Lecture: Continuing with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
March 14th, 2022
The Gothic
Both Rossetti and Stevenson’s works are considered gothic, albeit very different
● The Gothic: a repository for the “unspeakable” things that don’t have a place in the
mainstream. Often a place for women’s writing and narratives of marginalized people
Unconscious versus Subconscious
Subconscious: putting something to the side, forgetting something “accidentally, on purpose”
Unconscious: not knowable to us, comes through slips of the tongue
● That which is repressed, that which we must hide, in order to become “civilized”
According to Freud, how could we become “civilized” if we went around answering our desires?
● According to Freud, the unconscious is what we must put aside to develop civilization
● The unconscious has explanatory power, but we can’t point to the unconscious
Others argue that the brain is instrumental and has no capacity for explaining the unexplainable
● Literature always seems to be able to anticipate what seems to be unconscious and what
seems to be frightening about the unconscious
● What is animal in us and easily provoked, whether it be sexual or animalistic, if we were
to act according to our desires, we’d be ruined, killing each other
● The unconscious informs who we are
The 19th Century and Dual Identities
The 19th century was obsessed with the idea of dual identities, or “double” selves.
● Jekyll: spoke to the fact that “I may be multiple,” that “I wasn’t singular”
● The interests of the literary gothic in doppelgangers explores the psychopathological
nature of man – Stevenson owes a lot to Frankenstein
This is something that is at the heart of gothic writers’ anxiety
● Fear of losing control, social anxiety in class and excellent standing (Dr. Jekyll); keeping
appearances (part of it is about what is hidden in class relationships; what is hidden in the
upper classes and what they conspire to keep hidden); moral anxiety because of the
desires that Dr. Jekyll expresses; fear of the ‘slippery slope’ or degeneration
Historical Context
This was written a few centuries after Darwin’s “Descent of Man,” which traced the history of
man to a few apes – questioned biblical authority, a lot of people feared evolution.
● The Church: read scientific ideas in context with the Bible, with the writings as symbolic
● Some resistance to the idea that we could share a common ancestry with apes
○ The idea of evolution brings the idea of devolution
● Figure of perverse violence: Hyde chooses to live in a seedy part of town, what was
represented by Hogarth (where the prostitutes lived, lots of drinking and drugs)
March 14th, 2022
The Gothic
Both Rossetti and Stevenson’s works are considered gothic, albeit very different
● The Gothic: a repository for the “unspeakable” things that don’t have a place in the
mainstream. Often a place for women’s writing and narratives of marginalized people
Unconscious versus Subconscious
Subconscious: putting something to the side, forgetting something “accidentally, on purpose”
Unconscious: not knowable to us, comes through slips of the tongue
● That which is repressed, that which we must hide, in order to become “civilized”
According to Freud, how could we become “civilized” if we went around answering our desires?
● According to Freud, the unconscious is what we must put aside to develop civilization
● The unconscious has explanatory power, but we can’t point to the unconscious
Others argue that the brain is instrumental and has no capacity for explaining the unexplainable
● Literature always seems to be able to anticipate what seems to be unconscious and what
seems to be frightening about the unconscious
● What is animal in us and easily provoked, whether it be sexual or animalistic, if we were
to act according to our desires, we’d be ruined, killing each other
● The unconscious informs who we are
The 19th Century and Dual Identities
The 19th century was obsessed with the idea of dual identities, or “double” selves.
● Jekyll: spoke to the fact that “I may be multiple,” that “I wasn’t singular”
● The interests of the literary gothic in doppelgangers explores the psychopathological
nature of man – Stevenson owes a lot to Frankenstein
This is something that is at the heart of gothic writers’ anxiety
● Fear of losing control, social anxiety in class and excellent standing (Dr. Jekyll); keeping
appearances (part of it is about what is hidden in class relationships; what is hidden in the
upper classes and what they conspire to keep hidden); moral anxiety because of the
desires that Dr. Jekyll expresses; fear of the ‘slippery slope’ or degeneration
Historical Context
This was written a few centuries after Darwin’s “Descent of Man,” which traced the history of
man to a few apes – questioned biblical authority, a lot of people feared evolution.
● The Church: read scientific ideas in context with the Bible, with the writings as symbolic
● Some resistance to the idea that we could share a common ancestry with apes
○ The idea of evolution brings the idea of devolution
● Figure of perverse violence: Hyde chooses to live in a seedy part of town, what was
represented by Hogarth (where the prostitutes lived, lots of drinking and drugs)
