SH+2015+P4+Victorian+London

//** __Victorian London__ **//

Robert Lewis Stevenson, Author of Jekyll and Hyde wrote Jekyll and Hyde in the setting of Victorian London. He wrote this story based off of his respiratory problems but the purpose of Victorian London taking place is because he moved to London during the Victorian era (Queen Victoria’s Reign(Wikipedia)) when he newly wedded his wife, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne (Sparknotes). Throughout the passage the setting (Victorian London) is stated very explicitly. mentioning London about 12 times with quotes like, “We told the man we could and would make such a scandal out of this as should make his name stink from one end of London to the other.” and “By ten oclock, when the shops were closed the by-street was very solitary and, in spite of the low growl of London from all round, very silent.” In the text I believe pious is the most consistent and strongest word in the story, meaning to behave in a religious manner (VerbalWorkout). In the passage the word is related to work or studies. For example, “There were several books on a shelf; one lay beside the tea things open, and Utterson was amazed to find it a copy of a pious work, for which Jekyll had several times expressed a great esteem, annotated, in his own hand with startling blasphemies.”. In the story Robert Lewis achieved his purpose of placing Victorian London as his setting by constantly mentioning London in the story and placing it in addresses. Overall Robert Lewis’s plan was to clearly mention the time and place during Jekyll and Hyde.
 * __Aim-__ Kylia Myers **

Sources: SparkNotes Editors. "DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, 2003. Web. 01 Aug. 2015. .

Wikipedia. “Victorian Era.” 22 July 2015. Web. 01 Aug. 2015 

Verbal Workout. “Pious.” 2015. Web. 02 Aug. 2015 

Throughout the story, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Victorian London era has had a big effect on the people and the audience. The audience is all of the people reading the story and how they can see inside the story with different views on personality and characters. One writer explains, “In 1887, Robert Louis Stevenson published The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a short novel that conveys three important aspects of the Victorian period: the advancement in science, the economic growth, and the awake of socially repressed feelings and behaviors,”(Alex M.C). Throughout the story, London goes through changes, and with those changes the people living inside the story also change. People outside of the story, can see the story through the eyes of the characters. The audience can have a better understanding of the meaning of Stevenson’s writings and when things change in the authors emotion’s. The Victorian London era affects not only the way the author writes, but also what the the audience understands in his writing.
 * __Audience-__ Karly Mortensen **

Sources: M.C., Alex. "The Victorian Period and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: A Time of Change." Alex M.C. 19 Nov. 2012. Web. 3 Aug. 2015. 

Historical events have influence Robert Louis Stevenson and his audience by conveying the sensitivities and mannerisms of the people of the era and comparing them to that of Jekyll and Hyde. The character of Dr. Jekyll, himself can be described as the physical embodiment of Victorian London, having been given two sides of a coin. Jekyll is the embodiment of the higher class, being the distinguished and dignified doctor that everyone looks up to. He is forced to confine his inner tendencies or high society will shun him. “For those in the upper echelons of society, rules such as the proper forms of address, and even what to wear (including which pieces of jewelry would be appropriate) were all considered very important,” (AboutBritain). Mr Hyde is all of Jekyll’s bottled up animalistic tendencies. Being upper-class he must conform all of his habits to be sophisticated and civilized. However, Mr. Hyde represents the lower-class that the rich and wealthy ignore and suppress. Its a brilliant depiction of all the underground crimes and murders during that time period that went unnoticed by high society. In short, Robert Louis Stevenson used the historical setting as clever social commentary and to raise the stakes of suspense for the readers.
 * __Historical-__ Connor Kinney **
 * __Historical-__ Connor Kinney **

Sources: Rose, Tudor. “Victorian Society.” On AboutBritain.com. Excelsior Information Systems Ltd, 1999. Web. 02 Aug. 2015. .

Cultural events influenced the relationship between Robert Louis Stevenson and his audience by following the innovative and progress of the Victorian era. Its influence on writers, their work, and the way the people of his time viewed and symbolized certain things and aspects. To the Victorian audience, Hyde would be interpreted that, “His physical ugliness and deformity symbolizes his moral hideousness and warped ethics. Indeed, for the audience of Stevenson’s time, the connection between such ugliness and Hyde’s wickedness might have been seen as more than symbolic. Many people believed in the science of physiognomy, which held that one could identify a criminal by physical appearance. Additionally, Hyde’s small stature may represent the fact that, as Jekyll’s dark side, he has been repressed for years, prevented from growing and flourishing.”(SparkNotes). Cultural innovation, progress, and advancements in many different fields. The people of the Victorian time were connected and drawn to Stevenson’s sense of darkness and human nature that was portrayed throughout the story. The expression of the good and evil side of a person’s mind and body. Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde brings in the darker, more gruesome characteristics of people and the society that he resided in. While connecting to the audience's growing infatuation with science, industry, and the growing new world around them. It was the evilness, the mask that people always wear, and the constantly conflicting personas that the readers connected with when reading Stevenson’s writing. Robert Louis Stevenson connected to his audience through expressing and illustrating a new view of the society and culture that he and his audience live in.
 * __Cultural-__ Sherylann Distasio **

Sources: SparkNotes Editors. "DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE." //SparkNotes//. SparkNotes, 2003. Web. 01 Aug. 2015. .