Sexuality in Jekyll and Hyde
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Sexuality
Human sexuality is one topic that will remain taboo throughout time. Promiscuity is considered very undesirable, and often people who abuse their sexuality are condemned. Indeed, the term “in-between the sheets” refers to a whole new personality which one can become while in the bedroom. Human sexuality is considered an unmentionable public topic. The only time one may feel comfortable exploring sexual ideas or fantasies is with an intimate partner who has similar sexual experiences and standards. Many times after a sexual fantasy is explored, many people feel guilty or dirty after their experience. Even in today’s society, women do not want to reveal how many sexual partners they have had for fear of judgment. In the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson uses the double characters to pronounce the internal struggle between human impulses, and society’s structural norms and expectations. As Dr. Jekyll, the character feels pressured by society to attain a certain public image, one that resembles an ideal and humble man who would never violate or even whisper about sex. Mr. Hyde serves as Dr. Jekyll’s alter ego. Mr. Hyde allows Dr. Jekyll to explore and violate social norms without guilt or consequences. If Dr. Jekyll is not responsible for Mr. Hyde’s actions, there is no limit to Mr. Hyde’s freedom. Dr. Jekyll becomes Mr. Hyde in order to violate societal norms because without this alter ego, Dr. Jekyll would not be able to explore human sexuality without social punishments.
Many of Stevenson’s characters in the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pride themselves of being goodly, modest gentlemen. They do not act out of line, do not speak of radical notions, and try their best to fit into society. “One particular element in human nature that was notoriously ignored was, of course, the sexual passion, for there shame, fear and the proprieties united to draw a veil of silence or a gloss of euphemism over the facts of life” (Houghton, Hypocrisy, 1957) The facts of life which generations as late as our parents heard were that babies were conceived because a bird (the stork) conveniently dropped off newborns to eager parents’ doorsteps. Sex is still a rather sensitive subject that is still hard for many people to discuss. Some modern Americans find it easier to join sex chat rooms where they may hide their identity and talk about sex in ways they might not have been able to with their friends in their social world. In this same fashion, Dr. Jekyll is able to escape the pressures of Victorian society by transforming into Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll may keep his flawless reputation while Mr. Hyde provides a safe outlet for true, raw emotions.
While Dr. Jekyll is seen as a respectable member of society, he is not able to express any ideas that seem politically incorrect. It is only through Mr. Hyde that Dr. Jekyll is able to express his true feelings. Dr. Jekyll writes about how important it was to uphold a goodly reputation, and how Mr. Hyde was a sort of relief of societal pressures. Dr. Jekyll was allowed to assume another identity in order to express and unleash his inner desires. “I was the first that ever did so for his pleasures. I was the first that could thus plod in the public eye with a load of genial respectability, and in a moment, like a schoolboy, strip off these lendings and spring headlong into the sea of liberty” (Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, p. 52) Mr. Hyde acts as an outlet for Dr. Jekyll. He can act out on impulses that Dr. Jekyll has without any social ramifications. In this way, Dr. Jekyll is hiding behind a mask. He is not expressing his true feelings as himself, and instead must suppress them for fear of becoming an outcast in society. Instead of receiving the blame for his actions, Dr. Jekyll hides behind Mr. Hyde so that the blame is shifted to Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde is therefore seen as a brute and an outcast because he serves as an outlet for Dr. Jekyll.
Mr. Hyde is very unwelcome into society. People do not really understand what exactly is wrong with him, and he is socially ostracized and ridiculed. As Mr. Enfield describes, “There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point” (Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, p. 11) Although members of society cannot pinpoint their discomfort level with Mr. Hyde, they know that there is something unsettling about his character. Mr. Hyde comes across as crude, deformed, and frightening to other members of society. He is also seen as having many different monstrous encounters with maids and young women.