Document Type

Thesis - University Access Only

Award Date

2012

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department / School

English

First Advisor

Julie Barst

Abstract

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a tale of mystery and double identity. However, upon closer examination, Stevenson's novella reveals a much more terrifying truth than that of a self divided. By depicting the main characters of the novella, all upstanding English gentlemen, as joyless men, Stevenson's narrator reveals that the English national identity, although proper and respectable, is incapable of encompassing fulfillment and joy. Furthermore, Hyde represents the side of Jekyll that is not socially approved; he is the suppressed side of the self that English society has deemed outside of "Englishness." Thus, Jekyll seeks to "other" those aspects in the visage of Hyde. Hyde is, in fact, a projection of Jekyll used to further his own need to identify himself as English. I will explain how this both deconstructs the English national identity and rebuilds the Scottish national identity. Furthermore, I will explain how this allows Stevenson's work casts Hyde in the role of the Scottish racial "other" and depict the harms of colonization both to the colonized (Hyde) and the colonizers (Jekyll).

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894. Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde -- Criticism and interpretation.
National characteristics, Scottish, in literature.
National characteristics, English, in literature.

Publisher

South Dakota State University

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Rights Statement

In Copyright