Academic Articles
-
Ganz examines the conflict of the intellectual test of insanity created by the M’Naghten Rules, the inability to recognize acts or their wrongfulness, and psychiatric viewpoints promoting for recognition of emotional or volitional disorders. Ganz argues that Stevenson emphasizes individual moral accountability, Jekyll’s actions, choice, and the deliberate development of his Hyde rejects the use of uncontrollable impulse as a defense. Through the interaction of anxieties about genetics, free will, and the developing classification of insanity, Stevenson asserts the significance of individual culpability.
GANZ, MELISSA J. “Carrying On Like a Madman: Insanity and Responsibility in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Nineteenth-Century Literature, vol. 70, no. 3, 2015, pp. 363–97. JSTOR, https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.waterfield.murraystate.edu/stable/26377118. Accessed 23 Mar. 2026.
-
O'Dell examines the late Victorian social hierarchy in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He argues that the novella is a multifaceted social interpretation on status, cultural agency, and Victorian genteel principles during social turmoil. The author emphasizes the pliability of characters as a means for expressing social and political anxieties rather than emotional complexity. O'Dell contends the novella demonstrates apprehension from disputes of social limitations instead than changes in class associations, stressing restoration over revolution.
O’Dell, Benjamin D. “Character of Crisis: Hegemonic Negotiations in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Victorian Literature and Culture, vol. 40, no. 2, 2012, pp. 509–21. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.waterfield.murraystate.edu/stable/41819955. Accessed 23 Mar. 2026.
-
E. D. Cohen' considers the conflicting ideas of masculinity in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Cohen asserts that the novel scrutinizes the juxtaposition of opposing models of male identity during the Victorian era. The novel expresses the paradoxes between genetic manliness and socially structured manhood founded in class, sexual behavior, and national identity. He argues legal and medical approaches of knowledge used by the characters neglect to comprehend the multifaceted properties of male identity. He incorporates historical perspectives, linking the novel with cultural concerns about male aggression and sexuality. Moreover, Cohen stresses the novel’s fragmentation in masculinity, socially accepted and disturbing nonconforming compulsions.
Cohen, E. D. “Hyding the Subject?: The Antinomies of Masculinity in ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.’” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, vol. 37, no. 1/2, 2003, pp. 181–99. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.waterfield.murraystate.edu/stable/30038535. Accessed 23 Mar. 2026.
Alternative Text
-
Set in the Channel Islands, “White Magic” is a New Woman literature work detailing a discussion between the narrator and his/her friend Mauger. Through her description of folklore and superstition, D’Arcy investigates topics of science and superstition, as well as typecasts related to women and romantic love.
-
This fairy tale is set in a London home and observes mystical artistic works for one hour in which they awaken. Although only paintings and dolls, their exchanges investigate conflicts in courtship and class disparities within 19th-century society.
-
A tale in which a scientist seeking the supernatural capability of reading others’ minds accepts an adapted Faustian arrangement, eventually realizing this extraordinary skill impedes his life, compelling him to discard the ability. Hook criticizes the Victorian interests of authority and social status as well as the dangers of scientific pursuit.
-
“The Purple Death” is about a mad scientist’s desire to help the poor and oppressed by decreasing their numbers. He believes overpopulation is the cause of the planet’s complications. He creates a remedy; a disease that can kill mass populations. This short story comments on anxieties related to scientific advancement and responsibility.