Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde remains one of the most unsettling Victorian novellas. Published in 1886, it reflects contemporary anxieties about respectability, urban life, and the duality of man, while also anticipating modern debates on the unconscious, addiction, and hidden desires. Though brief in length, the text represents Stevenson’s ability to channel the Gothic into a peculiarly modern setting, situating monstrosity not in remote castles or supernatural creatures, but in the heart of London’s polite society. 

At its core, the novella dramatises a split self: the respectable Dr Henry Jekyll, who outwardly embodies Victorian decorum, and his alter ego Edward Hyde, who indulges in impulses Jekyll dares not explore openly. This division resonates with cultural concerns about the fragility of the moral self and the dangers of repression in a society that rigidly policed behaviour. The figure of Hyde is not supernatural but disturbingly human—suggesting that evil is not an external corruption but something innate, lurking within the ordinary individual. 

Critics often highlight the text’s interplay with late nineteenth-century science, particularly evolutionary theory and the fears it sparked—a common theme in gothic literature. Hyde’s animalistic traits evoked degenerationist discourse, warning of human regression beneath the veneer of civilisation. Equally, Stevenson borrowed from legal scandals and sensationalist media tales of hidden double lives in London, such as cases of criminals who posed as gentlemen. By doing so, he blurred distinctions between public morality and private indulgence, mirroring the hypocrisy and secrecy of Victorian culture. 

Today, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde endures not simply because of its Gothic thrills, but because of its pliability as a cultural metaphor. We have now seen this tale told through popular fiction, Hulk, Moon Knight, The Substance, and Fight Club all see the disturbing double life play out. Stevenson distilled perennial human fears—the masks we wear, the selves we repress, and the danger of our own desires escaping control.