Victorian Age. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde description PDF

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The "Knotty Age" of Double Standards, Main political, economical and social issues, Description of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....

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VICTORIAN AGE (1837-1901) Great Exhibition — took place in the Crystal Palace built up for this occasion by King Albert and it is a huge building similar to a Green House. It was meant to exhibit England's power in technical development and in the colonial sense (since its the period when England is a leading power in the worldwide scenario, ruling over colonies that are spread out in the world.) in this historical moment. CHARTIST MOVEMENT —

MAIN POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMICAL ISSUES: INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION — (chartism, victorian compromise): The golden age of Steam GROWTH OF POPULATION — In London, from 2 million to 6 million; we have overcrowded cities ( especially the Industrial centers like Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool etc.) THE BRITISH EMPIRE — 1 out of 4 people under the British Crown The British Empire originates in the Reneissance but it is precisely during the Victorian Age that is institutionalized. One out of four people in the worlds is under the British crown (expansions in India, Canada, Australia, Canada) =HUGE EXPANSION has a strong impact on economy, society, and the general perception of the world that is affected by the expansions. PAX BRITANNICA — We are in a moment of relative peace; It refers the absence of wars and the stability of the empire. MAIN CULTURAL TRAITS: THE KNOTTY AGE OF "DOUBLE STANDARD" —CONTRAST BETWEEN: -CONFORMISM

-STRICT SOCIAL CODES AND STANDARDS

-PRUDERY

-CONFRONTATION WITH THE "OTHER": Function of the colonism, social differences implies forms of confrontation with other. -UTILITARIANISM -> Economic doctrine = ECONOMY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PEOPLE. The reasons of economy can somehow have a greater influence than certain strict social rules (Utilitarianism is the opposite of strict social codes and standards) -OBSESSION WITH SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR -> [Contrasted with Prudery] It condamned women bc men could satisfy their needs freely. allusions to sex in DJMH are very subtle -> SEXUAL REPRESSION !!!Age when pornography and prostitution flourish, even if the concept of Prudery is important during the Victorian Age.

RELIGION AND DARWINISM Scientific Progress and Religion as a double standard: on one hand, we are in a period characterized by enormous progress in science (ex. Industrial Rev.) As a consequence, Religion is a stake: doubt originates in original even if it remains an important part in society's life. Darwin's theory of evolution of the species originates another perspective when relating to "otherness", that is inside the human being itself. The idea of "otherness" begins to be "interiorized" : There is an animal part in everybody's consciousness. RENEISSANCE = age of humanistic shift-> in the golden age, human beings occupies a special place in the world. On the contrary, Darwin talks about the destabilization of the human beings: destabilization bc it marks a change in self- perspection and it leads the human being to rething themselves from a philosophical and religious point of view. DJMH -> sense of regression instead of revolution when describing Hyde. TRADITION AND INNOVATION IN DEALING WITH THE ROLE OF WOMEN WITHIN SOCIETY The role of women (which is deeply rooted in tradition) ->Angel House/ sense of otherness = Prostitute (as the only possibility). In this period the movement of women emancipation also begins (Wollstonecraft) and the struggle for rights begins.

DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE Lot of visual adaptations - divided in 10 chapters; -> in the first 8 chapters, we have a diachronic narration (narration of facts, it leaves us with a lot of questions. -> THE STORY DOUBLES ITSELF : the last 2 chapters correspond to the first rewritings of thesory that comes before. -> DR Lanyon's Narrative -> Dr Lanyon's narrates the story from his point of view, that has more information. In this ch. We feel like we are in front of Hyde and we find out that is Jekyll that is able to transform in Hyde : we actually are at the end of the story, but it is only there that we are able to know that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. Chapter 9 also doubles itself in chapter 10, where we have Henry Jekyll's full statement to the case. We have a twice doubled structure (the first 8 chapters mirroring themselves in chapter 9, and chapter nine mirroring itself in chapter 10.) -> All this creates a very original structure of narration, that articulates itself in a series of mirroring of repetitions/situations that are doubled, that is very difficult to represent visually. With writing, we can construct a certain form of suspance that is characteristic in the written form.

DETECTIVE STORY - mistery that needs to be solved (Thanks to Mr. Utterson, that is not so skilled) In those periods the story of Sherlock Holmes is born. DRUG ADDICTION STORY - Jekyll develops an addiction to a substance that affects his behaviour and it has much consequences. He loses control over it, typical of addiction stories. In the Victorian Age, a typical addiction is the one of alcohol. ---> Utterson alludes to this addiction in the text Jekyll, in the novel, need more and more of the potion in order to continue the transformation, and eventually he loses control of it (which is typical of drug addiction stories) PARABLE/CAUTIONARY TALE - Utterson himself warns against the dangers that comes with traspassing the limits of science. The story emboides a typical spirit of the Victorian Age -> if we leave science free of boundaries we can end up with dangerous and threatening situations. In the novel, these aspects are overcomed : Stevenson challenges the reader and moves the borders as to defy this common belief that certain stepts shouldnt be made. SCIENCE FICTION - If we focus on the title, the word "CASE" alludes to a "case that needs to be solved", but this word also leads us to the core of science: through the title we can understand that we are in front of a science fiction. TALE OF THE SUPERNATURAL - "STRANGE" , but more frightening. ALMOST IRONIC ADJECTIVE BC. It's more than a strange case. ---> The paratext of the title contributes to enforce suspence in the reader that approaches the text. ADAPTATIONS AND REWRITINGS: Adaptations are able to show -being a visual text- what the original text is not. DR JEKYLL AND MISTER HYDE -- A play in four acts; written by Thomas Russell Sullivan, starring Richard Mansfield (1887) -> Performed for the first time in Boston. First adaptation. Richard Mansfield was very fascinated by the novel bc he found fascinating playing a role of the double (it would have been a challenge for him to interpret a character with double personality). The play becomes really popular, to the point that comes to London the year after. The play is organized differently from the text -> Organized on a linear perspective and the events are developed subsequently without any temporal gaps. This impies that the question of the transformation is known at the very beginning. --> This spoils the final somehow. =The surprise effect is spoiled. -The play has , for the very first time, female characters = VERY DEVIATING . The original text is somehow deprived of very important female characters, and this is a characteristic of the text. The addition of female characters lead to a simplification of the text. Adding female characters in a male hysteria text deviates the text itself. !!! In this claustrophobic male world, the absence of female is a double itself. These characteristics have the power to alienate the visual text from the original one. -- They produce a different perception in the viewer's mind. The complexity of the original text is lost.

DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE -- film directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart (1931-32) DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE -- film, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner (1941, Hays Code) The visual text and the text itself were released in a period of the series of crimes commitetd by Jack The Ripper. Newspapers make of Jack the Ripper murderers a media case , that had a strong impact on society. For some reason, the police made a connection between Richard Mansfield and the identity of Jack The Ripper: it is a sort of collective psychosis that leads to a strange connection between real life and fiction. This fact contributed to the popularity of the story....