Jekyll and Hyde: Science and Religion

The other characters are interested in science and religion
1. Jekyll and Lanyon are scientists. Their profession relies on rational methods and hard evidence.
2. They live in an Christian society. Jekyll is fond of religious texts and often calls on God to help him.
3. Lanyon and Jekyll have very different approaches to science and religion.
  1. Lanyon keeps science and religion separate:
    1. Lannyon deals with the science on the real world.
    2. He cannot cope with Jekyll using scientific research to experiment with spiritual matters.
  2. Jekyll combines science and religion
    1. Jekyll's scientific work leads "wholly towards the mystic and the transcendental"
    2. He uses science to deal with "that hard law of life, which lies at the root of religion. The "hard law" is the idea that all humans are sinful.
4. The tension between science and religion was a source of conflict in Victorian society.
  1. At the start of the nineteenth century most people believed the explanation from the Bible that earth was created by God. However, throughout the nineteenth century, scientists began to disprove this theory- they believed that the world was created by a process of evolution.
  2. Many Victorians thought this view was dangerous because it suggested that science had the power to create life. It challenged their religious views on the world.
Religion was a social issue as well as a personal one
1. Christianity teaches that everyone is sinful. Hyde was created because Jekyll was so troubled by his sins, even though they weren't actually that bad. When he was younger he "regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame"
2. Being seen to do good or charitable deeds, on the other hand, is another sign of respectability. After Hyde murders Carew, Jekyll becomes "distinguished for religion" for a few months- he's known for doing good deeds.
3. Stevenson criticises the act of being religious in public and sinful in private, by representing Jekyll's actions as hypocritical.
Stevenson presents Jekyll's scientific work as mysterious and disturbing:
1. The transformation of Hyde to Jekyll is hideous. Lanyon finds it sickening and Jekyll describes his first transformation as provoking "racking pangs", "deadly nausea" and a "horror of the spirit"
2. Jekyll's cabinet is full of curious objects that Utterson and Poole do not understand. There are "traces" of chemicals, "various" measures of "some white salt", and they decide the cheval glass has seen "some strange things". Stevenson uses the vague language to present science as mysterious.
Science is shown to be powerful
1. Jekyll's science causes death and destruction. This shows how powerful science can be when it's used to upset the conventional order of Victorian life.
2. Jekyll says that the detail of his experiment cannot be shared for two reasons.
  1. It caused his evil side to return with a "more awful pressure". This acts as a warning about the power of science.
  2. His experiments were "incomplete". Even Jekyll, a respected scientist, failed to achieve his aims, and he couldn' control the power of the evil he unleashed.
Jekyll's science goes against religious beliefs
1. It is the "temptation of a discovery so singular and profound" that motivates Jekyll to create Hyde. He tries to change human nature, which Christians see as God's creation.
2. Jekyll meddles with human nature for his own selfish reasons. He doesn't have good intentions- this means that Jekyll creates an evil rather than good alter ego.
3. Despite this, Jekyll has still made a scientific breakthrough. He repeats the phrase "I was the first...", showing how proud he is of himself. He starts to believe he is "beyond the reach of fate"
4. But this is not the case. By the end, Jekyll is the "chief of sufferers", and experiences "torments" as Hyde grows in strength.

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Jekyll and Hyde: Science and Religion

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	Created by Marcus Connolly over 8 years ago