Historical Context
Context is what separates a Grade 6 from a Grade 9. Use these points to elevate every essay.
Darwin's On the Origin of Species
Darwin's theory of evolution challenged the idea that humans were uniquely created by God, suggesting instead that we share ancestry with animals.
Hyde's animalistic qualities (he is described as ape-like) reflect Victorian anxieties about what Darwin's theory implied — that beneath the civilised surface, humans are still animals.
Publication of Jekyll and Hyde
Stevenson wrote the novella in just six days, reportedly inspired by a dream. It was an immediate bestseller.
The speed of composition and the dream origin suggest the novella tapped into deep cultural anxieties that were already present in the Victorian psyche.
Criminal Law Amendment Act
This Act criminalised 'gross indecency' between men, effectively making male homosexuality illegal. Oscar Wilde was later prosecuted under it.
Many critics read Jekyll's 'undignified pleasures' as a coded reference to homosexuality. The novella can be read as a critique of a society that forces people to hide their true selves under threat of criminal punishment.
The Victorian Double Life
Victorian society demanded strict public morality, but many upper-class men led secret lives — visiting prostitutes, engaging in illegal activities — while maintaining respectable public faces.
Jekyll's double life is a direct metaphor for this Victorian phenomenon. Stevenson argues that the stricter the moral code, the more intense the private transgression.
Gothic Literary Tradition
Gothic literature used dark, atmospheric settings and supernatural elements to explore psychological and moral fears. Key texts include Frankenstein (1818) and Dracula (1897).
Stevenson uses Gothic conventions — the dark laboratory, the mysterious door, the horror of transformation — to explore the psychological landscape of Victorian repression.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley's Gothic novel tells the story of a scientist who creates a monster and is destroyed by his own creation. It established the template of the 'mad scientist' narrative.
Jekyll and Hyde belongs to the same tradition as Frankenstein — both are cautionary tales about science overreaching its proper limits. Both scientists create monsters they cannot control. Referencing Frankenstein in essays demonstrates wide literary knowledge and earns AO3 marks.
Victorian Physiognomy
Physiognomy was the pseudo-scientific belief that character could be read from physical appearance. It was widely accepted in Victorian society and used to justify racial and class prejudice.
Stevenson both uses and subverts physiognomy: Hyde looks wrong (confirming the theory), but Jekyll looks perfectly respectable (subverting it). This shows that appearances cannot be trusted — a critique of Victorian society's reliance on surface judgements.
The Cleveland Street Scandal
A scandal involving a male brothel in London that was frequented by upper-class men, including members of the aristocracy. The scandal exposed the hypocrisy of Victorian moral respectability.
The Cleveland Street scandal is one of the most direct real-world parallels to Jekyll's double life. It showed that the most respectable members of Victorian society were leading secret lives. Stevenson was writing in this context.
Robert Louis Stevenson's Life
Stevenson himself led something of a double life — he was a respectable writer but also suffered from tuberculosis, lived unconventionally, and was fascinated by the darker aspects of human nature.
Stevenson's personal experience of illness and his unconventional lifestyle gave him insight into the gap between public respectability and private reality. The novella can be read as a semi-autobiographical exploration of his own divided nature.
Early Psychoanalysis — Freud
Sigmund Freud's theories of the unconscious, the id, ego, and superego were developed in the 1890s — shortly after Jekyll and Hyde was published. Freud argued that the unconscious contains repressed desires that seek expression.
Stevenson anticipated Freudian ideas about the unconscious and repression. Hyde can be read as Jekyll's id — the primitive, unrestrained self that the ego (Jekyll) tries to suppress. Referencing this parallel shows sophisticated contextual awareness.
Don't just mention context — embed it in your analysis. Instead of "Stevenson was writing in the Victorian era", say "Stevenson, writing in an era of strict moral codes and hidden double lives, uses Jekyll's experiment to expose the hypocrisy at the heart of Victorian respectability." The context should explain why the writer made specific choices.