Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
R.L. Stevenson · 1886 · Paper 1 Section B
Context
Published in 1886, the novella reflects late-Victorian anxieties about evolution (Darwin), degeneration theory, and the rigid moral codes that demanded public respectability while concealing private vice. Set in London's fog-shrouded streets, it explores the duality of human nature through a Gothic lens, questioning whether civilisation's surface conceals a primitive self that science cannot control.