the significance of the use of multiple perspectives in
TRANSCRIPT
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE USE OF MULTIPLE
PERSPECTIVES IN CRITICIZING THE VICTORIAN HYPOCRISY AS SEEN IN STEVENSONrsquoS DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM
Student Number 024214050
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
2007
Two wrongs donrsquot make a right
For My beloved mother
in the most beautiful place in heavenhellip
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all I would thank Allah for every single bless given to me so that I finish
writing my thesis I would also like to show my gratefulness to all my lecturers in English
Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University for sharing their knowledge with me
during my study I really do thank Dra Theresia Enny Anggraini MA for giving me
advices during the completion of my thesis I appreciate her patience in waiting for each
draft submission I would like to thank my co-advisor Tatang Iskarna S S M Hum
for the suggestion to improve my thesis
I would like to thank my father and my little sister for always supporting and
praying for me my Okman Budiardi for being my spirit I want to say thank to my
friends in English Letters 2002 Minthul Ajenk Evi Nina Dyah Sheilla Memey
Danang Cepta ko Dapit Dimas Parjo Stefa mas Leo Sigit I thank them for showing
me what best friends are meant to be I also want to say thank to Dharvit for his support
I want to thank mbak Nik for willing to give my draft to Miss Enny when I cannot do it
by myself
Lastly I would like to thank everyone whom I forgot to name who has helped me
finish this thesis
Ria Indah Kusumaningrum
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip i APPROVAL PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip ii MOTTO PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iii DEDICATION PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip v TABLE OF CONTENTS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vi ABSTRACT helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vii ABSTRAK helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1
A Background of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1 B Problem Formulation helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3 C Objectives of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3 D Definition of Terms helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 4
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 8 A Review on Related Studies helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 8 B Review on Related Theories helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 11
1 Theory of Point of View helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 12 2 Theory of Society in the Novel helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 14 3 Theory of Setting helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 16
C Theoretical Framework helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 20 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 22
A Object of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 22 B Approach of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23 C Method of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26 A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited
Point of Viewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26 B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited
Point of Viewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 29 C The Use of Multiple Perspective in Criticizing Victorian Society 36
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 45 BIBLIOGRAPHY helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 53 APPENDIX helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 55
ABSTRACT
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM (2007) The Significance of the Use of the Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy as Seen in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Yogyakarta Department of English Letters Faculty of Letters Sanata Dharma University
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novel which explored the inner struggle between the two contradictory impulses within a human mind good and the evil side The novel itself has its own eccentricities one of which is the use of multiple perspectives in narrating the story This multiple perspectives makes the story become layerred so that readers are likely presented with several different narratives However the multiple perspectives are not further seen merely as the authorrsquos creativity in presenting the story but also as his criticism toward the society at that time The novel was written at Victorian era an era characterized with high morality standard and its subject matter was said to be a criticism toward Victorian middle-class society Instead of discussing its subject matter this study then is more focused to analyze the multiple perspectives and its significance in revealing the hypocrisy the subject matter of the story There are three objectives in this study The first is to analyze the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the third person limited point of view The second objective is to analyze the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view The third objective is to find out what Stevenson actually criticize from Victorian society and how the multiple perspectives become significant in revealing his criticism In analyzing the novel the socio historical approach is applied It is used to analyze Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy and how the multiple perspective signifies his criticism The finding of the analysis shows that the use of the multiple perspective firstly is aimed at criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy In the first part of the novel which uses the third person limited point of view Stevenson creates certain circumstances so that the hypocrisy is likely being hidden and refused This hiddenness of the hypocrisy seems to be his criticism toward victorian society In the second part which uses the first person limited point of view the hypocrisy is eventually being revealed These parts are not merely used to state the existence of the hypocrisy in the story but through the first person perspective Stevenson also criticizes the hypocrisy It can be found in Jekyllrsquos statements that the hypocrisy in the story is not only caused by the existence of the duality in an individual but because one cannot longer repress the darker side Stevenson likely wants to show that the hypocrisy is also rooted from the way one sees hisher position among the society
ABSTRAK
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM (2007) The Significance of the Use of the Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy as Seen in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Yogyakarta Jurusan Sastra Inggris Fakultas Sastra Universitas Sanata Dharma Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde karya Stevenson adalah sebuah novel yang mengeksplorasi pergulatan batin antara dua sisi dalam jiwa manusia sisi baik dan jahat Novel ini sendiri mempunyai beberapa kekhasan salah satunya adalah penggunaan multiple persperktif dalam mengungkapkan cerita Penggunaan multiple perspektif ini membuat ceritanya menjadi berlapis dan pembaca seolah disuguhi beberapa cerita yang berbeda Tetapi lebih lanjut multiple perspektif tidak semata-mata dipandang sebagai kreatifitas pengarang dalam menyajikan cerita tapi juga kritikannya terhadap masyarakat pada saat itu Seperti diketahui novel ini ditulis pada era Victorian yang dikenal dengan standar moralitasnya yang tinggi dan inti cerita dari novel ini disebut sebagai sebuah kritikan terhadap masyarakat kelas menengah Victorian Studi ini lebih difokuskan untuk menganalisa multiple perspektif dan signifikansinya dalam mengungkapkan hipokrisi yang merupakan inti cerita novel ini daripada membahas inti cerita itu sendiri Ada tiga objektif dalam studi ini Yang pertama adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Objektif yang kedua adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama Objektif yang ketiga adalah untuk menemukan apa yang sebenarnya di kritik oleh Stevenson dari masyarakat Victorian dan bagaimana multiple perspektif menjadi signifikan dalam mengungkapkan kritikannya tersebut Pendekatan sosio-historikal diterapkan dalam menganalisa novel ini Pendekatan ini digunakan untuk menganalisa kritikan Stevenson terhadap hipokrisi zaman Victorian dan bagaimana signifikansi multiple perspektif terhadap kritikannya Hasil analisa menunjukkan bahwa dengan menggunakan multiple perspektif pertama-tama Stevenson ingin mengkritik reaksi masyarakat Victorian terhadap hipokrisi itu sendiri Pada bagian pertama novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Stevenson telah menciptakan situasi tertentu agar hipokrisi itu sendiri seolah seperti disembunyikan dan ditolak Kesan tersembunyi dari hipokrisi ini sepertinya merupakan kritikannya terhadap masyarakat Victorian Pada bagian kedua novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama hipokrisi dalam cerita pada akhirnya terungkap Bagian-bagian yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama ini tidak semata-mata digunakan untuk mengungkapkan adanya hipokrisi dalam cerita tapi melalui sudut pandang orang pertama Stevenson juga mengkritik hipokrisi itu sendiri Dari pernyataan-pernyataan Jekyll dapat disimpulkan bahwa hypocrisy yang ada dalam cerita tidak hanya disebabkan oleh adanya duality pada setiap individu tetapi karena ketidak-mampuan seseorang untuk mengendalikan sisi gelapnya Stevenson sepertinya ingin menunjukkan bahwa hypocrisy juga berakar dari cara seseorang memandang posisinya ditengah masyarakat
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A Background of the Study
In many literary works society often plays an important role It provides
inspirations to be written and aspects of life to be criticized for an author in hisher work
Society usually affects the content of literary works which will be produced The
relationship between literary works and society become an object of many studies of
literature
One example of literary works which will not be easy to be separated from the
influence of society is a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
was written in 1885 in the reign of Queen Victoria in England Lunt in his History of
England said that Victorian era was the era of growing capitalization and industrial
development Science also developed rapidly within this era Many inventions by
scientists made life become much easier The invention of steaming-ship played an
important role in transportation and supported England to grow its industrialization
Besides the development in science and technology England also experienced a
remarkable condition in social life In the late nineteenth century England was
characterized by high moral tone rigid standards of personal morality and strong
emphasis on duty Victorianrsquos moral conduct was rooted from their religious conviction
which at the bottom evangelical Literature of this era shared strong sense of social
responsibility and moral duty Writers of this time offered thoughts to moral and social
issue and played an important role in social reforms (Lunt 1945 743-755)
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde describes also the society of this Victorian
era in its story Readers can look at the life of middle-class gentlemen in London through
the characters of Jekyll Utterson Lanyon and Enfield Readers are also brought to
recognize the hypocrisy of the Victorian society through Jekyllrsquos perspective Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde is based on Stevensonrsquos own experiences with middle-age gentlemen in
London and Edinburgh He sees his surrounding as a world of appearance and not
substance Someone is judged based on their social status and not their attitudes Clearly
Stevenson believes that his novel explores the hypocrisy of this time as well as the innate
evilness that occurrs in the society
(httpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtml)
The original idea of the story occurred from a nightmare After reading the initial
manuscript to his wife and being suggested that much can be done to the story so that it
did not become a straight forward horror story Stevenson burnt the draft The rewriting
of the draft took a scant three days Stevenson had completed the story with allegorical
undertones as his wife had suggested
(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson depicts an issue about duality of human
ndash the evil and the good Dr Jekyll a middle-class gentleman with the help of a certain
type of potion can bring out the dark side of him into a being who is later known as Hyde
This story also demonstrates the inner struggle to control the dark side of one self Guest
says that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a story about curiosity of discovering onersquos primitive
impulse side which finally get out of hand and ends up in a suicidal act Jekyllrsquos curiosity
to explore his dark side lead to the existence of Hyde When he cannot control his darker-
self anymore he decides to put his life to an end (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894)
However what makes the researcher interested is not the basic issue presented in
the story but the way the author presents it In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson
uses multiple perspectives to narrate the story There is a part of the story which is
narrated through the third personrsquos perspective and the other parts which are narrated
through the first personrsquos perspective By using this kind of perspective the author has
made a difference in showing this duality of human in the story Related to the Victorian
hypocrisy of that time it is interesting to discuss this multiple perspectives used by
Stevenson in showing this duality of human Therefore this study will further discuss
about the multiple perspectives and try to find out its significance in criticizing Victorian
hypocrisy
B Problem Formulation
In order to limit the points of discussion and make the writing clear three
questions are provided The questions are formulated as follows
1 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the third person limited point of view
2 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the first person limited point of view
3 How is the multiple perspectives used to criticize the hypocrisy of Victorian society
in England
C Objectives of the Study
The analysis of this study is to answer the questions in the problem formulation
The researcher will discuss about the multiple perspectives used in the story to present
the duality of human In discussing the perspectives used in the story the researcher uses
several theories of point of view As it is known point of view is the authorrsquos tool to
reveal the story It is carefully chosen to fulfill the intended effect of the story Using
point of view the author can direct the perspective which brought the readers into the
story
One interesting example of manipulating perspective to create certain effect
intended by the author is Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In discussing the work
the researcher will relate it to the historical background especially Victorian era in which
the work was written Considering the situation within the society at that time the
researcher will try to find out the significance of the perspectives used in the story in
criticizing Victorian hypocrisy This study is a discussion of the authorrsquos creativity shown
by the use of perspective in revealing his idea of certain issues within his involvement in
his society Hopefully this paper will give a better understanding in studying the work
D Definition of Terms
In this part the researcher will define some words related to the research in order
to help the researcher in analyzing the topic Some sources including books and articles
from the internet will be used to give the most appropriate definition of the specific
terms
1Victorian hypocrisy
The Victorian hypocrisy meant by the researcher here refers to the hypocrisy
happenned in Victorian era Thus the word ldquoVictorianrdquo refers to the era Victorian era in
England and not to a particular hypocrisy The term hypocrisy in this study is not
merely seen as a psychological matter but more considered as a sociological matter It
can be concluded from an article in the internet page that the hypocrisy as what is
happenned in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not the kind one suffers from multiple
personality disorder as what is known in psychology though it also comes from the
existence of the duality the good and the evil sides in manrsquos psyche The need to be two-
faced in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is seen as a response toward social convention prevailed
in the society For Henry Jekyll the two-faces are performed because the situation that he
deals with requires it He needs to accommodate his darker side but there is a strict rule in
the society which forbides any behavior that disregard moral values Therefore the two-
faces represented by Jekyll and Hyde are performed Here the hypocrisy is not merely a
nicety but life-saving tactic It is a reaction toward the conflict between an individual and
his society (httpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63html)
Another argument still from the internet also discuss about the social hypocrisy in
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It says that ldquothe novel has been noted as lsquoone of the best guide
books of the Victorian times because of its piercing depiction of the fundamental
dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lustrsquo as it had a tendency
for social
hypocrisyrdquo(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
2 Multiple Perspectives
Kennedy and Gioia define perspective in their book An Introduction to Fiction
Poetry and Drama as a special angle of vision It is a special angle of vision from which
a story will be perceived by the readers In order to define the perspective of the story we
shall know who is the narrator and to identify the narrator of the story and describing any
part he or she plays in the story and also the limitation he or she has upon his or her
knowledge is to identify the storyrsquos point of view Thus perspective is closely related to
point of view The point of view will determine the perspective of the story If we are told
a story from the third person point of view then we will perceive the events of the story
from the third personrsquos perspective Similarly when the story is employing the first
person point of view then we will have the narration to be revealed from the first personrsquos
perspective (Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20-21)
The term multiple perspectives is used by Hutchins in mentioning the internal
eccentricities of Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The story in Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is revealed through the perspectives of few different characters In the beginning of
the story the author uses the third person limited point of view to narrate the story and
reveals the events and actions within the story through the Lawyerrsquos perspective Almost
in the end of the story the author shifts the perspective from the Lawyer to Lanyon and
Henry Jekyll and employs the first person point of view in this part Thus the story is
revealed through the perspectives of Lanyon and Henry Jekyll himself This multiple
perspectives mentioned here refers to the more-than-one perspectives from which readers
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
Two wrongs donrsquot make a right
For My beloved mother
in the most beautiful place in heavenhellip
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all I would thank Allah for every single bless given to me so that I finish
writing my thesis I would also like to show my gratefulness to all my lecturers in English
Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University for sharing their knowledge with me
during my study I really do thank Dra Theresia Enny Anggraini MA for giving me
advices during the completion of my thesis I appreciate her patience in waiting for each
draft submission I would like to thank my co-advisor Tatang Iskarna S S M Hum
for the suggestion to improve my thesis
I would like to thank my father and my little sister for always supporting and
praying for me my Okman Budiardi for being my spirit I want to say thank to my
friends in English Letters 2002 Minthul Ajenk Evi Nina Dyah Sheilla Memey
Danang Cepta ko Dapit Dimas Parjo Stefa mas Leo Sigit I thank them for showing
me what best friends are meant to be I also want to say thank to Dharvit for his support
I want to thank mbak Nik for willing to give my draft to Miss Enny when I cannot do it
by myself
Lastly I would like to thank everyone whom I forgot to name who has helped me
finish this thesis
Ria Indah Kusumaningrum
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip i APPROVAL PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip ii MOTTO PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iii DEDICATION PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip v TABLE OF CONTENTS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vi ABSTRACT helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vii ABSTRAK helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1
A Background of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1 B Problem Formulation helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3 C Objectives of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3 D Definition of Terms helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 4
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 8 A Review on Related Studies helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 8 B Review on Related Theories helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 11
1 Theory of Point of View helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 12 2 Theory of Society in the Novel helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 14 3 Theory of Setting helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 16
C Theoretical Framework helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 20 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 22
A Object of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 22 B Approach of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23 C Method of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26 A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited
Point of Viewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26 B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited
Point of Viewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 29 C The Use of Multiple Perspective in Criticizing Victorian Society 36
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 45 BIBLIOGRAPHY helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 53 APPENDIX helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 55
ABSTRACT
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM (2007) The Significance of the Use of the Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy as Seen in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Yogyakarta Department of English Letters Faculty of Letters Sanata Dharma University
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novel which explored the inner struggle between the two contradictory impulses within a human mind good and the evil side The novel itself has its own eccentricities one of which is the use of multiple perspectives in narrating the story This multiple perspectives makes the story become layerred so that readers are likely presented with several different narratives However the multiple perspectives are not further seen merely as the authorrsquos creativity in presenting the story but also as his criticism toward the society at that time The novel was written at Victorian era an era characterized with high morality standard and its subject matter was said to be a criticism toward Victorian middle-class society Instead of discussing its subject matter this study then is more focused to analyze the multiple perspectives and its significance in revealing the hypocrisy the subject matter of the story There are three objectives in this study The first is to analyze the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the third person limited point of view The second objective is to analyze the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view The third objective is to find out what Stevenson actually criticize from Victorian society and how the multiple perspectives become significant in revealing his criticism In analyzing the novel the socio historical approach is applied It is used to analyze Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy and how the multiple perspective signifies his criticism The finding of the analysis shows that the use of the multiple perspective firstly is aimed at criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy In the first part of the novel which uses the third person limited point of view Stevenson creates certain circumstances so that the hypocrisy is likely being hidden and refused This hiddenness of the hypocrisy seems to be his criticism toward victorian society In the second part which uses the first person limited point of view the hypocrisy is eventually being revealed These parts are not merely used to state the existence of the hypocrisy in the story but through the first person perspective Stevenson also criticizes the hypocrisy It can be found in Jekyllrsquos statements that the hypocrisy in the story is not only caused by the existence of the duality in an individual but because one cannot longer repress the darker side Stevenson likely wants to show that the hypocrisy is also rooted from the way one sees hisher position among the society
ABSTRAK
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM (2007) The Significance of the Use of the Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy as Seen in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Yogyakarta Jurusan Sastra Inggris Fakultas Sastra Universitas Sanata Dharma Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde karya Stevenson adalah sebuah novel yang mengeksplorasi pergulatan batin antara dua sisi dalam jiwa manusia sisi baik dan jahat Novel ini sendiri mempunyai beberapa kekhasan salah satunya adalah penggunaan multiple persperktif dalam mengungkapkan cerita Penggunaan multiple perspektif ini membuat ceritanya menjadi berlapis dan pembaca seolah disuguhi beberapa cerita yang berbeda Tetapi lebih lanjut multiple perspektif tidak semata-mata dipandang sebagai kreatifitas pengarang dalam menyajikan cerita tapi juga kritikannya terhadap masyarakat pada saat itu Seperti diketahui novel ini ditulis pada era Victorian yang dikenal dengan standar moralitasnya yang tinggi dan inti cerita dari novel ini disebut sebagai sebuah kritikan terhadap masyarakat kelas menengah Victorian Studi ini lebih difokuskan untuk menganalisa multiple perspektif dan signifikansinya dalam mengungkapkan hipokrisi yang merupakan inti cerita novel ini daripada membahas inti cerita itu sendiri Ada tiga objektif dalam studi ini Yang pertama adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Objektif yang kedua adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama Objektif yang ketiga adalah untuk menemukan apa yang sebenarnya di kritik oleh Stevenson dari masyarakat Victorian dan bagaimana multiple perspektif menjadi signifikan dalam mengungkapkan kritikannya tersebut Pendekatan sosio-historikal diterapkan dalam menganalisa novel ini Pendekatan ini digunakan untuk menganalisa kritikan Stevenson terhadap hipokrisi zaman Victorian dan bagaimana signifikansi multiple perspektif terhadap kritikannya Hasil analisa menunjukkan bahwa dengan menggunakan multiple perspektif pertama-tama Stevenson ingin mengkritik reaksi masyarakat Victorian terhadap hipokrisi itu sendiri Pada bagian pertama novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Stevenson telah menciptakan situasi tertentu agar hipokrisi itu sendiri seolah seperti disembunyikan dan ditolak Kesan tersembunyi dari hipokrisi ini sepertinya merupakan kritikannya terhadap masyarakat Victorian Pada bagian kedua novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama hipokrisi dalam cerita pada akhirnya terungkap Bagian-bagian yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama ini tidak semata-mata digunakan untuk mengungkapkan adanya hipokrisi dalam cerita tapi melalui sudut pandang orang pertama Stevenson juga mengkritik hipokrisi itu sendiri Dari pernyataan-pernyataan Jekyll dapat disimpulkan bahwa hypocrisy yang ada dalam cerita tidak hanya disebabkan oleh adanya duality pada setiap individu tetapi karena ketidak-mampuan seseorang untuk mengendalikan sisi gelapnya Stevenson sepertinya ingin menunjukkan bahwa hypocrisy juga berakar dari cara seseorang memandang posisinya ditengah masyarakat
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A Background of the Study
In many literary works society often plays an important role It provides
inspirations to be written and aspects of life to be criticized for an author in hisher work
Society usually affects the content of literary works which will be produced The
relationship between literary works and society become an object of many studies of
literature
One example of literary works which will not be easy to be separated from the
influence of society is a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
was written in 1885 in the reign of Queen Victoria in England Lunt in his History of
England said that Victorian era was the era of growing capitalization and industrial
development Science also developed rapidly within this era Many inventions by
scientists made life become much easier The invention of steaming-ship played an
important role in transportation and supported England to grow its industrialization
Besides the development in science and technology England also experienced a
remarkable condition in social life In the late nineteenth century England was
characterized by high moral tone rigid standards of personal morality and strong
emphasis on duty Victorianrsquos moral conduct was rooted from their religious conviction
which at the bottom evangelical Literature of this era shared strong sense of social
responsibility and moral duty Writers of this time offered thoughts to moral and social
issue and played an important role in social reforms (Lunt 1945 743-755)
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde describes also the society of this Victorian
era in its story Readers can look at the life of middle-class gentlemen in London through
the characters of Jekyll Utterson Lanyon and Enfield Readers are also brought to
recognize the hypocrisy of the Victorian society through Jekyllrsquos perspective Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde is based on Stevensonrsquos own experiences with middle-age gentlemen in
London and Edinburgh He sees his surrounding as a world of appearance and not
substance Someone is judged based on their social status and not their attitudes Clearly
Stevenson believes that his novel explores the hypocrisy of this time as well as the innate
evilness that occurrs in the society
(httpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtml)
The original idea of the story occurred from a nightmare After reading the initial
manuscript to his wife and being suggested that much can be done to the story so that it
did not become a straight forward horror story Stevenson burnt the draft The rewriting
of the draft took a scant three days Stevenson had completed the story with allegorical
undertones as his wife had suggested
(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson depicts an issue about duality of human
ndash the evil and the good Dr Jekyll a middle-class gentleman with the help of a certain
type of potion can bring out the dark side of him into a being who is later known as Hyde
This story also demonstrates the inner struggle to control the dark side of one self Guest
says that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a story about curiosity of discovering onersquos primitive
impulse side which finally get out of hand and ends up in a suicidal act Jekyllrsquos curiosity
to explore his dark side lead to the existence of Hyde When he cannot control his darker-
self anymore he decides to put his life to an end (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894)
However what makes the researcher interested is not the basic issue presented in
the story but the way the author presents it In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson
uses multiple perspectives to narrate the story There is a part of the story which is
narrated through the third personrsquos perspective and the other parts which are narrated
through the first personrsquos perspective By using this kind of perspective the author has
made a difference in showing this duality of human in the story Related to the Victorian
hypocrisy of that time it is interesting to discuss this multiple perspectives used by
Stevenson in showing this duality of human Therefore this study will further discuss
about the multiple perspectives and try to find out its significance in criticizing Victorian
hypocrisy
B Problem Formulation
In order to limit the points of discussion and make the writing clear three
questions are provided The questions are formulated as follows
1 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the third person limited point of view
2 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the first person limited point of view
3 How is the multiple perspectives used to criticize the hypocrisy of Victorian society
in England
C Objectives of the Study
The analysis of this study is to answer the questions in the problem formulation
The researcher will discuss about the multiple perspectives used in the story to present
the duality of human In discussing the perspectives used in the story the researcher uses
several theories of point of view As it is known point of view is the authorrsquos tool to
reveal the story It is carefully chosen to fulfill the intended effect of the story Using
point of view the author can direct the perspective which brought the readers into the
story
One interesting example of manipulating perspective to create certain effect
intended by the author is Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In discussing the work
the researcher will relate it to the historical background especially Victorian era in which
the work was written Considering the situation within the society at that time the
researcher will try to find out the significance of the perspectives used in the story in
criticizing Victorian hypocrisy This study is a discussion of the authorrsquos creativity shown
by the use of perspective in revealing his idea of certain issues within his involvement in
his society Hopefully this paper will give a better understanding in studying the work
D Definition of Terms
In this part the researcher will define some words related to the research in order
to help the researcher in analyzing the topic Some sources including books and articles
from the internet will be used to give the most appropriate definition of the specific
terms
1Victorian hypocrisy
The Victorian hypocrisy meant by the researcher here refers to the hypocrisy
happenned in Victorian era Thus the word ldquoVictorianrdquo refers to the era Victorian era in
England and not to a particular hypocrisy The term hypocrisy in this study is not
merely seen as a psychological matter but more considered as a sociological matter It
can be concluded from an article in the internet page that the hypocrisy as what is
happenned in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not the kind one suffers from multiple
personality disorder as what is known in psychology though it also comes from the
existence of the duality the good and the evil sides in manrsquos psyche The need to be two-
faced in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is seen as a response toward social convention prevailed
in the society For Henry Jekyll the two-faces are performed because the situation that he
deals with requires it He needs to accommodate his darker side but there is a strict rule in
the society which forbides any behavior that disregard moral values Therefore the two-
faces represented by Jekyll and Hyde are performed Here the hypocrisy is not merely a
nicety but life-saving tactic It is a reaction toward the conflict between an individual and
his society (httpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63html)
Another argument still from the internet also discuss about the social hypocrisy in
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It says that ldquothe novel has been noted as lsquoone of the best guide
books of the Victorian times because of its piercing depiction of the fundamental
dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lustrsquo as it had a tendency
for social
hypocrisyrdquo(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
2 Multiple Perspectives
Kennedy and Gioia define perspective in their book An Introduction to Fiction
Poetry and Drama as a special angle of vision It is a special angle of vision from which
a story will be perceived by the readers In order to define the perspective of the story we
shall know who is the narrator and to identify the narrator of the story and describing any
part he or she plays in the story and also the limitation he or she has upon his or her
knowledge is to identify the storyrsquos point of view Thus perspective is closely related to
point of view The point of view will determine the perspective of the story If we are told
a story from the third person point of view then we will perceive the events of the story
from the third personrsquos perspective Similarly when the story is employing the first
person point of view then we will have the narration to be revealed from the first personrsquos
perspective (Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20-21)
The term multiple perspectives is used by Hutchins in mentioning the internal
eccentricities of Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The story in Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is revealed through the perspectives of few different characters In the beginning of
the story the author uses the third person limited point of view to narrate the story and
reveals the events and actions within the story through the Lawyerrsquos perspective Almost
in the end of the story the author shifts the perspective from the Lawyer to Lanyon and
Henry Jekyll and employs the first person point of view in this part Thus the story is
revealed through the perspectives of Lanyon and Henry Jekyll himself This multiple
perspectives mentioned here refers to the more-than-one perspectives from which readers
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
For My beloved mother
in the most beautiful place in heavenhellip
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all I would thank Allah for every single bless given to me so that I finish
writing my thesis I would also like to show my gratefulness to all my lecturers in English
Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University for sharing their knowledge with me
during my study I really do thank Dra Theresia Enny Anggraini MA for giving me
advices during the completion of my thesis I appreciate her patience in waiting for each
draft submission I would like to thank my co-advisor Tatang Iskarna S S M Hum
for the suggestion to improve my thesis
I would like to thank my father and my little sister for always supporting and
praying for me my Okman Budiardi for being my spirit I want to say thank to my
friends in English Letters 2002 Minthul Ajenk Evi Nina Dyah Sheilla Memey
Danang Cepta ko Dapit Dimas Parjo Stefa mas Leo Sigit I thank them for showing
me what best friends are meant to be I also want to say thank to Dharvit for his support
I want to thank mbak Nik for willing to give my draft to Miss Enny when I cannot do it
by myself
Lastly I would like to thank everyone whom I forgot to name who has helped me
finish this thesis
Ria Indah Kusumaningrum
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip i APPROVAL PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip ii MOTTO PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iii DEDICATION PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip v TABLE OF CONTENTS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vi ABSTRACT helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vii ABSTRAK helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1
A Background of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1 B Problem Formulation helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3 C Objectives of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3 D Definition of Terms helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 4
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 8 A Review on Related Studies helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 8 B Review on Related Theories helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 11
1 Theory of Point of View helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 12 2 Theory of Society in the Novel helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 14 3 Theory of Setting helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 16
C Theoretical Framework helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 20 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 22
A Object of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 22 B Approach of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23 C Method of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26 A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited
Point of Viewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26 B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited
Point of Viewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 29 C The Use of Multiple Perspective in Criticizing Victorian Society 36
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 45 BIBLIOGRAPHY helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 53 APPENDIX helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 55
ABSTRACT
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM (2007) The Significance of the Use of the Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy as Seen in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Yogyakarta Department of English Letters Faculty of Letters Sanata Dharma University
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novel which explored the inner struggle between the two contradictory impulses within a human mind good and the evil side The novel itself has its own eccentricities one of which is the use of multiple perspectives in narrating the story This multiple perspectives makes the story become layerred so that readers are likely presented with several different narratives However the multiple perspectives are not further seen merely as the authorrsquos creativity in presenting the story but also as his criticism toward the society at that time The novel was written at Victorian era an era characterized with high morality standard and its subject matter was said to be a criticism toward Victorian middle-class society Instead of discussing its subject matter this study then is more focused to analyze the multiple perspectives and its significance in revealing the hypocrisy the subject matter of the story There are three objectives in this study The first is to analyze the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the third person limited point of view The second objective is to analyze the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view The third objective is to find out what Stevenson actually criticize from Victorian society and how the multiple perspectives become significant in revealing his criticism In analyzing the novel the socio historical approach is applied It is used to analyze Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy and how the multiple perspective signifies his criticism The finding of the analysis shows that the use of the multiple perspective firstly is aimed at criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy In the first part of the novel which uses the third person limited point of view Stevenson creates certain circumstances so that the hypocrisy is likely being hidden and refused This hiddenness of the hypocrisy seems to be his criticism toward victorian society In the second part which uses the first person limited point of view the hypocrisy is eventually being revealed These parts are not merely used to state the existence of the hypocrisy in the story but through the first person perspective Stevenson also criticizes the hypocrisy It can be found in Jekyllrsquos statements that the hypocrisy in the story is not only caused by the existence of the duality in an individual but because one cannot longer repress the darker side Stevenson likely wants to show that the hypocrisy is also rooted from the way one sees hisher position among the society
ABSTRAK
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM (2007) The Significance of the Use of the Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy as Seen in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Yogyakarta Jurusan Sastra Inggris Fakultas Sastra Universitas Sanata Dharma Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde karya Stevenson adalah sebuah novel yang mengeksplorasi pergulatan batin antara dua sisi dalam jiwa manusia sisi baik dan jahat Novel ini sendiri mempunyai beberapa kekhasan salah satunya adalah penggunaan multiple persperktif dalam mengungkapkan cerita Penggunaan multiple perspektif ini membuat ceritanya menjadi berlapis dan pembaca seolah disuguhi beberapa cerita yang berbeda Tetapi lebih lanjut multiple perspektif tidak semata-mata dipandang sebagai kreatifitas pengarang dalam menyajikan cerita tapi juga kritikannya terhadap masyarakat pada saat itu Seperti diketahui novel ini ditulis pada era Victorian yang dikenal dengan standar moralitasnya yang tinggi dan inti cerita dari novel ini disebut sebagai sebuah kritikan terhadap masyarakat kelas menengah Victorian Studi ini lebih difokuskan untuk menganalisa multiple perspektif dan signifikansinya dalam mengungkapkan hipokrisi yang merupakan inti cerita novel ini daripada membahas inti cerita itu sendiri Ada tiga objektif dalam studi ini Yang pertama adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Objektif yang kedua adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama Objektif yang ketiga adalah untuk menemukan apa yang sebenarnya di kritik oleh Stevenson dari masyarakat Victorian dan bagaimana multiple perspektif menjadi signifikan dalam mengungkapkan kritikannya tersebut Pendekatan sosio-historikal diterapkan dalam menganalisa novel ini Pendekatan ini digunakan untuk menganalisa kritikan Stevenson terhadap hipokrisi zaman Victorian dan bagaimana signifikansi multiple perspektif terhadap kritikannya Hasil analisa menunjukkan bahwa dengan menggunakan multiple perspektif pertama-tama Stevenson ingin mengkritik reaksi masyarakat Victorian terhadap hipokrisi itu sendiri Pada bagian pertama novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Stevenson telah menciptakan situasi tertentu agar hipokrisi itu sendiri seolah seperti disembunyikan dan ditolak Kesan tersembunyi dari hipokrisi ini sepertinya merupakan kritikannya terhadap masyarakat Victorian Pada bagian kedua novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama hipokrisi dalam cerita pada akhirnya terungkap Bagian-bagian yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama ini tidak semata-mata digunakan untuk mengungkapkan adanya hipokrisi dalam cerita tapi melalui sudut pandang orang pertama Stevenson juga mengkritik hipokrisi itu sendiri Dari pernyataan-pernyataan Jekyll dapat disimpulkan bahwa hypocrisy yang ada dalam cerita tidak hanya disebabkan oleh adanya duality pada setiap individu tetapi karena ketidak-mampuan seseorang untuk mengendalikan sisi gelapnya Stevenson sepertinya ingin menunjukkan bahwa hypocrisy juga berakar dari cara seseorang memandang posisinya ditengah masyarakat
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A Background of the Study
In many literary works society often plays an important role It provides
inspirations to be written and aspects of life to be criticized for an author in hisher work
Society usually affects the content of literary works which will be produced The
relationship between literary works and society become an object of many studies of
literature
One example of literary works which will not be easy to be separated from the
influence of society is a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
was written in 1885 in the reign of Queen Victoria in England Lunt in his History of
England said that Victorian era was the era of growing capitalization and industrial
development Science also developed rapidly within this era Many inventions by
scientists made life become much easier The invention of steaming-ship played an
important role in transportation and supported England to grow its industrialization
Besides the development in science and technology England also experienced a
remarkable condition in social life In the late nineteenth century England was
characterized by high moral tone rigid standards of personal morality and strong
emphasis on duty Victorianrsquos moral conduct was rooted from their religious conviction
which at the bottom evangelical Literature of this era shared strong sense of social
responsibility and moral duty Writers of this time offered thoughts to moral and social
issue and played an important role in social reforms (Lunt 1945 743-755)
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde describes also the society of this Victorian
era in its story Readers can look at the life of middle-class gentlemen in London through
the characters of Jekyll Utterson Lanyon and Enfield Readers are also brought to
recognize the hypocrisy of the Victorian society through Jekyllrsquos perspective Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde is based on Stevensonrsquos own experiences with middle-age gentlemen in
London and Edinburgh He sees his surrounding as a world of appearance and not
substance Someone is judged based on their social status and not their attitudes Clearly
Stevenson believes that his novel explores the hypocrisy of this time as well as the innate
evilness that occurrs in the society
(httpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtml)
The original idea of the story occurred from a nightmare After reading the initial
manuscript to his wife and being suggested that much can be done to the story so that it
did not become a straight forward horror story Stevenson burnt the draft The rewriting
of the draft took a scant three days Stevenson had completed the story with allegorical
undertones as his wife had suggested
(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson depicts an issue about duality of human
ndash the evil and the good Dr Jekyll a middle-class gentleman with the help of a certain
type of potion can bring out the dark side of him into a being who is later known as Hyde
This story also demonstrates the inner struggle to control the dark side of one self Guest
says that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a story about curiosity of discovering onersquos primitive
impulse side which finally get out of hand and ends up in a suicidal act Jekyllrsquos curiosity
to explore his dark side lead to the existence of Hyde When he cannot control his darker-
self anymore he decides to put his life to an end (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894)
However what makes the researcher interested is not the basic issue presented in
the story but the way the author presents it In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson
uses multiple perspectives to narrate the story There is a part of the story which is
narrated through the third personrsquos perspective and the other parts which are narrated
through the first personrsquos perspective By using this kind of perspective the author has
made a difference in showing this duality of human in the story Related to the Victorian
hypocrisy of that time it is interesting to discuss this multiple perspectives used by
Stevenson in showing this duality of human Therefore this study will further discuss
about the multiple perspectives and try to find out its significance in criticizing Victorian
hypocrisy
B Problem Formulation
In order to limit the points of discussion and make the writing clear three
questions are provided The questions are formulated as follows
1 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the third person limited point of view
2 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the first person limited point of view
3 How is the multiple perspectives used to criticize the hypocrisy of Victorian society
in England
C Objectives of the Study
The analysis of this study is to answer the questions in the problem formulation
The researcher will discuss about the multiple perspectives used in the story to present
the duality of human In discussing the perspectives used in the story the researcher uses
several theories of point of view As it is known point of view is the authorrsquos tool to
reveal the story It is carefully chosen to fulfill the intended effect of the story Using
point of view the author can direct the perspective which brought the readers into the
story
One interesting example of manipulating perspective to create certain effect
intended by the author is Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In discussing the work
the researcher will relate it to the historical background especially Victorian era in which
the work was written Considering the situation within the society at that time the
researcher will try to find out the significance of the perspectives used in the story in
criticizing Victorian hypocrisy This study is a discussion of the authorrsquos creativity shown
by the use of perspective in revealing his idea of certain issues within his involvement in
his society Hopefully this paper will give a better understanding in studying the work
D Definition of Terms
In this part the researcher will define some words related to the research in order
to help the researcher in analyzing the topic Some sources including books and articles
from the internet will be used to give the most appropriate definition of the specific
terms
1Victorian hypocrisy
The Victorian hypocrisy meant by the researcher here refers to the hypocrisy
happenned in Victorian era Thus the word ldquoVictorianrdquo refers to the era Victorian era in
England and not to a particular hypocrisy The term hypocrisy in this study is not
merely seen as a psychological matter but more considered as a sociological matter It
can be concluded from an article in the internet page that the hypocrisy as what is
happenned in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not the kind one suffers from multiple
personality disorder as what is known in psychology though it also comes from the
existence of the duality the good and the evil sides in manrsquos psyche The need to be two-
faced in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is seen as a response toward social convention prevailed
in the society For Henry Jekyll the two-faces are performed because the situation that he
deals with requires it He needs to accommodate his darker side but there is a strict rule in
the society which forbides any behavior that disregard moral values Therefore the two-
faces represented by Jekyll and Hyde are performed Here the hypocrisy is not merely a
nicety but life-saving tactic It is a reaction toward the conflict between an individual and
his society (httpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63html)
Another argument still from the internet also discuss about the social hypocrisy in
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It says that ldquothe novel has been noted as lsquoone of the best guide
books of the Victorian times because of its piercing depiction of the fundamental
dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lustrsquo as it had a tendency
for social
hypocrisyrdquo(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
2 Multiple Perspectives
Kennedy and Gioia define perspective in their book An Introduction to Fiction
Poetry and Drama as a special angle of vision It is a special angle of vision from which
a story will be perceived by the readers In order to define the perspective of the story we
shall know who is the narrator and to identify the narrator of the story and describing any
part he or she plays in the story and also the limitation he or she has upon his or her
knowledge is to identify the storyrsquos point of view Thus perspective is closely related to
point of view The point of view will determine the perspective of the story If we are told
a story from the third person point of view then we will perceive the events of the story
from the third personrsquos perspective Similarly when the story is employing the first
person point of view then we will have the narration to be revealed from the first personrsquos
perspective (Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20-21)
The term multiple perspectives is used by Hutchins in mentioning the internal
eccentricities of Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The story in Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is revealed through the perspectives of few different characters In the beginning of
the story the author uses the third person limited point of view to narrate the story and
reveals the events and actions within the story through the Lawyerrsquos perspective Almost
in the end of the story the author shifts the perspective from the Lawyer to Lanyon and
Henry Jekyll and employs the first person point of view in this part Thus the story is
revealed through the perspectives of Lanyon and Henry Jekyll himself This multiple
perspectives mentioned here refers to the more-than-one perspectives from which readers
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all I would thank Allah for every single bless given to me so that I finish
writing my thesis I would also like to show my gratefulness to all my lecturers in English
Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University for sharing their knowledge with me
during my study I really do thank Dra Theresia Enny Anggraini MA for giving me
advices during the completion of my thesis I appreciate her patience in waiting for each
draft submission I would like to thank my co-advisor Tatang Iskarna S S M Hum
for the suggestion to improve my thesis
I would like to thank my father and my little sister for always supporting and
praying for me my Okman Budiardi for being my spirit I want to say thank to my
friends in English Letters 2002 Minthul Ajenk Evi Nina Dyah Sheilla Memey
Danang Cepta ko Dapit Dimas Parjo Stefa mas Leo Sigit I thank them for showing
me what best friends are meant to be I also want to say thank to Dharvit for his support
I want to thank mbak Nik for willing to give my draft to Miss Enny when I cannot do it
by myself
Lastly I would like to thank everyone whom I forgot to name who has helped me
finish this thesis
Ria Indah Kusumaningrum
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip i APPROVAL PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip ii MOTTO PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iii DEDICATION PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip v TABLE OF CONTENTS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vi ABSTRACT helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vii ABSTRAK helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1
A Background of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1 B Problem Formulation helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3 C Objectives of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3 D Definition of Terms helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 4
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 8 A Review on Related Studies helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 8 B Review on Related Theories helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 11
1 Theory of Point of View helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 12 2 Theory of Society in the Novel helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 14 3 Theory of Setting helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 16
C Theoretical Framework helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 20 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 22
A Object of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 22 B Approach of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23 C Method of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26 A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited
Point of Viewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26 B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited
Point of Viewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 29 C The Use of Multiple Perspective in Criticizing Victorian Society 36
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 45 BIBLIOGRAPHY helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 53 APPENDIX helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 55
ABSTRACT
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM (2007) The Significance of the Use of the Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy as Seen in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Yogyakarta Department of English Letters Faculty of Letters Sanata Dharma University
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novel which explored the inner struggle between the two contradictory impulses within a human mind good and the evil side The novel itself has its own eccentricities one of which is the use of multiple perspectives in narrating the story This multiple perspectives makes the story become layerred so that readers are likely presented with several different narratives However the multiple perspectives are not further seen merely as the authorrsquos creativity in presenting the story but also as his criticism toward the society at that time The novel was written at Victorian era an era characterized with high morality standard and its subject matter was said to be a criticism toward Victorian middle-class society Instead of discussing its subject matter this study then is more focused to analyze the multiple perspectives and its significance in revealing the hypocrisy the subject matter of the story There are three objectives in this study The first is to analyze the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the third person limited point of view The second objective is to analyze the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view The third objective is to find out what Stevenson actually criticize from Victorian society and how the multiple perspectives become significant in revealing his criticism In analyzing the novel the socio historical approach is applied It is used to analyze Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy and how the multiple perspective signifies his criticism The finding of the analysis shows that the use of the multiple perspective firstly is aimed at criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy In the first part of the novel which uses the third person limited point of view Stevenson creates certain circumstances so that the hypocrisy is likely being hidden and refused This hiddenness of the hypocrisy seems to be his criticism toward victorian society In the second part which uses the first person limited point of view the hypocrisy is eventually being revealed These parts are not merely used to state the existence of the hypocrisy in the story but through the first person perspective Stevenson also criticizes the hypocrisy It can be found in Jekyllrsquos statements that the hypocrisy in the story is not only caused by the existence of the duality in an individual but because one cannot longer repress the darker side Stevenson likely wants to show that the hypocrisy is also rooted from the way one sees hisher position among the society
ABSTRAK
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM (2007) The Significance of the Use of the Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy as Seen in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Yogyakarta Jurusan Sastra Inggris Fakultas Sastra Universitas Sanata Dharma Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde karya Stevenson adalah sebuah novel yang mengeksplorasi pergulatan batin antara dua sisi dalam jiwa manusia sisi baik dan jahat Novel ini sendiri mempunyai beberapa kekhasan salah satunya adalah penggunaan multiple persperktif dalam mengungkapkan cerita Penggunaan multiple perspektif ini membuat ceritanya menjadi berlapis dan pembaca seolah disuguhi beberapa cerita yang berbeda Tetapi lebih lanjut multiple perspektif tidak semata-mata dipandang sebagai kreatifitas pengarang dalam menyajikan cerita tapi juga kritikannya terhadap masyarakat pada saat itu Seperti diketahui novel ini ditulis pada era Victorian yang dikenal dengan standar moralitasnya yang tinggi dan inti cerita dari novel ini disebut sebagai sebuah kritikan terhadap masyarakat kelas menengah Victorian Studi ini lebih difokuskan untuk menganalisa multiple perspektif dan signifikansinya dalam mengungkapkan hipokrisi yang merupakan inti cerita novel ini daripada membahas inti cerita itu sendiri Ada tiga objektif dalam studi ini Yang pertama adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Objektif yang kedua adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama Objektif yang ketiga adalah untuk menemukan apa yang sebenarnya di kritik oleh Stevenson dari masyarakat Victorian dan bagaimana multiple perspektif menjadi signifikan dalam mengungkapkan kritikannya tersebut Pendekatan sosio-historikal diterapkan dalam menganalisa novel ini Pendekatan ini digunakan untuk menganalisa kritikan Stevenson terhadap hipokrisi zaman Victorian dan bagaimana signifikansi multiple perspektif terhadap kritikannya Hasil analisa menunjukkan bahwa dengan menggunakan multiple perspektif pertama-tama Stevenson ingin mengkritik reaksi masyarakat Victorian terhadap hipokrisi itu sendiri Pada bagian pertama novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Stevenson telah menciptakan situasi tertentu agar hipokrisi itu sendiri seolah seperti disembunyikan dan ditolak Kesan tersembunyi dari hipokrisi ini sepertinya merupakan kritikannya terhadap masyarakat Victorian Pada bagian kedua novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama hipokrisi dalam cerita pada akhirnya terungkap Bagian-bagian yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama ini tidak semata-mata digunakan untuk mengungkapkan adanya hipokrisi dalam cerita tapi melalui sudut pandang orang pertama Stevenson juga mengkritik hipokrisi itu sendiri Dari pernyataan-pernyataan Jekyll dapat disimpulkan bahwa hypocrisy yang ada dalam cerita tidak hanya disebabkan oleh adanya duality pada setiap individu tetapi karena ketidak-mampuan seseorang untuk mengendalikan sisi gelapnya Stevenson sepertinya ingin menunjukkan bahwa hypocrisy juga berakar dari cara seseorang memandang posisinya ditengah masyarakat
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A Background of the Study
In many literary works society often plays an important role It provides
inspirations to be written and aspects of life to be criticized for an author in hisher work
Society usually affects the content of literary works which will be produced The
relationship between literary works and society become an object of many studies of
literature
One example of literary works which will not be easy to be separated from the
influence of society is a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
was written in 1885 in the reign of Queen Victoria in England Lunt in his History of
England said that Victorian era was the era of growing capitalization and industrial
development Science also developed rapidly within this era Many inventions by
scientists made life become much easier The invention of steaming-ship played an
important role in transportation and supported England to grow its industrialization
Besides the development in science and technology England also experienced a
remarkable condition in social life In the late nineteenth century England was
characterized by high moral tone rigid standards of personal morality and strong
emphasis on duty Victorianrsquos moral conduct was rooted from their religious conviction
which at the bottom evangelical Literature of this era shared strong sense of social
responsibility and moral duty Writers of this time offered thoughts to moral and social
issue and played an important role in social reforms (Lunt 1945 743-755)
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde describes also the society of this Victorian
era in its story Readers can look at the life of middle-class gentlemen in London through
the characters of Jekyll Utterson Lanyon and Enfield Readers are also brought to
recognize the hypocrisy of the Victorian society through Jekyllrsquos perspective Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde is based on Stevensonrsquos own experiences with middle-age gentlemen in
London and Edinburgh He sees his surrounding as a world of appearance and not
substance Someone is judged based on their social status and not their attitudes Clearly
Stevenson believes that his novel explores the hypocrisy of this time as well as the innate
evilness that occurrs in the society
(httpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtml)
The original idea of the story occurred from a nightmare After reading the initial
manuscript to his wife and being suggested that much can be done to the story so that it
did not become a straight forward horror story Stevenson burnt the draft The rewriting
of the draft took a scant three days Stevenson had completed the story with allegorical
undertones as his wife had suggested
(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson depicts an issue about duality of human
ndash the evil and the good Dr Jekyll a middle-class gentleman with the help of a certain
type of potion can bring out the dark side of him into a being who is later known as Hyde
This story also demonstrates the inner struggle to control the dark side of one self Guest
says that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a story about curiosity of discovering onersquos primitive
impulse side which finally get out of hand and ends up in a suicidal act Jekyllrsquos curiosity
to explore his dark side lead to the existence of Hyde When he cannot control his darker-
self anymore he decides to put his life to an end (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894)
However what makes the researcher interested is not the basic issue presented in
the story but the way the author presents it In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson
uses multiple perspectives to narrate the story There is a part of the story which is
narrated through the third personrsquos perspective and the other parts which are narrated
through the first personrsquos perspective By using this kind of perspective the author has
made a difference in showing this duality of human in the story Related to the Victorian
hypocrisy of that time it is interesting to discuss this multiple perspectives used by
Stevenson in showing this duality of human Therefore this study will further discuss
about the multiple perspectives and try to find out its significance in criticizing Victorian
hypocrisy
B Problem Formulation
In order to limit the points of discussion and make the writing clear three
questions are provided The questions are formulated as follows
1 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the third person limited point of view
2 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the first person limited point of view
3 How is the multiple perspectives used to criticize the hypocrisy of Victorian society
in England
C Objectives of the Study
The analysis of this study is to answer the questions in the problem formulation
The researcher will discuss about the multiple perspectives used in the story to present
the duality of human In discussing the perspectives used in the story the researcher uses
several theories of point of view As it is known point of view is the authorrsquos tool to
reveal the story It is carefully chosen to fulfill the intended effect of the story Using
point of view the author can direct the perspective which brought the readers into the
story
One interesting example of manipulating perspective to create certain effect
intended by the author is Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In discussing the work
the researcher will relate it to the historical background especially Victorian era in which
the work was written Considering the situation within the society at that time the
researcher will try to find out the significance of the perspectives used in the story in
criticizing Victorian hypocrisy This study is a discussion of the authorrsquos creativity shown
by the use of perspective in revealing his idea of certain issues within his involvement in
his society Hopefully this paper will give a better understanding in studying the work
D Definition of Terms
In this part the researcher will define some words related to the research in order
to help the researcher in analyzing the topic Some sources including books and articles
from the internet will be used to give the most appropriate definition of the specific
terms
1Victorian hypocrisy
The Victorian hypocrisy meant by the researcher here refers to the hypocrisy
happenned in Victorian era Thus the word ldquoVictorianrdquo refers to the era Victorian era in
England and not to a particular hypocrisy The term hypocrisy in this study is not
merely seen as a psychological matter but more considered as a sociological matter It
can be concluded from an article in the internet page that the hypocrisy as what is
happenned in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not the kind one suffers from multiple
personality disorder as what is known in psychology though it also comes from the
existence of the duality the good and the evil sides in manrsquos psyche The need to be two-
faced in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is seen as a response toward social convention prevailed
in the society For Henry Jekyll the two-faces are performed because the situation that he
deals with requires it He needs to accommodate his darker side but there is a strict rule in
the society which forbides any behavior that disregard moral values Therefore the two-
faces represented by Jekyll and Hyde are performed Here the hypocrisy is not merely a
nicety but life-saving tactic It is a reaction toward the conflict between an individual and
his society (httpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63html)
Another argument still from the internet also discuss about the social hypocrisy in
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It says that ldquothe novel has been noted as lsquoone of the best guide
books of the Victorian times because of its piercing depiction of the fundamental
dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lustrsquo as it had a tendency
for social
hypocrisyrdquo(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
2 Multiple Perspectives
Kennedy and Gioia define perspective in their book An Introduction to Fiction
Poetry and Drama as a special angle of vision It is a special angle of vision from which
a story will be perceived by the readers In order to define the perspective of the story we
shall know who is the narrator and to identify the narrator of the story and describing any
part he or she plays in the story and also the limitation he or she has upon his or her
knowledge is to identify the storyrsquos point of view Thus perspective is closely related to
point of view The point of view will determine the perspective of the story If we are told
a story from the third person point of view then we will perceive the events of the story
from the third personrsquos perspective Similarly when the story is employing the first
person point of view then we will have the narration to be revealed from the first personrsquos
perspective (Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20-21)
The term multiple perspectives is used by Hutchins in mentioning the internal
eccentricities of Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The story in Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is revealed through the perspectives of few different characters In the beginning of
the story the author uses the third person limited point of view to narrate the story and
reveals the events and actions within the story through the Lawyerrsquos perspective Almost
in the end of the story the author shifts the perspective from the Lawyer to Lanyon and
Henry Jekyll and employs the first person point of view in this part Thus the story is
revealed through the perspectives of Lanyon and Henry Jekyll himself This multiple
perspectives mentioned here refers to the more-than-one perspectives from which readers
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip i APPROVAL PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip ii MOTTO PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iii DEDICATION PAGE helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip v TABLE OF CONTENTS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vi ABSTRACT helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vii ABSTRAK helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1
A Background of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 1 B Problem Formulation helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3 C Objectives of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3 D Definition of Terms helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 4
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 8 A Review on Related Studies helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 8 B Review on Related Theories helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 11
1 Theory of Point of View helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 12 2 Theory of Society in the Novel helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 14 3 Theory of Setting helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 16
C Theoretical Framework helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 20 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 22
A Object of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 22 B Approach of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23 C Method of the Study helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 23
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26 A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited
Point of Viewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 26 B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited
Point of Viewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 29 C The Use of Multiple Perspective in Criticizing Victorian Society 36
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 45 BIBLIOGRAPHY helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 53 APPENDIX helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 55
ABSTRACT
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM (2007) The Significance of the Use of the Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy as Seen in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Yogyakarta Department of English Letters Faculty of Letters Sanata Dharma University
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novel which explored the inner struggle between the two contradictory impulses within a human mind good and the evil side The novel itself has its own eccentricities one of which is the use of multiple perspectives in narrating the story This multiple perspectives makes the story become layerred so that readers are likely presented with several different narratives However the multiple perspectives are not further seen merely as the authorrsquos creativity in presenting the story but also as his criticism toward the society at that time The novel was written at Victorian era an era characterized with high morality standard and its subject matter was said to be a criticism toward Victorian middle-class society Instead of discussing its subject matter this study then is more focused to analyze the multiple perspectives and its significance in revealing the hypocrisy the subject matter of the story There are three objectives in this study The first is to analyze the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the third person limited point of view The second objective is to analyze the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view The third objective is to find out what Stevenson actually criticize from Victorian society and how the multiple perspectives become significant in revealing his criticism In analyzing the novel the socio historical approach is applied It is used to analyze Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy and how the multiple perspective signifies his criticism The finding of the analysis shows that the use of the multiple perspective firstly is aimed at criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy In the first part of the novel which uses the third person limited point of view Stevenson creates certain circumstances so that the hypocrisy is likely being hidden and refused This hiddenness of the hypocrisy seems to be his criticism toward victorian society In the second part which uses the first person limited point of view the hypocrisy is eventually being revealed These parts are not merely used to state the existence of the hypocrisy in the story but through the first person perspective Stevenson also criticizes the hypocrisy It can be found in Jekyllrsquos statements that the hypocrisy in the story is not only caused by the existence of the duality in an individual but because one cannot longer repress the darker side Stevenson likely wants to show that the hypocrisy is also rooted from the way one sees hisher position among the society
ABSTRAK
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM (2007) The Significance of the Use of the Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy as Seen in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Yogyakarta Jurusan Sastra Inggris Fakultas Sastra Universitas Sanata Dharma Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde karya Stevenson adalah sebuah novel yang mengeksplorasi pergulatan batin antara dua sisi dalam jiwa manusia sisi baik dan jahat Novel ini sendiri mempunyai beberapa kekhasan salah satunya adalah penggunaan multiple persperktif dalam mengungkapkan cerita Penggunaan multiple perspektif ini membuat ceritanya menjadi berlapis dan pembaca seolah disuguhi beberapa cerita yang berbeda Tetapi lebih lanjut multiple perspektif tidak semata-mata dipandang sebagai kreatifitas pengarang dalam menyajikan cerita tapi juga kritikannya terhadap masyarakat pada saat itu Seperti diketahui novel ini ditulis pada era Victorian yang dikenal dengan standar moralitasnya yang tinggi dan inti cerita dari novel ini disebut sebagai sebuah kritikan terhadap masyarakat kelas menengah Victorian Studi ini lebih difokuskan untuk menganalisa multiple perspektif dan signifikansinya dalam mengungkapkan hipokrisi yang merupakan inti cerita novel ini daripada membahas inti cerita itu sendiri Ada tiga objektif dalam studi ini Yang pertama adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Objektif yang kedua adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama Objektif yang ketiga adalah untuk menemukan apa yang sebenarnya di kritik oleh Stevenson dari masyarakat Victorian dan bagaimana multiple perspektif menjadi signifikan dalam mengungkapkan kritikannya tersebut Pendekatan sosio-historikal diterapkan dalam menganalisa novel ini Pendekatan ini digunakan untuk menganalisa kritikan Stevenson terhadap hipokrisi zaman Victorian dan bagaimana signifikansi multiple perspektif terhadap kritikannya Hasil analisa menunjukkan bahwa dengan menggunakan multiple perspektif pertama-tama Stevenson ingin mengkritik reaksi masyarakat Victorian terhadap hipokrisi itu sendiri Pada bagian pertama novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Stevenson telah menciptakan situasi tertentu agar hipokrisi itu sendiri seolah seperti disembunyikan dan ditolak Kesan tersembunyi dari hipokrisi ini sepertinya merupakan kritikannya terhadap masyarakat Victorian Pada bagian kedua novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama hipokrisi dalam cerita pada akhirnya terungkap Bagian-bagian yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama ini tidak semata-mata digunakan untuk mengungkapkan adanya hipokrisi dalam cerita tapi melalui sudut pandang orang pertama Stevenson juga mengkritik hipokrisi itu sendiri Dari pernyataan-pernyataan Jekyll dapat disimpulkan bahwa hypocrisy yang ada dalam cerita tidak hanya disebabkan oleh adanya duality pada setiap individu tetapi karena ketidak-mampuan seseorang untuk mengendalikan sisi gelapnya Stevenson sepertinya ingin menunjukkan bahwa hypocrisy juga berakar dari cara seseorang memandang posisinya ditengah masyarakat
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A Background of the Study
In many literary works society often plays an important role It provides
inspirations to be written and aspects of life to be criticized for an author in hisher work
Society usually affects the content of literary works which will be produced The
relationship between literary works and society become an object of many studies of
literature
One example of literary works which will not be easy to be separated from the
influence of society is a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
was written in 1885 in the reign of Queen Victoria in England Lunt in his History of
England said that Victorian era was the era of growing capitalization and industrial
development Science also developed rapidly within this era Many inventions by
scientists made life become much easier The invention of steaming-ship played an
important role in transportation and supported England to grow its industrialization
Besides the development in science and technology England also experienced a
remarkable condition in social life In the late nineteenth century England was
characterized by high moral tone rigid standards of personal morality and strong
emphasis on duty Victorianrsquos moral conduct was rooted from their religious conviction
which at the bottom evangelical Literature of this era shared strong sense of social
responsibility and moral duty Writers of this time offered thoughts to moral and social
issue and played an important role in social reforms (Lunt 1945 743-755)
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde describes also the society of this Victorian
era in its story Readers can look at the life of middle-class gentlemen in London through
the characters of Jekyll Utterson Lanyon and Enfield Readers are also brought to
recognize the hypocrisy of the Victorian society through Jekyllrsquos perspective Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde is based on Stevensonrsquos own experiences with middle-age gentlemen in
London and Edinburgh He sees his surrounding as a world of appearance and not
substance Someone is judged based on their social status and not their attitudes Clearly
Stevenson believes that his novel explores the hypocrisy of this time as well as the innate
evilness that occurrs in the society
(httpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtml)
The original idea of the story occurred from a nightmare After reading the initial
manuscript to his wife and being suggested that much can be done to the story so that it
did not become a straight forward horror story Stevenson burnt the draft The rewriting
of the draft took a scant three days Stevenson had completed the story with allegorical
undertones as his wife had suggested
(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson depicts an issue about duality of human
ndash the evil and the good Dr Jekyll a middle-class gentleman with the help of a certain
type of potion can bring out the dark side of him into a being who is later known as Hyde
This story also demonstrates the inner struggle to control the dark side of one self Guest
says that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a story about curiosity of discovering onersquos primitive
impulse side which finally get out of hand and ends up in a suicidal act Jekyllrsquos curiosity
to explore his dark side lead to the existence of Hyde When he cannot control his darker-
self anymore he decides to put his life to an end (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894)
However what makes the researcher interested is not the basic issue presented in
the story but the way the author presents it In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson
uses multiple perspectives to narrate the story There is a part of the story which is
narrated through the third personrsquos perspective and the other parts which are narrated
through the first personrsquos perspective By using this kind of perspective the author has
made a difference in showing this duality of human in the story Related to the Victorian
hypocrisy of that time it is interesting to discuss this multiple perspectives used by
Stevenson in showing this duality of human Therefore this study will further discuss
about the multiple perspectives and try to find out its significance in criticizing Victorian
hypocrisy
B Problem Formulation
In order to limit the points of discussion and make the writing clear three
questions are provided The questions are formulated as follows
1 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the third person limited point of view
2 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the first person limited point of view
3 How is the multiple perspectives used to criticize the hypocrisy of Victorian society
in England
C Objectives of the Study
The analysis of this study is to answer the questions in the problem formulation
The researcher will discuss about the multiple perspectives used in the story to present
the duality of human In discussing the perspectives used in the story the researcher uses
several theories of point of view As it is known point of view is the authorrsquos tool to
reveal the story It is carefully chosen to fulfill the intended effect of the story Using
point of view the author can direct the perspective which brought the readers into the
story
One interesting example of manipulating perspective to create certain effect
intended by the author is Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In discussing the work
the researcher will relate it to the historical background especially Victorian era in which
the work was written Considering the situation within the society at that time the
researcher will try to find out the significance of the perspectives used in the story in
criticizing Victorian hypocrisy This study is a discussion of the authorrsquos creativity shown
by the use of perspective in revealing his idea of certain issues within his involvement in
his society Hopefully this paper will give a better understanding in studying the work
D Definition of Terms
In this part the researcher will define some words related to the research in order
to help the researcher in analyzing the topic Some sources including books and articles
from the internet will be used to give the most appropriate definition of the specific
terms
1Victorian hypocrisy
The Victorian hypocrisy meant by the researcher here refers to the hypocrisy
happenned in Victorian era Thus the word ldquoVictorianrdquo refers to the era Victorian era in
England and not to a particular hypocrisy The term hypocrisy in this study is not
merely seen as a psychological matter but more considered as a sociological matter It
can be concluded from an article in the internet page that the hypocrisy as what is
happenned in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not the kind one suffers from multiple
personality disorder as what is known in psychology though it also comes from the
existence of the duality the good and the evil sides in manrsquos psyche The need to be two-
faced in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is seen as a response toward social convention prevailed
in the society For Henry Jekyll the two-faces are performed because the situation that he
deals with requires it He needs to accommodate his darker side but there is a strict rule in
the society which forbides any behavior that disregard moral values Therefore the two-
faces represented by Jekyll and Hyde are performed Here the hypocrisy is not merely a
nicety but life-saving tactic It is a reaction toward the conflict between an individual and
his society (httpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63html)
Another argument still from the internet also discuss about the social hypocrisy in
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It says that ldquothe novel has been noted as lsquoone of the best guide
books of the Victorian times because of its piercing depiction of the fundamental
dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lustrsquo as it had a tendency
for social
hypocrisyrdquo(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
2 Multiple Perspectives
Kennedy and Gioia define perspective in their book An Introduction to Fiction
Poetry and Drama as a special angle of vision It is a special angle of vision from which
a story will be perceived by the readers In order to define the perspective of the story we
shall know who is the narrator and to identify the narrator of the story and describing any
part he or she plays in the story and also the limitation he or she has upon his or her
knowledge is to identify the storyrsquos point of view Thus perspective is closely related to
point of view The point of view will determine the perspective of the story If we are told
a story from the third person point of view then we will perceive the events of the story
from the third personrsquos perspective Similarly when the story is employing the first
person point of view then we will have the narration to be revealed from the first personrsquos
perspective (Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20-21)
The term multiple perspectives is used by Hutchins in mentioning the internal
eccentricities of Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The story in Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is revealed through the perspectives of few different characters In the beginning of
the story the author uses the third person limited point of view to narrate the story and
reveals the events and actions within the story through the Lawyerrsquos perspective Almost
in the end of the story the author shifts the perspective from the Lawyer to Lanyon and
Henry Jekyll and employs the first person point of view in this part Thus the story is
revealed through the perspectives of Lanyon and Henry Jekyll himself This multiple
perspectives mentioned here refers to the more-than-one perspectives from which readers
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
ABSTRACT
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM (2007) The Significance of the Use of the Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy as Seen in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Yogyakarta Department of English Letters Faculty of Letters Sanata Dharma University
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novel which explored the inner struggle between the two contradictory impulses within a human mind good and the evil side The novel itself has its own eccentricities one of which is the use of multiple perspectives in narrating the story This multiple perspectives makes the story become layerred so that readers are likely presented with several different narratives However the multiple perspectives are not further seen merely as the authorrsquos creativity in presenting the story but also as his criticism toward the society at that time The novel was written at Victorian era an era characterized with high morality standard and its subject matter was said to be a criticism toward Victorian middle-class society Instead of discussing its subject matter this study then is more focused to analyze the multiple perspectives and its significance in revealing the hypocrisy the subject matter of the story There are three objectives in this study The first is to analyze the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the third person limited point of view The second objective is to analyze the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view The third objective is to find out what Stevenson actually criticize from Victorian society and how the multiple perspectives become significant in revealing his criticism In analyzing the novel the socio historical approach is applied It is used to analyze Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy and how the multiple perspective signifies his criticism The finding of the analysis shows that the use of the multiple perspective firstly is aimed at criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy In the first part of the novel which uses the third person limited point of view Stevenson creates certain circumstances so that the hypocrisy is likely being hidden and refused This hiddenness of the hypocrisy seems to be his criticism toward victorian society In the second part which uses the first person limited point of view the hypocrisy is eventually being revealed These parts are not merely used to state the existence of the hypocrisy in the story but through the first person perspective Stevenson also criticizes the hypocrisy It can be found in Jekyllrsquos statements that the hypocrisy in the story is not only caused by the existence of the duality in an individual but because one cannot longer repress the darker side Stevenson likely wants to show that the hypocrisy is also rooted from the way one sees hisher position among the society
ABSTRAK
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM (2007) The Significance of the Use of the Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy as Seen in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Yogyakarta Jurusan Sastra Inggris Fakultas Sastra Universitas Sanata Dharma Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde karya Stevenson adalah sebuah novel yang mengeksplorasi pergulatan batin antara dua sisi dalam jiwa manusia sisi baik dan jahat Novel ini sendiri mempunyai beberapa kekhasan salah satunya adalah penggunaan multiple persperktif dalam mengungkapkan cerita Penggunaan multiple perspektif ini membuat ceritanya menjadi berlapis dan pembaca seolah disuguhi beberapa cerita yang berbeda Tetapi lebih lanjut multiple perspektif tidak semata-mata dipandang sebagai kreatifitas pengarang dalam menyajikan cerita tapi juga kritikannya terhadap masyarakat pada saat itu Seperti diketahui novel ini ditulis pada era Victorian yang dikenal dengan standar moralitasnya yang tinggi dan inti cerita dari novel ini disebut sebagai sebuah kritikan terhadap masyarakat kelas menengah Victorian Studi ini lebih difokuskan untuk menganalisa multiple perspektif dan signifikansinya dalam mengungkapkan hipokrisi yang merupakan inti cerita novel ini daripada membahas inti cerita itu sendiri Ada tiga objektif dalam studi ini Yang pertama adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Objektif yang kedua adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama Objektif yang ketiga adalah untuk menemukan apa yang sebenarnya di kritik oleh Stevenson dari masyarakat Victorian dan bagaimana multiple perspektif menjadi signifikan dalam mengungkapkan kritikannya tersebut Pendekatan sosio-historikal diterapkan dalam menganalisa novel ini Pendekatan ini digunakan untuk menganalisa kritikan Stevenson terhadap hipokrisi zaman Victorian dan bagaimana signifikansi multiple perspektif terhadap kritikannya Hasil analisa menunjukkan bahwa dengan menggunakan multiple perspektif pertama-tama Stevenson ingin mengkritik reaksi masyarakat Victorian terhadap hipokrisi itu sendiri Pada bagian pertama novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Stevenson telah menciptakan situasi tertentu agar hipokrisi itu sendiri seolah seperti disembunyikan dan ditolak Kesan tersembunyi dari hipokrisi ini sepertinya merupakan kritikannya terhadap masyarakat Victorian Pada bagian kedua novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama hipokrisi dalam cerita pada akhirnya terungkap Bagian-bagian yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama ini tidak semata-mata digunakan untuk mengungkapkan adanya hipokrisi dalam cerita tapi melalui sudut pandang orang pertama Stevenson juga mengkritik hipokrisi itu sendiri Dari pernyataan-pernyataan Jekyll dapat disimpulkan bahwa hypocrisy yang ada dalam cerita tidak hanya disebabkan oleh adanya duality pada setiap individu tetapi karena ketidak-mampuan seseorang untuk mengendalikan sisi gelapnya Stevenson sepertinya ingin menunjukkan bahwa hypocrisy juga berakar dari cara seseorang memandang posisinya ditengah masyarakat
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A Background of the Study
In many literary works society often plays an important role It provides
inspirations to be written and aspects of life to be criticized for an author in hisher work
Society usually affects the content of literary works which will be produced The
relationship between literary works and society become an object of many studies of
literature
One example of literary works which will not be easy to be separated from the
influence of society is a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
was written in 1885 in the reign of Queen Victoria in England Lunt in his History of
England said that Victorian era was the era of growing capitalization and industrial
development Science also developed rapidly within this era Many inventions by
scientists made life become much easier The invention of steaming-ship played an
important role in transportation and supported England to grow its industrialization
Besides the development in science and technology England also experienced a
remarkable condition in social life In the late nineteenth century England was
characterized by high moral tone rigid standards of personal morality and strong
emphasis on duty Victorianrsquos moral conduct was rooted from their religious conviction
which at the bottom evangelical Literature of this era shared strong sense of social
responsibility and moral duty Writers of this time offered thoughts to moral and social
issue and played an important role in social reforms (Lunt 1945 743-755)
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde describes also the society of this Victorian
era in its story Readers can look at the life of middle-class gentlemen in London through
the characters of Jekyll Utterson Lanyon and Enfield Readers are also brought to
recognize the hypocrisy of the Victorian society through Jekyllrsquos perspective Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde is based on Stevensonrsquos own experiences with middle-age gentlemen in
London and Edinburgh He sees his surrounding as a world of appearance and not
substance Someone is judged based on their social status and not their attitudes Clearly
Stevenson believes that his novel explores the hypocrisy of this time as well as the innate
evilness that occurrs in the society
(httpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtml)
The original idea of the story occurred from a nightmare After reading the initial
manuscript to his wife and being suggested that much can be done to the story so that it
did not become a straight forward horror story Stevenson burnt the draft The rewriting
of the draft took a scant three days Stevenson had completed the story with allegorical
undertones as his wife had suggested
(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson depicts an issue about duality of human
ndash the evil and the good Dr Jekyll a middle-class gentleman with the help of a certain
type of potion can bring out the dark side of him into a being who is later known as Hyde
This story also demonstrates the inner struggle to control the dark side of one self Guest
says that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a story about curiosity of discovering onersquos primitive
impulse side which finally get out of hand and ends up in a suicidal act Jekyllrsquos curiosity
to explore his dark side lead to the existence of Hyde When he cannot control his darker-
self anymore he decides to put his life to an end (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894)
However what makes the researcher interested is not the basic issue presented in
the story but the way the author presents it In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson
uses multiple perspectives to narrate the story There is a part of the story which is
narrated through the third personrsquos perspective and the other parts which are narrated
through the first personrsquos perspective By using this kind of perspective the author has
made a difference in showing this duality of human in the story Related to the Victorian
hypocrisy of that time it is interesting to discuss this multiple perspectives used by
Stevenson in showing this duality of human Therefore this study will further discuss
about the multiple perspectives and try to find out its significance in criticizing Victorian
hypocrisy
B Problem Formulation
In order to limit the points of discussion and make the writing clear three
questions are provided The questions are formulated as follows
1 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the third person limited point of view
2 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the first person limited point of view
3 How is the multiple perspectives used to criticize the hypocrisy of Victorian society
in England
C Objectives of the Study
The analysis of this study is to answer the questions in the problem formulation
The researcher will discuss about the multiple perspectives used in the story to present
the duality of human In discussing the perspectives used in the story the researcher uses
several theories of point of view As it is known point of view is the authorrsquos tool to
reveal the story It is carefully chosen to fulfill the intended effect of the story Using
point of view the author can direct the perspective which brought the readers into the
story
One interesting example of manipulating perspective to create certain effect
intended by the author is Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In discussing the work
the researcher will relate it to the historical background especially Victorian era in which
the work was written Considering the situation within the society at that time the
researcher will try to find out the significance of the perspectives used in the story in
criticizing Victorian hypocrisy This study is a discussion of the authorrsquos creativity shown
by the use of perspective in revealing his idea of certain issues within his involvement in
his society Hopefully this paper will give a better understanding in studying the work
D Definition of Terms
In this part the researcher will define some words related to the research in order
to help the researcher in analyzing the topic Some sources including books and articles
from the internet will be used to give the most appropriate definition of the specific
terms
1Victorian hypocrisy
The Victorian hypocrisy meant by the researcher here refers to the hypocrisy
happenned in Victorian era Thus the word ldquoVictorianrdquo refers to the era Victorian era in
England and not to a particular hypocrisy The term hypocrisy in this study is not
merely seen as a psychological matter but more considered as a sociological matter It
can be concluded from an article in the internet page that the hypocrisy as what is
happenned in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not the kind one suffers from multiple
personality disorder as what is known in psychology though it also comes from the
existence of the duality the good and the evil sides in manrsquos psyche The need to be two-
faced in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is seen as a response toward social convention prevailed
in the society For Henry Jekyll the two-faces are performed because the situation that he
deals with requires it He needs to accommodate his darker side but there is a strict rule in
the society which forbides any behavior that disregard moral values Therefore the two-
faces represented by Jekyll and Hyde are performed Here the hypocrisy is not merely a
nicety but life-saving tactic It is a reaction toward the conflict between an individual and
his society (httpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63html)
Another argument still from the internet also discuss about the social hypocrisy in
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It says that ldquothe novel has been noted as lsquoone of the best guide
books of the Victorian times because of its piercing depiction of the fundamental
dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lustrsquo as it had a tendency
for social
hypocrisyrdquo(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
2 Multiple Perspectives
Kennedy and Gioia define perspective in their book An Introduction to Fiction
Poetry and Drama as a special angle of vision It is a special angle of vision from which
a story will be perceived by the readers In order to define the perspective of the story we
shall know who is the narrator and to identify the narrator of the story and describing any
part he or she plays in the story and also the limitation he or she has upon his or her
knowledge is to identify the storyrsquos point of view Thus perspective is closely related to
point of view The point of view will determine the perspective of the story If we are told
a story from the third person point of view then we will perceive the events of the story
from the third personrsquos perspective Similarly when the story is employing the first
person point of view then we will have the narration to be revealed from the first personrsquos
perspective (Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20-21)
The term multiple perspectives is used by Hutchins in mentioning the internal
eccentricities of Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The story in Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is revealed through the perspectives of few different characters In the beginning of
the story the author uses the third person limited point of view to narrate the story and
reveals the events and actions within the story through the Lawyerrsquos perspective Almost
in the end of the story the author shifts the perspective from the Lawyer to Lanyon and
Henry Jekyll and employs the first person point of view in this part Thus the story is
revealed through the perspectives of Lanyon and Henry Jekyll himself This multiple
perspectives mentioned here refers to the more-than-one perspectives from which readers
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
ABSTRAK
RIA INDAH KUSUMANINGRUM (2007) The Significance of the Use of the Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy as Seen in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Yogyakarta Jurusan Sastra Inggris Fakultas Sastra Universitas Sanata Dharma Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde karya Stevenson adalah sebuah novel yang mengeksplorasi pergulatan batin antara dua sisi dalam jiwa manusia sisi baik dan jahat Novel ini sendiri mempunyai beberapa kekhasan salah satunya adalah penggunaan multiple persperktif dalam mengungkapkan cerita Penggunaan multiple perspektif ini membuat ceritanya menjadi berlapis dan pembaca seolah disuguhi beberapa cerita yang berbeda Tetapi lebih lanjut multiple perspektif tidak semata-mata dipandang sebagai kreatifitas pengarang dalam menyajikan cerita tapi juga kritikannya terhadap masyarakat pada saat itu Seperti diketahui novel ini ditulis pada era Victorian yang dikenal dengan standar moralitasnya yang tinggi dan inti cerita dari novel ini disebut sebagai sebuah kritikan terhadap masyarakat kelas menengah Victorian Studi ini lebih difokuskan untuk menganalisa multiple perspektif dan signifikansinya dalam mengungkapkan hipokrisi yang merupakan inti cerita novel ini daripada membahas inti cerita itu sendiri Ada tiga objektif dalam studi ini Yang pertama adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Objektif yang kedua adalah untuk menganalisa pengungkapan Victorian hypocrisy dalam cerita yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama Objektif yang ketiga adalah untuk menemukan apa yang sebenarnya di kritik oleh Stevenson dari masyarakat Victorian dan bagaimana multiple perspektif menjadi signifikan dalam mengungkapkan kritikannya tersebut Pendekatan sosio-historikal diterapkan dalam menganalisa novel ini Pendekatan ini digunakan untuk menganalisa kritikan Stevenson terhadap hipokrisi zaman Victorian dan bagaimana signifikansi multiple perspektif terhadap kritikannya Hasil analisa menunjukkan bahwa dengan menggunakan multiple perspektif pertama-tama Stevenson ingin mengkritik reaksi masyarakat Victorian terhadap hipokrisi itu sendiri Pada bagian pertama novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang ketiga Stevenson telah menciptakan situasi tertentu agar hipokrisi itu sendiri seolah seperti disembunyikan dan ditolak Kesan tersembunyi dari hipokrisi ini sepertinya merupakan kritikannya terhadap masyarakat Victorian Pada bagian kedua novel ini yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama hipokrisi dalam cerita pada akhirnya terungkap Bagian-bagian yang menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama ini tidak semata-mata digunakan untuk mengungkapkan adanya hipokrisi dalam cerita tapi melalui sudut pandang orang pertama Stevenson juga mengkritik hipokrisi itu sendiri Dari pernyataan-pernyataan Jekyll dapat disimpulkan bahwa hypocrisy yang ada dalam cerita tidak hanya disebabkan oleh adanya duality pada setiap individu tetapi karena ketidak-mampuan seseorang untuk mengendalikan sisi gelapnya Stevenson sepertinya ingin menunjukkan bahwa hypocrisy juga berakar dari cara seseorang memandang posisinya ditengah masyarakat
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A Background of the Study
In many literary works society often plays an important role It provides
inspirations to be written and aspects of life to be criticized for an author in hisher work
Society usually affects the content of literary works which will be produced The
relationship between literary works and society become an object of many studies of
literature
One example of literary works which will not be easy to be separated from the
influence of society is a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
was written in 1885 in the reign of Queen Victoria in England Lunt in his History of
England said that Victorian era was the era of growing capitalization and industrial
development Science also developed rapidly within this era Many inventions by
scientists made life become much easier The invention of steaming-ship played an
important role in transportation and supported England to grow its industrialization
Besides the development in science and technology England also experienced a
remarkable condition in social life In the late nineteenth century England was
characterized by high moral tone rigid standards of personal morality and strong
emphasis on duty Victorianrsquos moral conduct was rooted from their religious conviction
which at the bottom evangelical Literature of this era shared strong sense of social
responsibility and moral duty Writers of this time offered thoughts to moral and social
issue and played an important role in social reforms (Lunt 1945 743-755)
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde describes also the society of this Victorian
era in its story Readers can look at the life of middle-class gentlemen in London through
the characters of Jekyll Utterson Lanyon and Enfield Readers are also brought to
recognize the hypocrisy of the Victorian society through Jekyllrsquos perspective Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde is based on Stevensonrsquos own experiences with middle-age gentlemen in
London and Edinburgh He sees his surrounding as a world of appearance and not
substance Someone is judged based on their social status and not their attitudes Clearly
Stevenson believes that his novel explores the hypocrisy of this time as well as the innate
evilness that occurrs in the society
(httpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtml)
The original idea of the story occurred from a nightmare After reading the initial
manuscript to his wife and being suggested that much can be done to the story so that it
did not become a straight forward horror story Stevenson burnt the draft The rewriting
of the draft took a scant three days Stevenson had completed the story with allegorical
undertones as his wife had suggested
(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson depicts an issue about duality of human
ndash the evil and the good Dr Jekyll a middle-class gentleman with the help of a certain
type of potion can bring out the dark side of him into a being who is later known as Hyde
This story also demonstrates the inner struggle to control the dark side of one self Guest
says that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a story about curiosity of discovering onersquos primitive
impulse side which finally get out of hand and ends up in a suicidal act Jekyllrsquos curiosity
to explore his dark side lead to the existence of Hyde When he cannot control his darker-
self anymore he decides to put his life to an end (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894)
However what makes the researcher interested is not the basic issue presented in
the story but the way the author presents it In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson
uses multiple perspectives to narrate the story There is a part of the story which is
narrated through the third personrsquos perspective and the other parts which are narrated
through the first personrsquos perspective By using this kind of perspective the author has
made a difference in showing this duality of human in the story Related to the Victorian
hypocrisy of that time it is interesting to discuss this multiple perspectives used by
Stevenson in showing this duality of human Therefore this study will further discuss
about the multiple perspectives and try to find out its significance in criticizing Victorian
hypocrisy
B Problem Formulation
In order to limit the points of discussion and make the writing clear three
questions are provided The questions are formulated as follows
1 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the third person limited point of view
2 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the first person limited point of view
3 How is the multiple perspectives used to criticize the hypocrisy of Victorian society
in England
C Objectives of the Study
The analysis of this study is to answer the questions in the problem formulation
The researcher will discuss about the multiple perspectives used in the story to present
the duality of human In discussing the perspectives used in the story the researcher uses
several theories of point of view As it is known point of view is the authorrsquos tool to
reveal the story It is carefully chosen to fulfill the intended effect of the story Using
point of view the author can direct the perspective which brought the readers into the
story
One interesting example of manipulating perspective to create certain effect
intended by the author is Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In discussing the work
the researcher will relate it to the historical background especially Victorian era in which
the work was written Considering the situation within the society at that time the
researcher will try to find out the significance of the perspectives used in the story in
criticizing Victorian hypocrisy This study is a discussion of the authorrsquos creativity shown
by the use of perspective in revealing his idea of certain issues within his involvement in
his society Hopefully this paper will give a better understanding in studying the work
D Definition of Terms
In this part the researcher will define some words related to the research in order
to help the researcher in analyzing the topic Some sources including books and articles
from the internet will be used to give the most appropriate definition of the specific
terms
1Victorian hypocrisy
The Victorian hypocrisy meant by the researcher here refers to the hypocrisy
happenned in Victorian era Thus the word ldquoVictorianrdquo refers to the era Victorian era in
England and not to a particular hypocrisy The term hypocrisy in this study is not
merely seen as a psychological matter but more considered as a sociological matter It
can be concluded from an article in the internet page that the hypocrisy as what is
happenned in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not the kind one suffers from multiple
personality disorder as what is known in psychology though it also comes from the
existence of the duality the good and the evil sides in manrsquos psyche The need to be two-
faced in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is seen as a response toward social convention prevailed
in the society For Henry Jekyll the two-faces are performed because the situation that he
deals with requires it He needs to accommodate his darker side but there is a strict rule in
the society which forbides any behavior that disregard moral values Therefore the two-
faces represented by Jekyll and Hyde are performed Here the hypocrisy is not merely a
nicety but life-saving tactic It is a reaction toward the conflict between an individual and
his society (httpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63html)
Another argument still from the internet also discuss about the social hypocrisy in
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It says that ldquothe novel has been noted as lsquoone of the best guide
books of the Victorian times because of its piercing depiction of the fundamental
dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lustrsquo as it had a tendency
for social
hypocrisyrdquo(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
2 Multiple Perspectives
Kennedy and Gioia define perspective in their book An Introduction to Fiction
Poetry and Drama as a special angle of vision It is a special angle of vision from which
a story will be perceived by the readers In order to define the perspective of the story we
shall know who is the narrator and to identify the narrator of the story and describing any
part he or she plays in the story and also the limitation he or she has upon his or her
knowledge is to identify the storyrsquos point of view Thus perspective is closely related to
point of view The point of view will determine the perspective of the story If we are told
a story from the third person point of view then we will perceive the events of the story
from the third personrsquos perspective Similarly when the story is employing the first
person point of view then we will have the narration to be revealed from the first personrsquos
perspective (Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20-21)
The term multiple perspectives is used by Hutchins in mentioning the internal
eccentricities of Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The story in Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is revealed through the perspectives of few different characters In the beginning of
the story the author uses the third person limited point of view to narrate the story and
reveals the events and actions within the story through the Lawyerrsquos perspective Almost
in the end of the story the author shifts the perspective from the Lawyer to Lanyon and
Henry Jekyll and employs the first person point of view in this part Thus the story is
revealed through the perspectives of Lanyon and Henry Jekyll himself This multiple
perspectives mentioned here refers to the more-than-one perspectives from which readers
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A Background of the Study
In many literary works society often plays an important role It provides
inspirations to be written and aspects of life to be criticized for an author in hisher work
Society usually affects the content of literary works which will be produced The
relationship between literary works and society become an object of many studies of
literature
One example of literary works which will not be easy to be separated from the
influence of society is a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
was written in 1885 in the reign of Queen Victoria in England Lunt in his History of
England said that Victorian era was the era of growing capitalization and industrial
development Science also developed rapidly within this era Many inventions by
scientists made life become much easier The invention of steaming-ship played an
important role in transportation and supported England to grow its industrialization
Besides the development in science and technology England also experienced a
remarkable condition in social life In the late nineteenth century England was
characterized by high moral tone rigid standards of personal morality and strong
emphasis on duty Victorianrsquos moral conduct was rooted from their religious conviction
which at the bottom evangelical Literature of this era shared strong sense of social
responsibility and moral duty Writers of this time offered thoughts to moral and social
issue and played an important role in social reforms (Lunt 1945 743-755)
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde describes also the society of this Victorian
era in its story Readers can look at the life of middle-class gentlemen in London through
the characters of Jekyll Utterson Lanyon and Enfield Readers are also brought to
recognize the hypocrisy of the Victorian society through Jekyllrsquos perspective Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde is based on Stevensonrsquos own experiences with middle-age gentlemen in
London and Edinburgh He sees his surrounding as a world of appearance and not
substance Someone is judged based on their social status and not their attitudes Clearly
Stevenson believes that his novel explores the hypocrisy of this time as well as the innate
evilness that occurrs in the society
(httpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtml)
The original idea of the story occurred from a nightmare After reading the initial
manuscript to his wife and being suggested that much can be done to the story so that it
did not become a straight forward horror story Stevenson burnt the draft The rewriting
of the draft took a scant three days Stevenson had completed the story with allegorical
undertones as his wife had suggested
(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson depicts an issue about duality of human
ndash the evil and the good Dr Jekyll a middle-class gentleman with the help of a certain
type of potion can bring out the dark side of him into a being who is later known as Hyde
This story also demonstrates the inner struggle to control the dark side of one self Guest
says that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a story about curiosity of discovering onersquos primitive
impulse side which finally get out of hand and ends up in a suicidal act Jekyllrsquos curiosity
to explore his dark side lead to the existence of Hyde When he cannot control his darker-
self anymore he decides to put his life to an end (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894)
However what makes the researcher interested is not the basic issue presented in
the story but the way the author presents it In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson
uses multiple perspectives to narrate the story There is a part of the story which is
narrated through the third personrsquos perspective and the other parts which are narrated
through the first personrsquos perspective By using this kind of perspective the author has
made a difference in showing this duality of human in the story Related to the Victorian
hypocrisy of that time it is interesting to discuss this multiple perspectives used by
Stevenson in showing this duality of human Therefore this study will further discuss
about the multiple perspectives and try to find out its significance in criticizing Victorian
hypocrisy
B Problem Formulation
In order to limit the points of discussion and make the writing clear three
questions are provided The questions are formulated as follows
1 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the third person limited point of view
2 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the first person limited point of view
3 How is the multiple perspectives used to criticize the hypocrisy of Victorian society
in England
C Objectives of the Study
The analysis of this study is to answer the questions in the problem formulation
The researcher will discuss about the multiple perspectives used in the story to present
the duality of human In discussing the perspectives used in the story the researcher uses
several theories of point of view As it is known point of view is the authorrsquos tool to
reveal the story It is carefully chosen to fulfill the intended effect of the story Using
point of view the author can direct the perspective which brought the readers into the
story
One interesting example of manipulating perspective to create certain effect
intended by the author is Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In discussing the work
the researcher will relate it to the historical background especially Victorian era in which
the work was written Considering the situation within the society at that time the
researcher will try to find out the significance of the perspectives used in the story in
criticizing Victorian hypocrisy This study is a discussion of the authorrsquos creativity shown
by the use of perspective in revealing his idea of certain issues within his involvement in
his society Hopefully this paper will give a better understanding in studying the work
D Definition of Terms
In this part the researcher will define some words related to the research in order
to help the researcher in analyzing the topic Some sources including books and articles
from the internet will be used to give the most appropriate definition of the specific
terms
1Victorian hypocrisy
The Victorian hypocrisy meant by the researcher here refers to the hypocrisy
happenned in Victorian era Thus the word ldquoVictorianrdquo refers to the era Victorian era in
England and not to a particular hypocrisy The term hypocrisy in this study is not
merely seen as a psychological matter but more considered as a sociological matter It
can be concluded from an article in the internet page that the hypocrisy as what is
happenned in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not the kind one suffers from multiple
personality disorder as what is known in psychology though it also comes from the
existence of the duality the good and the evil sides in manrsquos psyche The need to be two-
faced in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is seen as a response toward social convention prevailed
in the society For Henry Jekyll the two-faces are performed because the situation that he
deals with requires it He needs to accommodate his darker side but there is a strict rule in
the society which forbides any behavior that disregard moral values Therefore the two-
faces represented by Jekyll and Hyde are performed Here the hypocrisy is not merely a
nicety but life-saving tactic It is a reaction toward the conflict between an individual and
his society (httpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63html)
Another argument still from the internet also discuss about the social hypocrisy in
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It says that ldquothe novel has been noted as lsquoone of the best guide
books of the Victorian times because of its piercing depiction of the fundamental
dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lustrsquo as it had a tendency
for social
hypocrisyrdquo(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
2 Multiple Perspectives
Kennedy and Gioia define perspective in their book An Introduction to Fiction
Poetry and Drama as a special angle of vision It is a special angle of vision from which
a story will be perceived by the readers In order to define the perspective of the story we
shall know who is the narrator and to identify the narrator of the story and describing any
part he or she plays in the story and also the limitation he or she has upon his or her
knowledge is to identify the storyrsquos point of view Thus perspective is closely related to
point of view The point of view will determine the perspective of the story If we are told
a story from the third person point of view then we will perceive the events of the story
from the third personrsquos perspective Similarly when the story is employing the first
person point of view then we will have the narration to be revealed from the first personrsquos
perspective (Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20-21)
The term multiple perspectives is used by Hutchins in mentioning the internal
eccentricities of Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The story in Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is revealed through the perspectives of few different characters In the beginning of
the story the author uses the third person limited point of view to narrate the story and
reveals the events and actions within the story through the Lawyerrsquos perspective Almost
in the end of the story the author shifts the perspective from the Lawyer to Lanyon and
Henry Jekyll and employs the first person point of view in this part Thus the story is
revealed through the perspectives of Lanyon and Henry Jekyll himself This multiple
perspectives mentioned here refers to the more-than-one perspectives from which readers
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde describes also the society of this Victorian
era in its story Readers can look at the life of middle-class gentlemen in London through
the characters of Jekyll Utterson Lanyon and Enfield Readers are also brought to
recognize the hypocrisy of the Victorian society through Jekyllrsquos perspective Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde is based on Stevensonrsquos own experiences with middle-age gentlemen in
London and Edinburgh He sees his surrounding as a world of appearance and not
substance Someone is judged based on their social status and not their attitudes Clearly
Stevenson believes that his novel explores the hypocrisy of this time as well as the innate
evilness that occurrs in the society
(httpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtml)
The original idea of the story occurred from a nightmare After reading the initial
manuscript to his wife and being suggested that much can be done to the story so that it
did not become a straight forward horror story Stevenson burnt the draft The rewriting
of the draft took a scant three days Stevenson had completed the story with allegorical
undertones as his wife had suggested
(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson depicts an issue about duality of human
ndash the evil and the good Dr Jekyll a middle-class gentleman with the help of a certain
type of potion can bring out the dark side of him into a being who is later known as Hyde
This story also demonstrates the inner struggle to control the dark side of one self Guest
says that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a story about curiosity of discovering onersquos primitive
impulse side which finally get out of hand and ends up in a suicidal act Jekyllrsquos curiosity
to explore his dark side lead to the existence of Hyde When he cannot control his darker-
self anymore he decides to put his life to an end (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894)
However what makes the researcher interested is not the basic issue presented in
the story but the way the author presents it In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson
uses multiple perspectives to narrate the story There is a part of the story which is
narrated through the third personrsquos perspective and the other parts which are narrated
through the first personrsquos perspective By using this kind of perspective the author has
made a difference in showing this duality of human in the story Related to the Victorian
hypocrisy of that time it is interesting to discuss this multiple perspectives used by
Stevenson in showing this duality of human Therefore this study will further discuss
about the multiple perspectives and try to find out its significance in criticizing Victorian
hypocrisy
B Problem Formulation
In order to limit the points of discussion and make the writing clear three
questions are provided The questions are formulated as follows
1 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the third person limited point of view
2 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the first person limited point of view
3 How is the multiple perspectives used to criticize the hypocrisy of Victorian society
in England
C Objectives of the Study
The analysis of this study is to answer the questions in the problem formulation
The researcher will discuss about the multiple perspectives used in the story to present
the duality of human In discussing the perspectives used in the story the researcher uses
several theories of point of view As it is known point of view is the authorrsquos tool to
reveal the story It is carefully chosen to fulfill the intended effect of the story Using
point of view the author can direct the perspective which brought the readers into the
story
One interesting example of manipulating perspective to create certain effect
intended by the author is Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In discussing the work
the researcher will relate it to the historical background especially Victorian era in which
the work was written Considering the situation within the society at that time the
researcher will try to find out the significance of the perspectives used in the story in
criticizing Victorian hypocrisy This study is a discussion of the authorrsquos creativity shown
by the use of perspective in revealing his idea of certain issues within his involvement in
his society Hopefully this paper will give a better understanding in studying the work
D Definition of Terms
In this part the researcher will define some words related to the research in order
to help the researcher in analyzing the topic Some sources including books and articles
from the internet will be used to give the most appropriate definition of the specific
terms
1Victorian hypocrisy
The Victorian hypocrisy meant by the researcher here refers to the hypocrisy
happenned in Victorian era Thus the word ldquoVictorianrdquo refers to the era Victorian era in
England and not to a particular hypocrisy The term hypocrisy in this study is not
merely seen as a psychological matter but more considered as a sociological matter It
can be concluded from an article in the internet page that the hypocrisy as what is
happenned in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not the kind one suffers from multiple
personality disorder as what is known in psychology though it also comes from the
existence of the duality the good and the evil sides in manrsquos psyche The need to be two-
faced in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is seen as a response toward social convention prevailed
in the society For Henry Jekyll the two-faces are performed because the situation that he
deals with requires it He needs to accommodate his darker side but there is a strict rule in
the society which forbides any behavior that disregard moral values Therefore the two-
faces represented by Jekyll and Hyde are performed Here the hypocrisy is not merely a
nicety but life-saving tactic It is a reaction toward the conflict between an individual and
his society (httpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63html)
Another argument still from the internet also discuss about the social hypocrisy in
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It says that ldquothe novel has been noted as lsquoone of the best guide
books of the Victorian times because of its piercing depiction of the fundamental
dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lustrsquo as it had a tendency
for social
hypocrisyrdquo(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
2 Multiple Perspectives
Kennedy and Gioia define perspective in their book An Introduction to Fiction
Poetry and Drama as a special angle of vision It is a special angle of vision from which
a story will be perceived by the readers In order to define the perspective of the story we
shall know who is the narrator and to identify the narrator of the story and describing any
part he or she plays in the story and also the limitation he or she has upon his or her
knowledge is to identify the storyrsquos point of view Thus perspective is closely related to
point of view The point of view will determine the perspective of the story If we are told
a story from the third person point of view then we will perceive the events of the story
from the third personrsquos perspective Similarly when the story is employing the first
person point of view then we will have the narration to be revealed from the first personrsquos
perspective (Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20-21)
The term multiple perspectives is used by Hutchins in mentioning the internal
eccentricities of Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The story in Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is revealed through the perspectives of few different characters In the beginning of
the story the author uses the third person limited point of view to narrate the story and
reveals the events and actions within the story through the Lawyerrsquos perspective Almost
in the end of the story the author shifts the perspective from the Lawyer to Lanyon and
Henry Jekyll and employs the first person point of view in this part Thus the story is
revealed through the perspectives of Lanyon and Henry Jekyll himself This multiple
perspectives mentioned here refers to the more-than-one perspectives from which readers
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
self anymore he decides to put his life to an end (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894)
However what makes the researcher interested is not the basic issue presented in
the story but the way the author presents it In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson
uses multiple perspectives to narrate the story There is a part of the story which is
narrated through the third personrsquos perspective and the other parts which are narrated
through the first personrsquos perspective By using this kind of perspective the author has
made a difference in showing this duality of human in the story Related to the Victorian
hypocrisy of that time it is interesting to discuss this multiple perspectives used by
Stevenson in showing this duality of human Therefore this study will further discuss
about the multiple perspectives and try to find out its significance in criticizing Victorian
hypocrisy
B Problem Formulation
In order to limit the points of discussion and make the writing clear three
questions are provided The questions are formulated as follows
1 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the third person limited point of view
2 How is the hypocrisy depicted in the first person limited point of view
3 How is the multiple perspectives used to criticize the hypocrisy of Victorian society
in England
C Objectives of the Study
The analysis of this study is to answer the questions in the problem formulation
The researcher will discuss about the multiple perspectives used in the story to present
the duality of human In discussing the perspectives used in the story the researcher uses
several theories of point of view As it is known point of view is the authorrsquos tool to
reveal the story It is carefully chosen to fulfill the intended effect of the story Using
point of view the author can direct the perspective which brought the readers into the
story
One interesting example of manipulating perspective to create certain effect
intended by the author is Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In discussing the work
the researcher will relate it to the historical background especially Victorian era in which
the work was written Considering the situation within the society at that time the
researcher will try to find out the significance of the perspectives used in the story in
criticizing Victorian hypocrisy This study is a discussion of the authorrsquos creativity shown
by the use of perspective in revealing his idea of certain issues within his involvement in
his society Hopefully this paper will give a better understanding in studying the work
D Definition of Terms
In this part the researcher will define some words related to the research in order
to help the researcher in analyzing the topic Some sources including books and articles
from the internet will be used to give the most appropriate definition of the specific
terms
1Victorian hypocrisy
The Victorian hypocrisy meant by the researcher here refers to the hypocrisy
happenned in Victorian era Thus the word ldquoVictorianrdquo refers to the era Victorian era in
England and not to a particular hypocrisy The term hypocrisy in this study is not
merely seen as a psychological matter but more considered as a sociological matter It
can be concluded from an article in the internet page that the hypocrisy as what is
happenned in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not the kind one suffers from multiple
personality disorder as what is known in psychology though it also comes from the
existence of the duality the good and the evil sides in manrsquos psyche The need to be two-
faced in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is seen as a response toward social convention prevailed
in the society For Henry Jekyll the two-faces are performed because the situation that he
deals with requires it He needs to accommodate his darker side but there is a strict rule in
the society which forbides any behavior that disregard moral values Therefore the two-
faces represented by Jekyll and Hyde are performed Here the hypocrisy is not merely a
nicety but life-saving tactic It is a reaction toward the conflict between an individual and
his society (httpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63html)
Another argument still from the internet also discuss about the social hypocrisy in
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It says that ldquothe novel has been noted as lsquoone of the best guide
books of the Victorian times because of its piercing depiction of the fundamental
dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lustrsquo as it had a tendency
for social
hypocrisyrdquo(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
2 Multiple Perspectives
Kennedy and Gioia define perspective in their book An Introduction to Fiction
Poetry and Drama as a special angle of vision It is a special angle of vision from which
a story will be perceived by the readers In order to define the perspective of the story we
shall know who is the narrator and to identify the narrator of the story and describing any
part he or she plays in the story and also the limitation he or she has upon his or her
knowledge is to identify the storyrsquos point of view Thus perspective is closely related to
point of view The point of view will determine the perspective of the story If we are told
a story from the third person point of view then we will perceive the events of the story
from the third personrsquos perspective Similarly when the story is employing the first
person point of view then we will have the narration to be revealed from the first personrsquos
perspective (Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20-21)
The term multiple perspectives is used by Hutchins in mentioning the internal
eccentricities of Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The story in Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is revealed through the perspectives of few different characters In the beginning of
the story the author uses the third person limited point of view to narrate the story and
reveals the events and actions within the story through the Lawyerrsquos perspective Almost
in the end of the story the author shifts the perspective from the Lawyer to Lanyon and
Henry Jekyll and employs the first person point of view in this part Thus the story is
revealed through the perspectives of Lanyon and Henry Jekyll himself This multiple
perspectives mentioned here refers to the more-than-one perspectives from which readers
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
C Objectives of the Study
The analysis of this study is to answer the questions in the problem formulation
The researcher will discuss about the multiple perspectives used in the story to present
the duality of human In discussing the perspectives used in the story the researcher uses
several theories of point of view As it is known point of view is the authorrsquos tool to
reveal the story It is carefully chosen to fulfill the intended effect of the story Using
point of view the author can direct the perspective which brought the readers into the
story
One interesting example of manipulating perspective to create certain effect
intended by the author is Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In discussing the work
the researcher will relate it to the historical background especially Victorian era in which
the work was written Considering the situation within the society at that time the
researcher will try to find out the significance of the perspectives used in the story in
criticizing Victorian hypocrisy This study is a discussion of the authorrsquos creativity shown
by the use of perspective in revealing his idea of certain issues within his involvement in
his society Hopefully this paper will give a better understanding in studying the work
D Definition of Terms
In this part the researcher will define some words related to the research in order
to help the researcher in analyzing the topic Some sources including books and articles
from the internet will be used to give the most appropriate definition of the specific
terms
1Victorian hypocrisy
The Victorian hypocrisy meant by the researcher here refers to the hypocrisy
happenned in Victorian era Thus the word ldquoVictorianrdquo refers to the era Victorian era in
England and not to a particular hypocrisy The term hypocrisy in this study is not
merely seen as a psychological matter but more considered as a sociological matter It
can be concluded from an article in the internet page that the hypocrisy as what is
happenned in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not the kind one suffers from multiple
personality disorder as what is known in psychology though it also comes from the
existence of the duality the good and the evil sides in manrsquos psyche The need to be two-
faced in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is seen as a response toward social convention prevailed
in the society For Henry Jekyll the two-faces are performed because the situation that he
deals with requires it He needs to accommodate his darker side but there is a strict rule in
the society which forbides any behavior that disregard moral values Therefore the two-
faces represented by Jekyll and Hyde are performed Here the hypocrisy is not merely a
nicety but life-saving tactic It is a reaction toward the conflict between an individual and
his society (httpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63html)
Another argument still from the internet also discuss about the social hypocrisy in
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It says that ldquothe novel has been noted as lsquoone of the best guide
books of the Victorian times because of its piercing depiction of the fundamental
dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lustrsquo as it had a tendency
for social
hypocrisyrdquo(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
2 Multiple Perspectives
Kennedy and Gioia define perspective in their book An Introduction to Fiction
Poetry and Drama as a special angle of vision It is a special angle of vision from which
a story will be perceived by the readers In order to define the perspective of the story we
shall know who is the narrator and to identify the narrator of the story and describing any
part he or she plays in the story and also the limitation he or she has upon his or her
knowledge is to identify the storyrsquos point of view Thus perspective is closely related to
point of view The point of view will determine the perspective of the story If we are told
a story from the third person point of view then we will perceive the events of the story
from the third personrsquos perspective Similarly when the story is employing the first
person point of view then we will have the narration to be revealed from the first personrsquos
perspective (Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20-21)
The term multiple perspectives is used by Hutchins in mentioning the internal
eccentricities of Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The story in Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is revealed through the perspectives of few different characters In the beginning of
the story the author uses the third person limited point of view to narrate the story and
reveals the events and actions within the story through the Lawyerrsquos perspective Almost
in the end of the story the author shifts the perspective from the Lawyer to Lanyon and
Henry Jekyll and employs the first person point of view in this part Thus the story is
revealed through the perspectives of Lanyon and Henry Jekyll himself This multiple
perspectives mentioned here refers to the more-than-one perspectives from which readers
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
1Victorian hypocrisy
The Victorian hypocrisy meant by the researcher here refers to the hypocrisy
happenned in Victorian era Thus the word ldquoVictorianrdquo refers to the era Victorian era in
England and not to a particular hypocrisy The term hypocrisy in this study is not
merely seen as a psychological matter but more considered as a sociological matter It
can be concluded from an article in the internet page that the hypocrisy as what is
happenned in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not the kind one suffers from multiple
personality disorder as what is known in psychology though it also comes from the
existence of the duality the good and the evil sides in manrsquos psyche The need to be two-
faced in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is seen as a response toward social convention prevailed
in the society For Henry Jekyll the two-faces are performed because the situation that he
deals with requires it He needs to accommodate his darker side but there is a strict rule in
the society which forbides any behavior that disregard moral values Therefore the two-
faces represented by Jekyll and Hyde are performed Here the hypocrisy is not merely a
nicety but life-saving tactic It is a reaction toward the conflict between an individual and
his society (httpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63html)
Another argument still from the internet also discuss about the social hypocrisy in
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It says that ldquothe novel has been noted as lsquoone of the best guide
books of the Victorian times because of its piercing depiction of the fundamental
dichotomy of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lustrsquo as it had a tendency
for social
hypocrisyrdquo(httpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
2 Multiple Perspectives
Kennedy and Gioia define perspective in their book An Introduction to Fiction
Poetry and Drama as a special angle of vision It is a special angle of vision from which
a story will be perceived by the readers In order to define the perspective of the story we
shall know who is the narrator and to identify the narrator of the story and describing any
part he or she plays in the story and also the limitation he or she has upon his or her
knowledge is to identify the storyrsquos point of view Thus perspective is closely related to
point of view The point of view will determine the perspective of the story If we are told
a story from the third person point of view then we will perceive the events of the story
from the third personrsquos perspective Similarly when the story is employing the first
person point of view then we will have the narration to be revealed from the first personrsquos
perspective (Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20-21)
The term multiple perspectives is used by Hutchins in mentioning the internal
eccentricities of Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The story in Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is revealed through the perspectives of few different characters In the beginning of
the story the author uses the third person limited point of view to narrate the story and
reveals the events and actions within the story through the Lawyerrsquos perspective Almost
in the end of the story the author shifts the perspective from the Lawyer to Lanyon and
Henry Jekyll and employs the first person point of view in this part Thus the story is
revealed through the perspectives of Lanyon and Henry Jekyll himself This multiple
perspectives mentioned here refers to the more-than-one perspectives from which readers
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
2 Multiple Perspectives
Kennedy and Gioia define perspective in their book An Introduction to Fiction
Poetry and Drama as a special angle of vision It is a special angle of vision from which
a story will be perceived by the readers In order to define the perspective of the story we
shall know who is the narrator and to identify the narrator of the story and describing any
part he or she plays in the story and also the limitation he or she has upon his or her
knowledge is to identify the storyrsquos point of view Thus perspective is closely related to
point of view The point of view will determine the perspective of the story If we are told
a story from the third person point of view then we will perceive the events of the story
from the third personrsquos perspective Similarly when the story is employing the first
person point of view then we will have the narration to be revealed from the first personrsquos
perspective (Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20-21)
The term multiple perspectives is used by Hutchins in mentioning the internal
eccentricities of Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The story in Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is revealed through the perspectives of few different characters In the beginning of
the story the author uses the third person limited point of view to narrate the story and
reveals the events and actions within the story through the Lawyerrsquos perspective Almost
in the end of the story the author shifts the perspective from the Lawyer to Lanyon and
Henry Jekyll and employs the first person point of view in this part Thus the story is
revealed through the perspectives of Lanyon and Henry Jekyll himself This multiple
perspectives mentioned here refers to the more-than-one perspectives from which readers
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
perceive the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(httpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstory Reader$11)
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A Review of Related Studies
One interesting part in Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the changing
narrator In the end of the story the narrator is shifted from the lawyer to the fellow doctor
of Jekyll Dr Lanyon and also Henry Jekyll himself These narrators Lanyon and Jekyll
give their voices as their letters of will are read The perspective will also shift from the
third person perspective to the first person perspective Discussing this changing narrator
there is a criticism in the internet which says that Stevenson feels the need to clarify
certain part in the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde From the very beginning readers are
brought into the story through the third person perspective that is the perspective of the
lawyer The narration is based on what this character experiences feels thinks or sees
Therefore the story about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde itself seems to lay underneath this
narration by the lawyer It is as if there is a story within a story throughout the novel and
until the end of the lawyerrsquos narration the readers are given an access only to one
Jekyllrsquos full statement and Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative reveals this hidden story and unravel
all the mysteries about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde All events that seem puzzling or
inexplicable before are suddenly explained
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
Hutchins says that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has its own internal
eccentricities Besides the multiple perspectives discussed above it is also unique
because of its subject matter the use of flashback and the short length and also because
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
of the external circumstances that have brought about the final product we have before
us Further he says that its composition is the result of a number of factors including
what he calls dream work cocaine Stevensonrsquos conscious effort to compile his narrative
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of Edinburghrsquos criminal- by-night and the feedback of his family
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
The first and second factors dream work and cocaine still by Hutchin refer to
the process of getting the original idea for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It is said that the
original idea comes from a nightmare Stevenson took cocaine to help quell the effect of
tuberculosis The effect caused by cocaine and its ensuing dreams were possibly combine
to produce at least two chapters of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Discussing the third factor Hutchins says further that Stevenson grappled with the
duality theme for some time and tried to find the vehicle for that strong sense of a manrsquos
double being which must at times came in upon and over helm the mind of every thinking
creature In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is clear that Stevenson success in finding that
vehicle (httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Stevensonrsquos knowledge of one of the most notorious scoundrels in the annals of
Edinburgh history Deacon William Brodie also inspired his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
especially in the depiction of Jekyll and Hydersquos characters Brodie was a respectable
trade man who became a daring thief by night Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was also
criticized by Stevensonrsquos wife Fanny when its initial manuscript was first read to her
The allegorical undertone of the story was the feedback of the family which Hutchins
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
defined as the fifth factor of the story
(httpcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is criticized also for its subject matter Guest in an
internet page writes that Stevenson put across the duality of human through Henry Jekyll
and Edward Hyde However according to Guest Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde do not really
represent good and evil Jekyll is not of pure good nature he represents the control one
has over primitive spontaneous passions and desires Dr Jekyll thus symbolizes the idea
of repression in a respectable individual Hyde is not purely evil either after having
trampled calmly a little girl Hyde himself speaks in a sincere manner and offers
compensation for his act In that way both sides of Jekyll are both good and evil One
can say that the duality in Stevensonrsquos novel is not about good and evil but more about a
curiosity to discover onersquos primitive impulsive side (httpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowtreadphpt=9894)
Stevenson said later that its plot was revealed to him in a dream The story has
been considered an criticism of Victorian double morality but it can be read as a
comment on Charles Darwins book The Origin of Species - Dr Jekyll turns in his
experiment the evolution backwards and reveals the primitive background of a cultured
human being Modern readers have set the story against Freudian sexual theories and the
split in mans psyche between ego and instinct although the split takes the form of a
physical change rather than inner dissociation The conflict between Jekyll and Hyde
reveals also eras class phobias (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtml)
There is also a criticism in the internet that says Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a
criticism toward Victorian hypocrisy Stevensonrsquos target in this novella is hypocrisy and
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
not heterosexual or homosexual sin The novella is noted as one of the best guide books
of the Victorian times because of its piercing description of the fundamental dichotomy
of the 19th century outward respectability and inward lust as it has tendency for social
hypocrisy Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly
forays saying generally that it is something of an evil and lustful nature and thus in the
context of the times abhorrent to Victorian religious morality
(httpenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHyde)
Positioning the discussion in this study among those criticisms the researcher will
like to agree with the criticism about the theme of the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde It
is said that the novella is about the duality of human and not about homosexual or
heterosexual sins However this study will emphasize more on the multiple perspectives
used in the story and its significance in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy instead of
discussing its theme The theme human duality will be seen as the part of the hypocrisy
of the Victorian society This study will be related also to the socio-historical background
of the society in which the work is produced
B Review of Related Theories
This study will be focused on two important points those are the perspective and
the socio-historical background of the story Perspective is a special angle of vision
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 20) This perspective uses to define our position in perceiving
the events and actions of a story is called point of view Therefore in finding the
perspective used in the story the researcher is guided by several theories of point of view
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
1 Theory of Point of View
Point of view is a term used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the
way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or regarded from
another angle the vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
(Holman 1906 386) To find the point of view used in a story we should identify the
narrator of the story and describing any part he or she plays in the story and also the
limitation he or she has upon his or her knowledge Abrams in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms gives a clear classification of point of view into two kinds the third-
person narrative and first-person narrative The third-person narrative is further divided
into two the omniscient point of view and limited point of view (Abrams 1981 143-
144)
In third-person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God He knows
everything that needs to be known about the agents and events he is also free to move as
he will in time and place and to shift from character to character He has privileged
access to a characters thoughts and feeling However if a narrator limits the perspective
of the story through one single character or at most by a very limited numbers of
characters and narrated the story according to what is experienced thought and felt by
this character then the narrator is employing third-person limited point of view (Abrams
1981 143-144)
Another type of point of view still by Abrams is the first-person narrative This
mode insofar as it is consistently carried out naturally limits the point of view to what
the first person narrator himself know experiences infers or can find out by talking to
other characters (Abrams 1981 144)
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
To complete the theory on point of view the researcher also put one kind of point
of view according to Kennedy and Gioia that is objective point of view In their book An
Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama the objective point of view is the point of
view in which the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events
from the outside The narrator just tells us what the characters says and how their faces
look and leaves the reader to infer the characters thoughts and feelings (Kennedy and
Gioia 1999 23)
Besides analyzing the types of point of view used in the novel the researcher
needs also to analyze the advantages and disadvantages each point of view to help the
researcher finds out the significance of the multiple perspectives toward the story
According to Guerin in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature the
third person omniscient point of view can be used to avoid the story to go in several
directions By using the third person omniscient point of view the center of the story can
be held so that it has integrity (Guerin 1999 88) However Kennedy and Gioia also
write in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama that the third-person
omniscient point of view requires high skill to manage without the storytellerrsquos losing
his way in a multitude of perspectives Further they say that having a narrator who does
not know everything an author can artfully withhold information to create suspense
(Kennedy and Gioia 1999 25)
Other types of point of view are the first-person limited point of view and third-
person limited point of view According to Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction the
two types of limited point of view can still bring us to the characterrsquos mind Using these
kinds of point of view an author can show us what the narrator feels and thinks However
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
perceiving a story through the first-person limited point of view readers may find it
difficult to think about the character himself the readers the character and the author
may simply fuse together Another disadvantage of this type of point of view is that the
author cannot comment upon this character directly (Stanton 1965 28-29)
The third-person limited in the other hand enables the author to comment upon
this directly By using this third-person limited point of view the author has also the
freedom to tell the readers what several characters are thinking simultaneously (Stanton
1965 29)
2 Theory of Society in the Novel
In discussing the second point the socio-historical background of the story first
the researcher needs to understand about the society in the novel and the real society
which refers to the society outside the work itself Langland writes in her book that
society in the novel does not merely refer to people and their classes but their customs
conventions beliefs and values their institutions ndash legal religious and cultural ndash and their
physical environment This society sometimes reveals through human relationships
through charactersrsquo patterned interactions and their common expectations of one another
(Langland 1984 6)
Society in the novel does not depend on points of absolute fidelity to an outside
world in details of costume setting and locality because a novelrsquos society does not aim at
a faithful mirror of any concrete existent thing As soon as novelists select arrange and
organize the disparate elements of culture the arrangement takes on meaning or value
(Langland 1984 5)
Society plays an essential formal role within a novel antagonist to individual
protagonists a context if not an obstacle to the charactersrsquo growth and self-realization
Langland says in her book that the function or the formal roles of society in the novel is
determined by the relationship between character society and narrator or implied author
These relationships are further classified into four basic arrangements
a Characters enmeshed in a social milieu are presented as being in a conflict with the
society Individual potential meets social possibility and the result is some personal
limitation or sacrifice Writers who use this kind of arrangement are interested in
exploring what meant to be an individual with special needs and particular talents in a
milieu that is usually conservative established and generally unresponsive to particular
needs In this formal pattern the individual may succeed or fail in establishing the validity
of his values vision
b The narrator may choose to become engaged in the world of his novel and by his
presence affect the narrative outcome
c Society can be depicted as inevitably of human possibility The sociological or
naturalistic novels weight the conflict between individuals and society in such a way that
the most admirable characters are most subject to destruction since their best qualities
rather than setting them apart from societyrsquos inimical values leave them more vulnerable
d The fourth possibility for the formal relationship between character and society may be
one of basic congruence Society despite its faults can be flexible enough to
accommodate the full realization of human possibility In this fourth category society
and social convention functions as yardsticks to measure individual moral growth and to
make moral distinction among individuals (Langland 1984 11-13)
Langland explains in her book that the way society is structured ndash how it is
depicted how its elements were organized ndash defines its formal role So when we speaks
of the formal role of society we are speaking of the ways in which structural elements of
a particular depiction are combined and evaluated to make society itself an integral part
of a novelrsquos form a significant element in the principles generating a particular work
(Langland 1984 9)
Society in a work of fiction is a part of its setting Therefore in doing this study
the researcher also need to understand about theories of setting
3 Theory of Setting
Stanton in his book An Introduction to Fiction says that the setting of a story is
the environment of its events the immediate world in which they occur (Stanton 1965
18) The definition of setting can also be found in Holmanrsquos A Hand Book to Literature
He writes that setting is the physical and sometimes spiritual background against which
the action of a narrative (novel drama or short story poem) takes place (Holman 1906
465)
Further he says that there are four elements which make up a setting Those
elements are
a the actual geographical location its topography scenery and such physical
arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room
b the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters
c the time or period in which the action takes place for example epoch in history or
season of the year
d the general environment of the character for example religious mental moral social
and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move
C Review of Victorian Era
Since this study is related to the socio-historical background of the story
therefore it is important to have a clearer description about the society in which the work
is produced
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1885 In that era England was under the
reign of Queen Victoria so that the late nineteenth century in England was known also as
Victorian Era
W E Lunt writes in his book History of England that the improvement in means
of transportation during the nineteenth century caused extensive changes in British
commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes
Early in the nineteenth century the invention of steamship and railway resulted in the
speedier means of transportation This stimulated the rapid development of civilization
and culture The improved transportation was a factor of primary importance in
producing the enormous expansion of British industry and commerce which took place
after 1850 and made Great Britain for the next quarter of a century ldquothe workshop of the
worldrdquo (Lunt 1945 743-744)
Similar to Lunt David Thomson also describes mid-Victorian society in his book
England in the Nineteenth Century by writing that the background of mid-Victorian was
growing material prosperity and a level of industrial production and foreign trade which
set England far ahead of all other countries The situation induced in large sections of the
upper and middle class a mood of comfortable complacency (Thomson 1951 100-101)
This two writers also write about another aspect of Victorian society instead of its
industrial growth Thomson writes in his book that there were two other forces effected
Victorianrsquos thoughts instead of materialism One was religion which played a very large
part in mid-Victorian life and thought the other was the generous humanitarian impulses
which derived partly from evangelical religion partly from liberalism The most generaly
accepted and practised form of Christianity at that time was that which may be broadly
called evangelicalism with its emphasis upon moral conduct as the test of the good
Christian (Thomson 1951 106-107)
According to Lunt in order to appreciate fully the outlook of Victorian on society
politics business or almost any other aspect of life their strong religious convictions
must be taken into account Their beliefs were at bottom evangelical but they were not
confined to low church men There was nearly universal belief in the literal acceptance of
the Bible and in a future life of eternal bliss or woe A manrsquos future reward or punishment
was determined in part by his faith but above all it was determined by his conduct So
nearly universal was this point of view that it was imposed upon all alike a code of moral
conduct which could be broken only at the risk of strong social disapproval Duty self-
restraint and self-improvement were regarded as outstanding virtues Pleasures was not
banned but it was not to be pursued as an end nor should it occupy too large a place in
the scheme of life It was well ldquoto be serious to redeem the time to obstain from
gambling to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This religious outlook produced
some absurdities The danger that a picture or a word might produce evil results led to
pruderies which it was easy enough to hold up to ridicule No doubt the outward
acceptance of the code by some who dared not reject it led to hypocrisies Yet a
commonly accepted religious belief which inspired men to find pleasure in doing their
duty was a force which affected profoundly the thoughts and actions of Victorian men
and women (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Literature of Victorian era also had its own characteristic According to Lunt
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century the prevailing trend was romantic The
fields in which the romanticists found their subjects were many and varied Reason and
common sense are the proper literary guides The beauties and mysteries of nature the
history of periods rather than that of Roman classical antiquity distant and little known
portions of the world and man in his natural state as distinguished from man bound by
existing social conventions supplied the greater part of the themes which were popular
with both writers and readers Famous author of the period not only influenced
profoundly the literary development of the nineteenth century but many of the also
affected thought on political and social aspects of life Victorian literature was so
diversified in style and content that no single label would cover all of it or even indicated
the main trend It was written to entertain or instruct the new middle-class and it
reflected more fully and accurately than in most periods the intellectual and moral
outlook of those whom it informed or amused It was a good mirror An exceptionally
large amount of it also portrayed one aspect or another of the life of the period in which it
was written and some of the imaginative literature advocated social reforms The
enthusiasm of Victorian literature for social truths as an instrument of social reform of
which a Victorian literary critic complained was for the historian of the period a piece of
good fortune The spirit not only found expression in fiction and in poetry but it also
actuated several writers who criticized the complacency and apathy of the middle-class
They told us much concerning contemporary ideals both by the aspects of society which
they criticized and by the profound influence which they exerted upon the thought of the
time (Lunt 1945 752-755)
Victorian society forbade the discussion of many issues sexuality stood at the top
of the blacklist Late Victorian literature contained many subtle allusions to covert acts of
socially unacceptable sexual behavior often referring to or symbolizing homosexual
activities (httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
D Theoretical Framework
In doing this research the information about Victorian society is absolutely
needed to give a clear description of the situation in the society at that time the social
life the economic condition and also the policy of the government Through this
information the researcher finds that the hypocrisy is indeed exist in the Victorian
society This information also give a clear reflection on how an individual may live and
survive within that kind of society Thus considering that the work Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written in that era it is not something fancy to suspect that Stevenson may be
effected by the hypocrisy of the society surrounded him in writing this work Those
information will lead to a better understanding on the outside factors that may effect the
final product we have before us Eventually the researcher can find out the aspect of the
society which being criticized by Stevenson in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The theories of point of view will help the researcher to discuss the perspective
used within the narration This theories explain also the advantages and disadvantages of
each point of view By analyzing the perspective used in the story and its advantages or
disadvantages the researcher will try to find the significance of the multiple perspectives
toward the story The result of this analysis will further help the researcher to find the
authorrsquos intention in using the multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and
how this will help him to achieve his purpose in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy
The theories of setting will be used to define how society is depicted in the story
In discussing the novel and Victorian society the researcher will use the theories of
society in the novel in Langlandrsquos book Society in the Novel to understand the
relationship between the real society and the society existed within the story
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A Object of the Study
Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is chosen to be analyzed in this study The novel
was written at Bournemouth in 1885 and first published in January of 1886 It had
originally belonged to a genre known as the shilling shocker The manuscript was
initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the USA Within
the next six months close to forty-thousand copies were sold By 1901 it was estimated
had sold over 250000 copies It met tremendous success and ensured Stevensonrsquos fame
as a writer
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has become an icon of popular culture and adapted among
others into screen over 20 times The story of double personality and metamorphosis
appealed strongly to Victorian readers The novel is partly based on Stevensons and
WE Henleys play Deacon Brodia (1880) where an Edinburgh councilor was publicly
respectable person but privately a thief and rakehell The basic theme of true identity
have attracted such writers as Mary Shelley (Frankenstein 1818) Hans Christian
Andersen (The Ugly Duckling 1845) Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment
1866) Bram Stoker (Dracula 1897) Franz Kafka (Metamorphosis 1915)
In this novel Stevenson employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story
Initially it is Hastie Lanyonrsquos the Lawyer perspective to narrate almost three quarter of
the story In this part readers are brought into the mystery of Mr Hyde The character of
Hyde is introduced slightly to the readers and most of the time is only reflected through
the other charactersrsquo thoughts and opinions about him Only after continuing to the next
part narrated through Henry Jekyllrsquos perspective readers are exposed to the character of
Hyde and the story of his existence
B Approach of the Study
In order to help the researcher in analyzing the novel an appropriate approach is
needed The aim of this study is to find out the significance of the multiple perspectives
used in the novel in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy Thus the focus of the discussion is
the perspective and how it is used in the story However the analysis will be related to
the socio-historical background of the novel especially the hypocrisy of Victorian society
at that time and the multiple perspectives are seen as Stevensonrsquos creativity particularly
to deal with the circumstances around him at that time
The socio-historical approach does not look at the work of literature as its object but
also at the civilization that produced it It also investigates the social milieu in which a
work is created The socio-historical approach explores the relationships between the
work the artist and society (Kennedy and Gioia 1955 1942-1943) Therefore in
relation to the topic the socio-historical approach is considered as the most appropriate
approach to be applied in this study
C Method of the Study
The method of the study used by the researcher is a library research which means
that the data are collected from books and other writings which provide the information
needed to answer the problems The data itself will be divided into primary data and
secondary data The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data are other
writings related to the novel and the study including theories on literature and some
criticism In collecting the criticism related to the novel and the topic of the study the
researcher also uses other media ie from the internet
The theories used in this study are theories on point of view setting and society in
the novel The theory on point of view is taken from Abramsrsquo book A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1981) Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Kennedyrsquos and
Gioiarsquos An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama (1999) The theory of setting is
taken from Holmanrsquos A Handbook to Literature (1906) and Stantonrsquos An Introduction to
Fiction (1965) The theory of society in the novel is summed up from Langlandrsquos book
Society in the Novel (1984)
Besides the theories mentioned above the researcher also uses the information of the
Victorian society which is taken from W E Luntrsquos book History of England (1945)
David Thomsonrsquos England in the Nineteenth Century (1951) and from the internet page
(httpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtml)
This research is conducted in several steps The first step is reading and
understanding the novel In this step the researcher tries to focus on the use of the
multiple perspectives in the story especially in presenting the duality of human
The second step is formulating the problems those are how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the third person limited point of view how is the Victorian hypocrisy
depicted in the first person limited point of view and how is the the multiple perspectives
used to criticize Victorian hypocrisy
The third step is collecting the information needed to answer all the questions In
doing this the researcher reread the story carefully To answer question number one the
researcher analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the part told in the third-
person perspective The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the
advantages and disadvantages of the third person limited point of view to find out its
significance in depicting the Victorian hypocrisy Having answered the first question the
researcher moves to the second question To answer this question the researcher also
analyzes the depiction of the Victorian hypocrisy in the first person limited point of view
The researcher uses the theory of point of view and focuses on the advantages and
disadvantages of the first person limited point of view to find out its significance in
depicting the Victorian hypocrisy The last question to be answered is the significance of
the multiple perspectives in criticizing Victorian hypocrisy In order to find the answer
for this question the researcher analyzes the answers for the questions number one and
relates it to the way the hypocrisy is depicted in the story like what is discussed as the
answers for question number one and two
Having all the question answered the researcher then tries to sum-up the discussion
and make a conclusion The last step is to write down the study systematically
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
A The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the Third Person Limited Point of
view
Stevenson uses multiple perspectives in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He does not
only switch the perspective from which the story is revealed but he also changes the point
of view in this novel Based on the point of view used to narrate the story the narration
can be divided into two parts The first part is the story which uses the third person
limited point of view The second part is the story revealed through the perspectives of
Henry Jekyll and Hastie Lanyon which use the first person limited point of view
Analyzing the part narrated through the third person limited point of view readers
will find certain events which are mysterious and unclear This is because the story is
perceived from the eyes of a character In the third person limited point of view the
narrator is not one of the characters because he does not participate in the narration The
narrator is someone outside the story He will choose one of the characters to be his
perspective and narrate the story based on what this character sees hears feels or thinks
The third person point of view enables the narrator to reveal the characterrsquos mind In
other words this third person point of view makes the narrator become omniscient
toward the characters The third person omniscient point of view enables the narrator to
be omniscient toward all of the characters while the third person limited point of view
on the other hand enables the narrator to be omniscient only toward the character whose
perspective is used to narrate the story
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is chosen to be the
perspective in narrating the story The perspective of the lawyer Gabriel Utterson is used
to narrate almost three quarter of the novel Stevenson reveals the events and actions
through Utterson ndash what he sees hears feels and thinks ndash by using the third person
limited point of view
Mr Hyde appeared to hesitate and then as if upon some sudden reflection fronted about with an air of defiance and the pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few second (page 29) Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation he had displeasing smile he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness and he spoke with a husky whispering and somewhat broken voice ndash all these were points against him but not all these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him (page 30)
Analyzing the quotation above it can be seen clearly the difference in
characterizing the two characters Mr Hyde and Mr Utterson the lawyer Stevenson uses
the words which suggested feeling such as fear and disgust when depicting the lawyerrsquos
impression toward Hyde This shows the narratorrsquos omniscience toward the character of
the lawyer The narrator is given an access into the lawyerrsquos mind to describe his feeling
Comparing it to the way Mr Hyde is characterized it seems that the narrator is looking at
Mr Hyde through the perspective of the lawyer Mr Hyde is characterized based on the
lawyerrsquos impression toward him Thus it can be concluded that Stevenson chooses the
lawyer to be the perspective in narrating the story in this part
However it shall be remembered that the perspective used in this part is the
perspective of a character Gabriel Utterson is only a character who has limitation He
will report only what he knows and leaves everything which is out of his knowledge For
example is the case of Carewrsquos murder In this part readers do not know exactly what had
happened how Carew is murdered and who is the murderer because the character from
whose eyes the story is perceived is absent from the incident Only after we have Henry
Jekyll the one who is eventually known as the murderer narrating the same event readers
are brought into the replay of the incident to get all the mysteries revealed
Analyzing this arrangement in presenting the facts and events in the first part of
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be assumed that Stevenson intends to conceal certain parts
of the story In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde it is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which
are hidden from the narrative in Uttersonrsquos perspective Readers only know Jekyll and
Hyde as well as Utterson know them Stevenson limits readersrsquo knowledge toward the
story and gives them the same account of information as what Utterson has Therefore
readers will shared with him many questions and mysteries about the existence of Hyde
and the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde
Since the one who commits hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Henry Jekyll
and regarding to the fact that the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality therefore
the idea of the hypocrisy cannot be found in this part It is hidden just like the story of
Jekyll and Hyde itself Through the perspective of the lawyer readers only know that
Jekyll and Hyde are two different people and their relationship is still obscure as well as
it is appeared to the lawyer Mr Utterson can only quess that Hyde is one of Jekyllrsquos
colleagues and if Hyde is a bad man then poor Jekyll is only unlucky for being involved
with such a kind of man The lawyer never considered that what happens to his fellow
man Jekyll is a hypocrisy
B The Depiction of the Victorian Hypocrisy in the First Person Limited Point of
View
In the second part of the novel Stevenson switches the perspective to other
characters in the novel Henry Jekyll and his fellow doctor Hastie Lanyon In this parts
Stevenson is employing the first person limited point of view Reading this second part of
the novel all the mysteries in the narration through the lawyerrsquos perspective will be
revealed Readers will be given an access to another account of the same events through
different perspectives It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the
novel and readers have been given an access only to one until the end of the part through
the third person perspective Reading the part narrated through first person perspective
readers will encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding
throughout the novel The whole story will be completed piece by piece First it is
Lanyon who gives his statements in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narratives Through his perspective
readers are brought to discover Jekyllrsquos duality Lanyon had witnessed Jekyllrsquos
transformation into Hyde wiyh his own eyes
After Lanyonrsquos narratives are finished to be read readers will have Henry Jekyllrsquos
Full Statement of the Case Stevenson employs the first person limited point of view in
this part therefore readers will have Henry Jekyll to narrate his own story Through
Jekyllrsquos perspective the hypocrisy is finally revealed In this part readers are not only
exposed to the hypocrisy but also invited to infer why the hypocrisy occurs
It is told in the story that Henry Jekyll is a man who is born into a good fortune
and endowed with wealth and respects from his fellow-men He lives a comfortable life
in his bachelor house However Henry Jekyll also confesses in his statement that he is a
man who sees his position in the society with dignity He places himself as public
example of strict virtue He is a kind of man who takes his public responsibility seriously
These are what bring him into duality of personality and determine the handedness of his
darker side
And indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition such as has made the happiness of many but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures and that when I reached years of reflection and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life (page 61) Since public man must be seen to be blameless Jekyll feels that he must hide his
private nature even to the extent of denying it to be any part of himself Therefore when
he awakens the darker side of him even succeeds to transform it into another being Jekyll
determines to conceal the fact that Edward Hyde the darker self is a part of him He
creates a new identity for his darker self to separate himself from this darker part of him
However Jekyll admits that Edward Hyde is a part of his being This Edward Hyde is the
shape of his repressed nature the spontaneous passions and desires
Analyzing Jekylrsquos duality especially his darker side it is interesting to note that
Stevenson has emphasized that the duality is not chemically produced It can be implied
from Jekyllrsquos confession that he had learned to recognize the duality of men as well as
that of himself He finds out the two sides of his personality the good side and the evil
side Through his life he learns to develop only the good side and in other hand represses
the evil side However this evil side is still a part of his being and Jekyll is tempted in
the imagination of separating these two elements
I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness I had learned to
dwell with pleasure as a beloved day-dream on the thought of the separation of these elements If each I told myself could but be housed in separate identities life would be relieved of all that was unbearable the unjust might go his way delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path doing the good things in which he found his pleasure and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil (page 62) Jekyll then works in his laboratory to discover the way to separate these two
elements He eventually succeeds to formulate a potion which can transform him into
Edward Hyde Thus this Edward Hyde is what is chemically produced not the
characteristics he represented because these characteristics in fact already exists in
Jekyllrsquos being Jekyll recognizes his own evilness his passions and desires in the being
of Hyde He realizes that in the disguise of Hyde he can liberate himself to fulfill his
spontaneous dark impulses Henry Jekyll had discovered the way to liberate his repressed
side without risking his reputation as a respectable gentleman Since then Henry Jekyll
lives his double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde He is known as Henry Jekyll a
respectable doctor of middle-class Londoners but at night he can also transform himself
into Hyde to lurk around Soho and fulfill his passions and desires
For Henry Jekyll it is very important to conceal Hydersquos identity because it can
ruin his good reputation if people in town figure out his duality of personality Jekyllrsquos
fear of being exposed can also illustrate Victorianrsquos high morality standard Victorian
society shared the common belief that humanrsquos virtue was shown by their attitudes Each
member of the society was required to posses strong sense on humanity and great
responsibility on duty There was no place for such an attitude which disregarded moral
values in the society In the beginning of the story we are shown the societyrsquos reaction
toward such a kind of crime
The people who had turned out were the girlrsquos own family and pretty soon the doctor for whom she had been sent put in his appearancehellip and about as emotional as a bagpipe Well sir he was like the rest of us every time he looked at my prisoner I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to kill himhellip we were keeping the women off him as best as we could for they were as wild as harpies I never saw a circle of such hateful faces hellip(page 23) From the quotation above readers can have a view of the people gathered about
when Hyde had just trampled a little girl in the street It can be imagined then what will
happen to Jekyll if his duality is uncovered It will not only destroy his reputation but also
endanger his life
Therefore Jekyll determines to conceal his duality and keep his reputation
immaculate Even though Edward Hyde has become a criminal and is chased by people
in town for the murder he had done but Henry Jekyll is still sheltered under his
reputation as a respectable gentleman
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carrew one of the well-known men in London
Jekyll realizes that Hyde shall vanish for good Hyde had done a crime so that he
becomes a fugitive If Hyde is captured by police it will involve Jekyll and soon Jekyllrsquos
duality will be discovered Therefore Jekyll decides that Hyde shall disappear He stops
drinking the poison which can transform him into Hyde so that there will be no one who
can find Edward Hyde As Edward Hyde disappears Henry Jekyll can still get back to his
ordinary life as Henry Jekyll No matter what Hyde had done it will never effected Jekyll
because the secret of his duality had been put under his hat He is still Henry Jekyll a
respectable gentleman and even he can work harder to increase his reputation
In the beginning it is easy for Jekyll to live his double characters Everytime he is
tempted to feel the freedom to fullfil his primitive impulses he just need to drink the
poison and he will be transformed into Hyde However the desire to become Hyde
begins to be more often tempts Jekyll Even though Hyde had became a murderer but
Jekyll cannot help to transform and liberate himself in the disguise of Hyde Eventually
Jekyll has ran out the ingredients for the poison However it is not the worst for Henry
Jekyll He can no longer control his transformation into Hyde He will still be
transformed into Hyde even though without drinking the poison first Jekyll realizes that
soon the relationship between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde will be discovered People
will curse him and his reputation will be destroyed Therefore he shall end his double
lives Henry Jekyll shall choose between Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde Finally he
chooses Henry Jekyll
When he is no longer capable to control his transformation Henry Jekyll
determines to save his reputation He uses his lastest effort to gain consciousness and
write his letter of will This letter is intended to be read only by the lawyer Mr Utterson
It will explain about his transformation into Hyde Henry Jekyll also determines to put
Hydersquos life into an end He commits suicide as Henry Jekyll to avoid full disclosure of
his duality
Jekyllrsquos double lives as Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde and also his gymnastic
efforts to conceal his darker side can be seen as hypocrisy In the disguise of Hyde he
liberates himself to fullfil his spontaneous primitive desires but as Henry Jekyll he can
still live his life as a respectable gentleman Thus Jekyllrsquos deeds can be said as hypocrite
Here it is clear that the duality is what finally leads to hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
He knows that Edward Hyde is the flesh and blood of his darker side Hyde is the shape
of his evilness However Jekyll enjoys the pleasures he took in the disguise of Hyde He
enjoys the freedom to follow his dark impulses Therefore he keeps this darker side exist
into Hyde He never think that in the hands of Edward Hyde his darker side can be turned
into the worst When he realizes this it is already too late Jekyll can only reedem the evil
done by Hyde Analyzing the hypocrisy deeper it can be found out that the duality is not
the main cause of the hypocrisy It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that this
duality is possesed also by the other characters including the lawyer
Stevenson depicts the duality of human issue in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde He
presents to us the inner struggle of onersquos impulses the conflict between the good side and
evil side in the mind of a human being Within the part narrated through the lawyerrsquos
perspective readers are presented with this inner struggle Stevenson employs the third-
person limited point of view in this part so that he is given an access to the minds of
several characters to report what these characters feel or think
Utterson locked the door of his business room drew out and set before him an envelop addresed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his death friend ldquoPRIVATE for the hands of JG Utterson ALONE and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unreadrdquo so it was emphatically superscibed and the Lawyer dreaded to behold the contents And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty and broke the seal A great curriosity came to the trustee to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries but professional honour and faith to his death friend were strigent obligations and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe (page 43) The quotation above shows the inner struggle between the good side and evil side
in the lawyerrsquos mind Utterson is obsessed to know more about Hyde the mysterious dark
character His obsession makes him went as far as being tempted to disregard the
prohibition of reading Dr Lanyonrsquos narrative which is only meant to be read if Dr Jekyll
dies or disappears This illustrates the existence of duality in every individual
However the hypocrisy seems to be obvious in Jekyll because he let his darker
side to live in Hyde It can be seen clearly in Dr Jekyllrsquos narration If only he does not let
himself to be fallen into the pleasure of liberating his darker side into the disguise of
Hyde he will not be committed to the hypocrisy He knows exactly that what he had
done in the disguise of Hyde is crime He cannot let the people to know that Dr Jekyll
they knew is able to commit such a crime Jekyll who places himself as a public example
of strict virtue cannot even excuse Hyde He feels guilty every time he realizes that he is
the one who is responsible toward all Hydersquos deeds Jekyll can only redeem it as Dr
Jekyll He renews his relation with his friend and spends more time for charities and
religious activities This is what finally leads to his hypocrisy In other words it is
because he can no longer repress his darker side so that eventually he commits hypocrisy
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that Stevenson likely shows that the hypocrisy
in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is not merely caused by the duality of personality but notably
because of the inability to repress the darker side However it shall be noted also that the
existence of the hypocrisy is also caused by his nature ndash the way he looks at his position
among the society Jekyll is likely a man who places himself so high He values his
existence in the society as something honorable He is finally faced to a dilemma when he
shall deal with the existence of the darker side of him He cannot help himself to release
this darker side Therefore he can only lsquodenyrsquo this side to be the part of the respectable
Dr Jekyll At this point Jekyll is much more like Victorian societyrsquos member dared not
reject itrsquos rigid standard on morality who finally commits hypocrisy His acceptance on
this morality standard finally determines the hiddeness of his duality and indeed it
eventually leads to hypocrisy also since he can no longer controlled his dark impulses
Here Dr Jekyll seems to represent the hypocrite Victorian societyrsquos member
C The Use of Multiple Perspectives in Criticizing Victorian Hypocrisy
In order to find the significance of the multiple perspectives in criticizing
Victorian hypocrisy each type of the point of view used in the story is analyzed The third
person limited point of view used in the first part is first to be analyzed
The third person limited point of view is used to narrate almost three quarter of
the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this type of point of view the narrator refers to all
characters in the third person He will reveal the story through the perspective of a single
character describes what this character experienced This third person limited point of
view places the narrator as the observer for the narrative events By using this point of
view the narrator is positioned as someone outside the story Since he refers to all
characters in third person therefore it seems that there is a distance between him the
narrator and the characters and also the narrative events within the narration Having a
narrator with such a kind of position toward the story readers are likely brought to look at
the medium of the narrative events The medium here refers to the characters the people
within the narration In other words readers are brought to observe the people lived the
story since the narrator himself is not one of the characters because he does not
participate in the narrative events It is different to the first person limited point of view
In the first person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the narrative
events immediately because the narrator is also the character who participates in the
story
Referring back to the use of the third person limited point of view in the first part
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson is likely trying to depict Victorian society in this
part Using the third person limited point of view readers are brought by the narrator to
observe the characters the people lived the narration Readers merge with the narrator
and place themselves outside the story The readers will look into the story through the
eyes or the perspective of one of the characters Thus what readers are immediately
exposed to is the characters of the story and not the narrative events It seems that
Stevenson intends to depict the characters lived the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Since Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known also to be set in Victorian era therefore it can be
assumed that Stevenson intends to expose the readers to the Victorian society which is
represented by the characters
In order to have the narrator does not participate in the narrative event so that the
story will likely being observed from the outside Stevenson can use another type of third
person point of view that is the third person omniscient point of view Similar to the third
person limited point of view in this type of point of view the narrator will also refer to all
characters in third person and describes what they are experiencing within the narration
Using the third person omniscient point of view Stevenson can also present the Victorian
society However the difference between the two types of third person point of view in
narrating the story lay in the narratorrsquos knowledge toward the narrative event In third
person omniscient point of view the narrator acts like God who knows everything about
the story This point of view enables him to move as he will in time and place and to shift
from character to character so that nothing will be missed by his eyes of God In other
words he knows everything that need to be known about the agents and events of the
narration
The third person limited point of view in another hand will limit the narratorrsquos
knowledge toward the narrative event The narrator will choose one of the character or at
most a very limited number of the characters to be his perspective in narrating the story
All the events and actions within the story will be perceived from the eyes of the
character Thus it can be said that the narrator does not know everything about the story
He will share the same amount of information about the narration with his perspective
Kennedy and Gioia state in their book An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama
that having the narrator who does not know everything about the story an author can
artfully withhold certain information about the story Referring back to the story of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde it can be found out that it is the information about Jekyllrsquos duality
and eventualy about the hypocrisy which is likely being concealed in the narration using
the third person limited point of view From the very beginning of the story it is because
the lawyer from whose perspective the story is revealed is not informed about Jekyllrsquos
duality so that the idea of hypocrisy itself is likely being hidden in this part
However the hiddeness of the hypocrisy in the first part is not resulted merely by
the lawyerrsquos not being informed about Jekyllrsquos duality It can be seen in Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde that more than once does this Mr Hyde relate himself and his deeds to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll After trampling a little girl in the street Hyde offers a
sum of money as compensation for his deed and he hands a cheque signed with the name
of Henry Jekyll When Hyde even commits a murder there is a piece of broken stick
which is recognized by Utterson as the stick he had ever gave to Henry Jekyll as a present
which is used by Hyde to kill his victim
Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde but when the stick was laid before him he could doubt no longer broken and battered as it was he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll (page 35)
Even though many incidents lead to Jekyllrsquos involvement in many actions done by
Hyde but Utterson thinks that Henry Jekyll is only poor for being friend to a man like
Edward Hyde Therefore Utterson will like to speak nothing about the possibility of
Jekyll being involved in Hydersquos deeds if there is no sufficient proof to support it At this
point his attitude is something natural according to his characteristics He is a tolerant
man He is reluctant to judge so that he will rather helping people than condemning them
Mr Utterson the lawyerhellip had an approval tolerance for others sometimes wondering almost with envy at the high pressure of spirit involved in their misdeeds and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprovehellip it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men And to such as these so long as they came about his chambers he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour (page 21) Based on the lawyerrsquos characteristics in the quotation above it is just his nature to
save the faces of his relations and never to open his mouth for something that can
possibly destroy their reputation In the beginning of the story Utterson warns his cousin
Enfield for speaking to much to unfold Jekyllrsquos involvement with Hyde
ldquoYes I knowrdquo said Utterson ldquoI know it must seem strange The fact is if I do not ask you the name of the other party it is because I know it already You see Richard your tale has gone home If you have been inexact in any point you had better correct itrsquo ldquoI think you might have warned merdquo returned the other with a touch of sullenness ldquoBut I have been pedantically exact as you call it The fellow had a key and whatrsquos more he has still I saw him use it not a week agordquo Mr Utterson sighed deeply but said never a word and the young man presently resumed ldquoHere is another lesson to say nothingrdquo said he ldquoI am ashemed of my tongue Let us make a bargain never to refer to this againrdquo (page 25) Utterson warns his cousin never to speak about that matter again because it can
ruin Jekyllrsquos good reputation Another incident is when Utterson handed the letter
claimed by Jekyll as the letter wrote by Edward Hyde He is tempted then to ask his
fellow clerk to compare the letter to Jekyllrsquos own writing Surprisingly the two hand
writings are in many points identical The lawyer then asks this matter never to be spoken
to anybody else
In the beginning it is because the lawyer is not informed about Jekyllrsquos duality
that made the idea of hypocrisy is likely being hidden Then when many incidents leads
to Jekyllrsquos involvement with Edward Hyde the lawyer chooses to be silent His silence
makes the hypocrisy is kept aside along this narration in the first part However the
lawyerrsquos attitude to be silent later on can be assumed as an indicator for something
more than his nature A remarkable incident to prove this is the incident of the window It
is told in the story that the lawyer and his cousin Enfield are having their usual walk
together Incidentaly they see Henry Jekyll as they pass under the windows of Jekyllrsquos
house In that incident the two gentlemen see such an terrifying thing so terrified are the
two gentlemen so that their blood runs cold
hellip But the words were hardly uttered before the smile was struct out of his face and succeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below They saw it but for a glimpse for the window was instantly thrust down but that glimpse had been sufficient and they turned and left the court without a word In silence too they traversed the by-streethellip (page 45) The gentlemen have seen the other lsquofacersquo of Henry Jekyll which has the
expression of terror and despair This face is the face they have never seen before and
seing this face is extremely shocking for them It can be suspected also that the gentlemen
have seen the transformation of Jekyll to become Edward Hyde because the expression
they have seen will likely similar to Jekyllrsquos expression when he is in the proses of
transforming into Hyde after drinks the potion
The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones deadly nausea and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death Then
these agonies began swiftly to subside and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness (page 63) Jekyll is describing his feeling during the transformation to become Hyde in the
quotation above According to that description the expression that the two gentlemen saw
in the window seems to fit that situation Thus it can be assumed that it is Jekyllrsquos
transformation to become Hyde that the gentlemen have seen even though it is not stated
clearly in the novel Utterson and his cousin Enfield have discovered Jekyllrsquos duality
Regarding to this fact it is interesting to discuss their silences After that shocking
incident the two gentlemen can only say nothing about the thing they have just seen
Their silences not only express their frights It does not merely refer to the failure in
uttering the words but it also indicates their refusal to use the words The silences of the
two gentlemen show their refusal their denial toward the darker elements of humanity
One can also argue that these gentlemenrsquos silences is something natural if it is related to
the way these gentlemen are characterized in the story especially the character of the
lawyer Stevenson characterizes the lawyer as a man with good qualities in him He is
intellectual objective and tolerant However it shall be remembered also that this
character the lawyer is the perspective for the narration in this first part of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde Stevenson employs the third person limited point of view in this part By using
this type of point of view the narrator will be placed as someone outside the story and he
will chose one of the characters to be his perspective to give him an access to the
narrative events Thus all the narrative events will be perceived from this characterrsquos
perspective Having all these circumstances related to the perspective of the story
therefore there is also another consequence of the silences toward the story especially in
revealing the hypocrisy in this first part of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The hypocrisy
cannot be revealed within the first part of the narration because the character from whose
perspective readers perceived the story denies and even refuses this idea of hypocrisy
The gentlemenrsquos silences have prevented the hypocrisy to be stated Therefore within the
first part of the narration the hypocrisy is kept being hidden
Relating the use of the third person limited point of view to narrate the story in
this first part especially its significance in presenting the hypocrisy to the Victorian
society it can be assumed that this hiddeness of the hypocrisy is the effect that Stevenson
wants to create in this first part of his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde This hiddeness of the
hypocrisy is likely what Stevenson would like to criticize from Victorian society By
employing the third person limited point of view in the first part Stevenson likely intends
to depict the medium of the hypocrisy Since London had been chosen to be the
background setting for his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde therefore it can be assumed also that
Stevenson does not merely depict the characters as the medium for the hypocrisy in the
story but he has intentionally depicted Victorian society However in depicting the
Victorian society using the third person limited point of view he also creates certain
circumstances for the hiddeness of the hypocrisy
Moving to the second part of the story which is narrated through the first person
limited point of view readers will be brought to discover the hypocrisy First it is Dr
Lanyonrsquos Narrative which will bring the readers to discover Jekyllrsquos duality After
discovering Jekyllrsquos duality in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative readers will be exposed to Jekyllrsquos
duality in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case In this part it is Henry Jekyll to
narrate the story himself Since it is Jekyllrsquos duality which finally leads to hypocrisy
therefore by having Jekyll narrating his story in his own perspective through the first
person limited point of view readers are likely being exposed to the hypocrisy also At
this point it seems that Stevenson had initially criticized Victorian hypocrisy in this part
Even though the hypocrisy had been hidden even denied and rejected like what had just
depicted in the first part but in this part readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of
Henry Jekyll It seems that Stevenson wants to suggest that the hypocrisy indeed existed
if it is not in Victorian society then at least in one of itrsquos member ndash Henry Jekyll Jekyllrsquos
narration does not merely unfold all the mysteries which have been carried along the first
part of the narration so that everything eventualy fell into place but within it readers can
figure out also that it is hypocrisy which Jekyll or Hyde had been committed Jekyll
confesses the existence of Edward Hyde as the shape of his darker side in his narration
He describes also his fear of being exposed to posses this darker side so that finaly it
leads to gymnastic efforts in order to conceal his duality Jekyll determines to make
Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde appears as two different people If Edward Hyde the
darker side of him is an evil then Henry Jekyll shall still be the respectable doctor Here
at this point readers can finally trace the hypocrisy Thus it can be concluded that the
first person limited point of view is used to reveal the hypocrisy It is used to state the
existence of the hypocrisy in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde However within this part
Stevenson does not only state the existence of the hypocrisy but he also goes deeper in
criticizing it by showing the circumstances which finally leads to the hypocrisy Thus it
can be concluded that the first person limited point of view is used to expose the
hypocrisy so that finally Stevenson could criticize it
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having all the questions in the problem formulation answered it can be
concluded that Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a criticism toward Victorian
society not only because of its subject matter but also the way the author presented it in
the story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an exploration of human duality which eventually
leads to hypocrisy Stevenson reveals the inner struggle of a human being represented
by Henry Jekyll to control the darker element of personality It shows the worst that can
possibly happen when the darker side is let to take over our souls Henry Jekyll does not
only commit hypocrisy to conceal his darker side that he had just set free and even
transformed into a being Hyde but eventually he also commits suicide to avoid full
disclosure of his duality
The hypocrisy which is depicted in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is considered
as Stevensonrsquos criticism toward his society the Victorian society It cannot be denied
indeed that a work of literature is often effected by the civilization in which it is
produced Often society becomes an object for an artist to be criticized in his work or
merely becomes the inspiration to be reflected as a setting Reading the novel Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde it will be found that London has been mentioned for many times in the
narration
It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London (page 22) Nearly a year later in the month of October 18 - London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim (page 34)
In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved the imperial dye had softened with time as the colour grows richer in stained windows and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London (page 40) Stevenson has set the events and actions within the story to happen in London
London is chosen to be the setting for the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Through the
characters of his novel Stevenson presents to the readers the society of London and its
social lives However Stevenson does not merely present London and its society in
general but he chooses a particular era of England In his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson tries to picture Victorian society and uses it as the setting for his novel
Victorian era referred to the era in England in the late eighteenth century when England
was under the reign of Queen Victoria This era according to Lunt in his History of
England was the era of remarkable development in many aspects of life such as science
technology and economic The inventions in science and technology have supported the
industrial growth and set England far ahead of all other countries This situation brought
England material prosperity and comfortable life for its people The upper-class and
middle-class of England society were familiar with entertainment and pleasure (Lunt
1945 743-744)
In Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde this mood of comfortable complacency
can also be found Readers can look at the life style of London middle-class gentlemen
through the characters of Gabriel Uttterson Richard Enfield and Henry Jekyll Gabriel
Utterson is a lawyer and Richard Enfield his distant kinsman is a well-known man about
town while Henry Jekyll is a respectable doctor These characters represents London
middle-class gentlemen They are regular attendances of friendly meeting and dinners in
town
A fortnight later by excellent good fortune the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies all intelligent reputable men and all judges of good wine (page 32) Instead of the improvement in many aspects of life Victorian era was also
characterized by hypocrisy This hypocrisy still according to Lunt was caused by their
religious conviction The common belief of the people in this era was at bottom
evangelical with its emphasis upon social duty and moral conduct There was high moral
standard in the Victorian society This strict rules of behavior finally led to hypocrisy for
some who dared not reject it (Lunt 1945 751-752)
Stevenson presents to us also this hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy of a respectable doctor of London middle-
class gentlemen Henry Jekyll In presenting the hypocrisy Stevenson focuses on this
character only indeed because Henry Jekyll is the one who commits hypocrisy in this
story However through the perspective of the doctor Stevenson goes deeper in depicting
this hypocrisy He does not merely present it but also shows us why the hypocrisy
occurred He likely shows the readers the circumstances that leads to the hypocrisy by
using Jekyllrsquos characteristics Analyzing Jekyllrsquos characteristic readers are expected to
conclude the basic cause of the hypocrisy
Using his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson likely suggests that someone cannot
be judged from his appearance It can be seen clearly in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Jekyll is an honourable doctor People in town respect him because he is seen as a good
person who had always been known for charities and is no less distinguished for religion
However it is found out latelly in the story that Henry Jekyll is also responsible for crime
of child abuse and even a murder Here Stevenson likely shows that someonersquos goodness
sometimes is only a mask to cover his real face the darker side of his personality
Beside using the hypocrisy Stevenson also criticizes Victorian society by
the way he presents the hypocrisy in his Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde In this novel Stevenson
employs multiple perspectives in narrating the story The facts and events in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde are revealed through different point of view and different perspective of
the characters also However this arrangement also causes the story to be layerred From
the very beginning of the story until the parts which are told through the first person
perspective Henry Jekyllrsquos and Hastie Lanyonrsquos perspectives readers are only exposed
to one single narrative Then when having these first persons to narrate their stories
readers are presented other stories which are actually parts of the initial story The story
we perceived first from the very beginning is the frame for the stories we perceived later
on within the narrative of the first story These two stories attached to the frame are
known as the embedded stories or the meta narratives
Barry in his book Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory had writes that the meta narrative is a narrative within the narrative (Barry2002
235-236) The frame has the function as background for the meta narrative It provides
certain circumstances for the meta narrative to exist Take for an example Chauserrsquos
Canterbury Tales In this story the narrative of several people travelled in a pilgrim who
take turn to narrate a story is the frame while the story narrated by each character is the
meta narrative
In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde the narrative through Uttersonrsquos perspective is the
frame for the meta narratives through the perspectives of Jekyll and Lanyon It is narrated
in the frame that finally Utterson read the letters of will wrote by the lates Jekyll and
Lanyon The reading of the letters is the circumstance created to cause the existence of
the parts through the first person perspective As soon as these letters of will are read as
the perspective switches from Utterson to Jekyll and to Lanyon readers will be brought
into other accounts of story ndash the meta narrative
It is important to note here that the frame and the meta narrative are caused by the
changing perspective and point of view When the perspective shifts from the lawyer to
the doctors Jekyll and Lanyon and the point of view also changes from third person to
first person the parts narrated in first person will likely stand as two separated narrations
It will likely become other stories by other narrators In the part narrated in the third
person there is a narrator who is not one of the characters in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
because he does not participate in the narrative events This narrator reveals the story
through the perspective of one of the characters the lawyer
The steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street The lawyer looking forth from the entry could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with He was small and very plainly dressed and the look of him even at that distance went somehow strongly against the watcherrsquos inclination But he made straight for the door crossing the roadway to save time and as he came he drew a key from his pocket like one approaching home (page 29) In the parts narrated in the first person perspective readers will have two others
narrators who are also the characters of the story Lanyon and Jekyll First it is Lanyon to
narrate his own story in Dr Lanyonrsquos Narrative
On the ninth of January now four days ago I received by the evening delivery a registered envelope addressed in the hand of my colleague and old-school companion Henry Jekyll (page 55) It can be seen clearly in the quotation that the narrator in this part is different with
the narrator in the first part which used the lawyerrsquos perspective In Dr Lanyonrsquos
Narrative the narrator is Dr Lanyon himself and he is narrating his own story his own
experiences Similarly in Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Case it will be Henry
Jekyll himself as the narrator for his own story
Since the stories are narrated by three different narrators therefore in Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde there are likely three different narrations existed However these three
narrations are actually composing one single narration The story through the first person
perspective completes the initial story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is narrated
through the third person perspective At this point the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
can be said to be layered
Using this multiple perspectives Stevenson likely invites the readers to look at
the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside The third person limited point of view
is used to bring readers to look at the hypocrisy from the outside from the medium or the
characters It can be assumed that Stevenson uses this type of point of view to depict the
Victorian society which is represented by the characters In the first part of story which is
revealed in the third person limited point of view the idea of hypocrisy is likely being
hidden The circumstances he had created using this type of point of view determine the
hiddenness of the hypocrisy in this part Therefore it can be assumed that using the third
person limited point of view Stevenson intends to depict Victorian society and the
hiddeness of the hypocrisy in this part is what he aimed to create in order to criticize
Victorian society
In the second part of the story Stevenson uses the first person limited point of
view Having find the hypocrisy being hidden and covered from the outside readers then
are exposed to the hypocrisy when they merge with Jekyll the one who commits the
hypocrisy to look at it from the eyes of the doer By using this point of view the
hypocrisy is eventually revealed Readers are brought to discover the hypocrisy in the
story The confessions of the gentlemen Lanyon and Jekyll himself do not merely make
all the mysteries unfold but it is also used by Stevenson to criticize the hypocrisy It can
be found out within this parts that the hypocrisy actually is not only caused by the
existence of the duality personality the good and the evil side but particularly because of
the way someone sees his role among his society Henry Jekyll the one who commits
hypocrisy in the novel is a person who places himself as a public example of strict virtue
Therefore when he discovers his darker side he can only deny it to be any part of him
because he thinks that public man must be seen to be blameless This is what determine
the hiddeness of Hyde the shape of his darker side and is what eventually leads to
hypocrisy for him Stevenson likely wants to show that Henry Jekyll is the example of a
Victorian societyrsquos member dared not reject its high moral standard who finally commits
hypocrisy to hide his darker side
Regarding to this fact it can be concluded that the multiple perspective used in the
story signifies Stevensonrsquos criticism toward Victorian society The multiple perspectives
cause the story in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to be layerred as if there are stories inside a
story Analyzing each part of the story it can be concluded that Stevenson likely wants to
invite the readers to look at the hypocrisy from two sides outside and inside
Looking the story from the outside through the third person limited point of view
readers are exposed to the Victorian society represented by the characters In this part the
hypocrisy is likely being hidden therefore it can be concluded that Stevenson is
criticizing Victorian societyrsquos reaction toward the hypocrisy in the way that it described
how the hypocrisy was hidden Moving to the second part of the story which uses the first
person limited point of view readers are brought into the narrative events In this part the
hypocrisy is looked from the inside from the eyes of the doer Stevenson not only reveals
the hypocrisy but he also went deeper in criticizing it by showing the circumstances
which finally lead to the hypocrisy
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams MH A Glossary of Literary Terms New York Holt Rinehart and Winston 1981
Barry Peter Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
Manchester Manchester University Press 2002 Guerin Wilfred L et al A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature Oxford Oxford
University Press 1999 Guest Alex ldquoDuality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwonline-
literaturecomforumsshowthreadphpt=9894gt (15 March 2006) Holman C Hugh and William Harmon A Handbook to Literature New York
Macmillan Publishing Company 1906 Hutchins KevinrdquoRobert Louis Stevensonrsquos Strange Caserdquo
lthttpwwwcaxtonstocktoneduvictoriannovelsstoriesstoryReader$11gt (15 March 2003)
Kennedy X J and Dana Gioia An Introduction to Fiction Poetry and Drama New
York Longman 1999 Langland Elisabeth Society in the Novel The University of North Carolina Press 1984 Lunt W E History of England New York Harper and Brothers 1945 Stanton Robert An Introduction to Fiction New York Holt Reinhart and Winston Inc
1965 Stevenson Robert Louis Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde London Collins Clear-Type 1953 Thomson David England in the Nineteenth Century London Penguin Books Ltd
1961 ldquoAbout Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwgradesavercomclassicnotestitlesjekyllabouthtmlgt ( 12 August 2006)
ldquoStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo
lthttpwwwenwikipediaorgwikiTheStrangeCaseofDrJekyllandMrHydegt (15 March 2006)
ldquoMultiple Personalityrdquo lthttpwwwzetatalkcombeinghumb63htmlgt
(24 December 2006) ldquoChapter 10 Henry Jekyllrsquos Full Statement of the Caserdquo
lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllsection7rhtmlgt (23 April 2006) ldquoDr Jekyll and Mr Hyderdquo lthttpwwwsparknotescomlitjekyllcontexthtmlgt
(15 March 2006)
APPENDIX
Summary of Robert Louis Stevensonrsquos Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Gabriel Utterson was a lawyer with good reputation among his society the
London middle-class gentlemen Many of these respectable gentlemen had entrusted him
with their secrets and affairs Then the lawyer was disturbed by the behavior of a man
known as Mr Hyde Mr Utterson was interested to figure out who this Mr Hyde really
was and what was the relationship of this mysterious man with his old friend and
colleague Henry Jekyll He became obsessed with this man since his name was related to
numbers of crime in town The lawyer had decided to chase Mr Hyde and brought him
into jail
However he never expected that his investigation to find Hyde would lead him to
the involvement of Henry Jekyll Not just once did Hyde related his deed to the
respectable doctor Henry Jekyll However the lawyer had always put aside this
presumption because he had not had enough proof When eventually his investigation
really brought him into Jekyllrsquos house he could only find the doctorrsquos dead body Jekyll
had committed suicide before the lawyer broke into his laboratory Jekyll only left a letter
of will to explain his suicidal act The lawyer had handed two letters of will by his dead
colleagues one was Jekyllrsquos and the other one was from Hastie Lanyon who was also
Jekyllrsquos fellow doctor From doctor Lanyonrsquos narrative the lawyer discovered a shocking
fact ndash Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde were the same person Then from Jekyllrsquos
statements the lawyer could finally get a clearer picture about the circumstances which
led to the existence of Mr Hyde and also Jekyllrsquos hypocrisy
Henry Jekyll confessed that he had discovered the existence of the duality in
every individual included one in himself and he was tempted in the imagination of
separating these two contradictory sides He had worked very hard in his laboratory to
formulate certain potion which could eventually transform his darker side into a being
later known as Hyde In the beginning he enjoyed the freedom to liberate his primitive
desires which he got in the disguise of Hyde However he never thought that all his fancy
imaginations could turn to be the worst in the hands of Edward Hyde It seemed that he
could not control his self when he was transformed into Hyde He could only stand aghast
finding that Hyde had committed to a numbers of crimes included child abuse and
murder
Hyde deeds were obviously could not be forgiven even by Jekyll himself Henry
Jekyll was someone who placed himself as public example of strict virtue He thought
that a public man must be seen to be blameless Therefore he could not accept the
existence of such a man like Hyde to be any part of him Poor Jekyll could only refuse it
even to the extent of denying He determined to conceal his darker side However his
unconscious mind had realized that Hyde was apart of him the flesh and blood of his
darker side Therefore he could not erase his guilty feeling He could only redeem the
evil done Hyde He did more charities and more often went to church These were what
finally led to the hypocrisy for Henry Jekyll
However his transformation into Hyde became out of control when he had run
out the ingredients for the potion He would still be transformed into Hyde even though
without drinking the potion first Jekyll was afraid that soon his duality would be
discovered It could ruin his reputation Henry Jekyll eventually committed suicide to
avoid full disclosure of his duality
