Londons Social Class in Robert Louis Stevenson Strange Case of Dr. Jek

capital of the United Kingdoms Social Class in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeOne Victorian sentiment was that a civilized individual could be determined by her/his appearance. This notion was readily adopted by the focal ratio classes and, among other things, helped shape their views of the lower classes, who certainly appeared inferior to them. In regards to affable mobility, members of the upper classes may have (through personal tragedy or loss) a good deal moved to a lower-class status, merely rarely did one view an individual move up from the abysmal lower class. Although poverty could be found almost anywhere in Victorian London (one could fling along a street of an affluent neighborhood, turn the corner, and find oneself in an area of depravity and decay), most upper-class Londoners, who tended to dwell in the western suppress, associated the East End with the lower class. Writers like Henry Mayhew (London Labour and the London Poor) and Jack London (The People of the Abyss), and artists like Gustave Dore (London) and John Thomson (Street Life in London) - all chroniclers of the desperate conditions of those in the East End - helped enlighten some(prenominal) around world - particularly those who lived just beyond the permeable boundaries of that notorious area - as to the needs of the citys unfortunate members of society. Their works called out - whether right off or indirectly - for some sort of radical social reform, hardly there was little immediate response. The East End continued end-to-end the 19th century to exist as a symbol for the declination of society and the degeneration of humanity. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the reader is given vivid (and a lot depressing) images of Londons East End Two doors from one corner. . . the line was broken by the e... ... desires (i.e., sexual opportunities). Those like Jekyll, however, who were of the upper classes and who harbored secret and socially forbidden desires, stock-still had to co ntrol these desires in order to maintain an elite appearance. As Henrik Hansen notes, A man was considered to be civilized if he was able to repress the wildcat instincts within him. . . and the Victorian elite could thus claim to be more(prenominal) civilized than the lower classes (par. 2). The novel, then, can be perceived as a commentary not only on the distinctions between these sides of London but also on the hypocrisy of the upper-class men who struggled to conceal their gayness and who, in spite of whatever rhetoric they spoke among their class against the End End, sought to fulfill their lusts in areas like Soho and Regent Street - where their anonymity would be almost certainly secured.