Grant Newsome IV

Decrepit Dou
The turn of the 19th century in Victorian London brought to light an abundance of social
anxieties onto the city dwellers of the time. The introduction of mass industrialization and
urbanization sparked an overarching fear of what this rapid expansion would bring to its cities.
Robert Louis Stevenson represents this idea of unknown and urban fear with the character, Mr.
Hyde, in his novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Stevensons use of grim imagery to
describe the dismay that London was, is matched with the identity and actions of Mr. Hyde.
These dim depictions of early London, and Stevensons explicit use of light, shows the course
and inevitable fate of Dr. Jekyll and his inorganic creation, Mr. Hyde.
The city of London is first described by Mr. Enfield in his recollection of a horrific action
committed by Mr. Hyde. This famous scene in the novel describing Mr. Hyde trampling over a
young girl in the city streets, set preface to the devilish facade that is, Mr. Hyde. Mr. Enfield
describes the location of the crime as,
a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street. It was two
stories high; showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower story and a blind
forehead of discoloured wall on the upper; and bore in every feature, the marks of
prolonged and sordid negligence a black winter morning, and my way lay through a
part of town where there was literally nothing to be seen but lamps. Street after street, and
all the folks asleepstreet after street, all lighted up as if for a procession and all as
empty as a churchtill at last I got into that state of mind when a man listens and listens
and begins to long for the sight of a policeman (Stevenson 4).
This description of this dark London night, sets the tone of the story and shows us the true
character of Mr. Hyde. The location of the crime, directly outside Mr. Hydes home, helps in
showing how the eeriness of the night is also resembled in Mr. Hyde himself. The consequence

of this rundown city is described with one word: negligence. The negligence shown in
maintaining the city, is mirrored in Dr. Jekylls negligence in creating and controlling the
erratic Mr. Hyde.
We are also able to see how light foretells the actions and intentions of Mr. Hyde. The
passage describes the city as a black winter morning with nothing to be seen but lamps
(Stevenson 4). The continuous correlation of darkness and the color black to Mr. Hyde, shows
that his intentions are evil. This is explicitly shown in his transformation to Mr. Hyde. This dark
and evil persona is articulated when Stevenson states, "the large handsome face of Dr. Jekyll
grew pale to the very lips, and there came a blackness about his eyes (25). The blackness
presents itself in the eyes and therefore is staring fate in the eyes. Eyes, also representative of the
soul, signify Mr. Hydes darkness within.
Along with this, lamps are also shown throughout the novel, and are described as being
the only livelihood of the night other than Mr. Hyde. The lights represent Mr. Hydes fate and
longevity that will inevitably outshine that of Dr. Jekylls. The faint lamp lights become a
signifier of Mr. Hydes soon-to-come atrocities that fall upon the darkness around them. We
continue to see both the lamps and the darkness that surrounds them as disturbing motifs which
ultimately represent the actions that take place in the streets of London.
We see the idea of light contrasted with internal darkness continue when Mr. Hydes
murderous grounds are described as,
the dismal quarter of Soho seen under these changing glimpses, with its muddy ways,
and slatternly passengers, and its lamps, which had never been extinguished or had been
kindled afresh to combat this mournful re-invasion of darkness, seemed like a district
of some city in a nightmare (Stevenson 32).
Again, the city is shown to be dreary and mournful, and can only be described as something from
a nightmare. The paradigm of a nightmare, known to be malicious and evil, paints the picture
of just how unnatural Mr. Hyde is. This can be translated directly onto just how morbid the city

of London is as a whole. Mr. Hyde represents an unknown fear to the city, and therefore shows
how these anxieties are effecting the city around them. The unknown of what the neighbor or
stranger can do, is causing the city to become an uninviting place where trust is no longer a
virtue.
This passage also continues so show how the inextinguishable lamps represent the
unstoppable fears and actions of Mr. Hyde. The light, representative of his actions and the fears
that come along with them, will continue to exist as long as the unknown ideas of urbanization
continue to weaken the city of London.
In the final hours of Dr. Jekylls existence, these ideas remain at the forefront of the
novel. Following the final transformations of Dr. Jekyll, we once again see the city as a
descriptor of the two identities. Stevenson writes, the night, however, was far gone into the
morning-the morning, black as it was, was nearly ripe for the conception of the day (87). Here,
the night represents Mr. Hyde and all of his wrongdoings he commits, while the morning, still
black, shows that Dr. Jekyll is aware of his guilt in the actions that took place throughout the
night. We see how the night is, in a sense, begging for the conception of Dr. Jekyll, as he is the
only savior to the injustices that occur. When Dr. Jekyll is present, the crimes cease to exist. He
is the light to the mournful darkness and fears of the city dwellers.
Following these same ideas, we can see this represented again when Stevenson writes,
Jekyll was now my city of refuge; let but Hyde peep out an instant, and the hands of all men
would be raised to take and slay him (99). It is clear that Jekyll provides safety to the city and
prevents Mr. Hyde from committing his brutal attacks.