that Jekyll’s experiments are “unscientific balderdash”. This shows that he doesn’t believe in what Jekyll does and that he thinks he’s a bit psychotic. Later in the novella when he sees Hyde transform into Jekyll he has such a shock that he eventually dies. This is because it goes against everything he believes and has believed for most of his life. When he sees the transformation he reacts by screaming “O god!” repeatedly which shows his fear and shock. He also says “I must die” and this is because of what he saw with Hyde’s transformation into Jekyll.

He writes this into a letter which is to be opened when he and Dr Jekyll are both dead which again suggests his problem of revealing the truth if it threatens the perfect worldly view. This is common of Victorian times as they never told the truth when it threatened to upset the perfect worldly view. Stevenson may have chosen to finally reveal the secret of Jekyll and Hyde in Lanyon’s narrative as it shows it from a view where he can explain how everything happens. This would also shock the Victorian reader as it’s from a normal person’s point of view. • Utterson represents the common upper class man who wishes to hide the truth if it threatens the conventional world view. If something without explanation that is shocking occurs he makes up a story that makes it sound reasonable, for example in ‘the last night’ he says that Jekyll has been “plainly seized with one of those maladies that both torture and deform the sufferer” which shows how he tries to make a bad situation seem reasonable and to push the truth ‘under the carpet’. In the novella he is a key character as he is Jekyll’s lawyer, Carew’s lawyer, Enfield confides in him and Lanyon trusts in him immensely. I think Stevenson chose to show most of the story as Utterson because he is a well respected man who represents the common Victorian.

He prizes reputation above all and even when he suspects Jekyll of criminal behaviour he still tries to save his reputation, “we may at least save his credit”, he says this at the end of the novella when they discover the truth about Jekyll and although he has committed something outrageous he still wishes to save his reputation, this also shows how much he prizes reputation and that he wishes to save it no matter what. Another example is of Jekyll’s association with Hyde where he says “if it came to a trial your name might appear” which shows his concern for hisfriendsreputation and how he wishes Jekyll to disassociate himself from Hyde to save his reputation, when he discovers they are no longer friends he says he is “relieved by it”. He doesn’t seem to want to see the truth which portrays him as narrow minded. • In conclusion Stevenson challenges and criticises Victorian ideals mainly through the characters of Jekyll, Hyde, Lanyon and Utterson. Jekyll because it shows that someone upper class could be dark and have a deeper side, which wasn’t expected in Victorian times. Hyde because he shows what London was really like and also because the way he acts is different to what was expected of people. Utterson because of the way he is so naive and investigates the Jekyll-Hyde saga and doesn’t realise the truth. People in modern times would read the novella differently because twists such as a double personality are expected at the end of a book, whereas in Victorian times they weren’t.

Nowadays because of things like TV most people know the story of Jekyll and Hyde so they would know what to expect. It would also be read differently in modern day because things like repression of certain feelings andpsychicsplitting are a lot more common in the modern day. People in modern day would also read it differently because of the Jekyll-Hyde expression in the dictionary. Because of things like this people know bits about Jekyll and Hyde and know what occurs with the two of them. People also know a lot because it is popular culture, there have been books,TVprogrammes, films, cartoons and merchandise about Jekyll and Hyde.

The Victorian Age