Jekyll and Hyde

Context

Stevenson -

• As a young man, he rebelled against the stem and coneventional morality of his father, which he considered to be genteel hypocrisy of the wealthy in Edinburgh society

• Stevenson disliked the Presbytarian respectability (i.e. being socially acceptable via faith in the protestant church and the elders of the church)

• The idea of the novella stemmed from a nightmare and was likely strongly influenced by thr repressive societal norms that plagued society

  Link to novella;

• This rebellion against hypocrisy is reflected in the novella in the duplicity between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: one is a respected gentleman in society whilst the other is a degenerate

• Stevenson completely indicts any ideas of respectability and teh weight it holds in society through undermining rigid social constructs. The whole novells intermingles ideas of ‘respectability’ with the belligerent and horrifying reality - respectability