Jekyll and Hyde-Victorian London

^^Key Quote:^^

‘Soho…with its muddy ways, and slatternly passengers’

Victorian gents were quite familiar with the dodgy parts of town. Dark alleys, narrow streets and constant fog- the perfect place to hide night-time exploits

^^Working-class London was overcrowded^^

• While the middle and upper class lived in big homes(Jekyll’s had ‘a great air of wealth and comfort’ most working class people had to live in slums as they had moved very quickly during the Industrial Revolution. Because it was built quickly it was poor, whole families would live in 1/2 rooms that were damp, had no running water or sanitation. This lead to widespread disease
• Streets were narrow and poorly lit. The East end slums were built close to factories so they could work longer hours, meaning the slums suffered particularly from pollution

  ^^Writer’s Techniques-Setting^^

  In parts of the novel, London could seem nightmarish-the fog and gloom are thick and powerful

^^Working-class London was not respectable^^

• Respectable men wouldn’t wanted to be seen in brothels or public houses
• Hyde is associated with less respectable parts of London, as his house is in a ‘dismal quarter of Soho’ where ‘ragged children’ huddle in doorways
• But the two sides did overlap as some gentlemen would deliberately go to the ‘dismal’ area(where there was less cause of being recognised) to satisfy the desires they hid. Jekyll toke this a step further by changing who he is before going to these areas
• Jekyll sets up a house for Hyde in Soho, and furnishes it in ‘luxury and good taste’. This ties him to a disreputable part of the city

^^Theme-Dual Nature of Man^^

Theme applies to characters and settings, Jekyll’s home has two very different entrances, but they both lead to the same building

^^Writer’s Techniques- The Gothic Novel^^

Traditionally, Gothic novels were set in faraway places, Stevenson choses to set his story in a place familiar to his readers, which might make the novels more frightening