Explore the idea of oppression inevitably leading the main protagonist of Jekyll from ‘The Mysterious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ and the female narrator in ‘The yellow wallpaper’ to ultimate insanity.
Robert D. Hume claims that a Gothic novel “can be seen as one symptom of a widespread shift away from neoclassical ideals of order and reason, toward romantic belief in emotion and imagination.” [1] Brought to popularity in the late 1700s, after the publication of the first gothic novel ‘The Castle of Otranto written by Horace Walpole in 1764. Gothic novels had people intrigued by the elements of fear and horror that created mystery and excitement towards this new style of literature that was an utterly thrilling experience for readers. ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ was published in 1886 by Scottish author Robert Lewis Stevenson, in the depth of the Victorian era, a time when times were drastically changing. There were strict moral codes that existed and new biological discoveries were making people change their attitude towards social matters, particularly as there was an influx of working class people into the big cities massively changing the atmosphere. Jekyll’s character is oppressed by his society which inevitably causes him to divulge in his dual personality which leads to his downfall of mental stability. Similarly, to Jekyll and Hyde ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is a powerful gothic novel published by charlotte Gilman in 1882, that presents the narration of an unnamed female also heavily oppressed by society that leads to her defeat. The novel is an extraordinary piece of work that effectively brought to light the severity of the mistreatment of mental illness and the shocking truth behind the ‘rest cure’. Charlotte cleverly uses the novel as a tool to instigate a change within society, highlighting people’s complete ignorance towards mental health and how a patriarchal society breeds the ignorance that has existed. “This story contains many typical gothic trappings, but beneath the conventional façade lies a tale of repression and freedom told in intricate symbolism as seen through the eyes of a mad narrator.”[2] The unnamed female narrator within ‘The yellow wallpaper’ is oppressed through her husband’s controlling attitude towards her and also stigmas within society which essentially causes her husband to oppress her through his learnt attitude which results in her driving herself insane. Both characters through being oppressed eventually are led to there fate of complete insanity not being able to cope with the patriarchy that exists and they are trapped in.
Firstly, the female narrator in the yellow wallpaper is undeniably oppressed by the society in which she lives. Living in a patriarchal society, as a woman she is restricted in ways such as, through marital roles that existed and overall expectations women had to uphold. Both men and women were pressured by society to behave a certain way. This is internally portrayed within the female narrator as she accepts being controlled by her husband John, unable to stand up to him. This leads to her downfall into insanity as she is restrained mentally which causes her to fixate on things such as the wallpaper because her mind is not distracted. “Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change would do me good”. It is clear through the first-person narration how the narrator knows within herself how her prescribed ‘rest cure’ isn’t helping her condition, especially being a creative person and a writer desperate for mental stimulation. The adverb ‘personally’, captures perfectly the narrators position within her marriage to john, where her feelings cannot be expressed or at least recognized. She exhibits having complete doubts over john’s treatment methods yet is trapped by her marriage and lack of power as a woman to act upon these doubts. Because of women’s place in society they wouldn’t recognize the discrimination they face as something quite so detrimental, and also men had the pressure to be dominant and masculine, arguably the reason john revokes sympathy and enforces strict control over his wife because of his learnt attitude gained from a misogynistic society. In this way John is depicted as a symbol for the patriarchy that exists. Gilman herself was a victim to the patriarchy within society as she portrays her own personal struggle with mental illness through the female narrator’s frustrations. In 1884, she experienced a series of what were known at the time as nervous disorders. After giving birth to a daughter. In 1987, she visited a specialist who encouraged her to try a ‘rest cure’ which involved living as domestic a life as possible. Having only two intellectual hours life a day. With stimuluses such as writing, and painting completely forbidden. After 3 months of this ‘treatment’ charlotte said she” came so close to the borderline of utter mental ruin that I could see over.” This shows the severity of society’s ignorance towards mental illness. The narrator’s exposure to the patriarchy is presented through her description of Johns sister “She is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession. I verily believe she thinks it is the writing which made me sick”. This shows how women were brainwashed by society into becoming domesticated and take pride in this role that even outsiders can agree with John and his methods. In a modern society where equality between men and women is fought for, woman wouldn’t be blind to the discrimination they face and not be put in situations where men are acceptably allowed to be so controlling over women. A report on psychological impacts and women’s mental health showed a “strong link between the increased prevalence of mental health issues in women and their vulnerable location in a patriarchal society”. [3] This shows directly the impact society has on the female narrator as she is oppressed by the patriarchy that exists and gives her no voice in a male dominated world. This can be recognized as a universal theme that men have the potential to damage women mentally by making them inferior intern weakening their self-esteem making them more susceptible to mental illnesses.
Similarly, Jekyll’s character in ‘Jekyll and Hyde’, can be seen driven to insanity by the oppression he faces from society where living with such strict moral codes made emotions such as intense anger and bad manners socially unacceptable and frowned upon. Intern making Jekyll desperate to divulge within his darker personality, wanting to experience the thrill of acting upon his impulses and not conforming to imprisoning societal expectations, in a society that demanded perfect behavior. Within Jekyll’s letter to Utterson he finally exposes his transformation into Hyde and his theory of human’s dual nature. “And at the very moment of that vainglorious thought, a qualm came over me, a horrid nausea and the deadliest shuddering… I began to be aware of a change in the temper of my thoughts, a greater boldness, a contempt of danger, a solution of the bonds of obligation.” Within this Jekyll starts to transform into his darker self without wanting to, being triggered by a very ‘thought’. He begins to lose control of himself showing how he is slowly going insane. The “greater boldness” and “contempt of danger” that Jekyll experiences, although he’s in a position he cannot control, show the excitement and thrill that comes out of his transformation. Allowing him to experience the darker side of his personality is an experience that would both enrage and fascinate many people. These attitudes are representative of the dual personality within Victorian society, where times were changing, for example religion was being threatened by the introduction of Darwin. “Such a nightmarish biological lineage that denied the specialness of humans, feeds into many late-Victorian Gothic novels. Dracula’s ability to transform into the shape of a wolf or a bat is one example, while Dr. Moreau’s experiments upon the hapless animals on his island as he attempts a barbaric form of accelerated evolution is another.” [4] this shows how people felt threatened by Darwin, particularly the upper class who had strong religious beliefs. It was recognized that the lower class would engage in such crimes as experimenting one’s nature within the gothic fiction genre, so for Jekyll and upper-class respected male to engage in such an unspeakable act would have made been shocking to witness ideas of such criminal activity going on within the upper-class.
In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, Johns behavior towards his wife leads to her insanity as he is unable to recognize the severity of his wife’s deterioration where he dismisses her obvious cries for help in her extremely sensitive state. His dismissive attitude and ignorance towards his wife’s mental illness and high vulnerability are causing her to fall more ill. “John laughs at me about this wallpaper”. The fact john ‘laughs’ would make his wife feel extremely inferior, particularly where her husband is meant to be her biggest support through this challenging time and he believes she is being exceedingly excessive. How she feels is not something within her control so shutting her down in this way is effectively the catalyst that instigates her obsessive tendency’s as mentally she is made weaker through john’s incapability to respond sympathetically and be supportive when she feels threatened. This is highly ironic and infuriating for a modern reader due to the fact that her husband is a highly respected physician and is ‘so wise’ yet his professional opinion is causing her deterioration. Johns authority over his wife, as her husband and a successful male within society allows him to have his wife’s trust, although she is skeptical of his views, john has almost complete control over his wife revealing a darker side to their dynamic. She is imprisoned within her marriage as well as her social order and her house because of john and is led to madness trying to preserve her perspective. The first-person narration allows the reader to closely experience the narrator’s feelings and emotions as you are brought on an experience to her decent into a surreal realm of thoughts. The narration creates images of horror as they foreshadow the narrator becoming rapidly unstable. This is highly effective in making the reader understand fully the impact of the oppression and the severity of the situation.
It is highly probable that Hyde in fact represents Jekyll’s repressed sexuality which leads him to insanity through being oppressed by a society that disgraces homosexuals. Homosexuality is never explicitly mentioned within Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde however there are serious clues that would suggest Jekyll is gay from the homosexual undertones interwoven throughout the novel. “It was the case that around the middle of the nineteenth-century homosexuality was considered a sign of mental and medical illness, and an embarrassing symptom of degeneracy in civil communities…Towards the end of the 1800s, authors were penning tomes representative of the society around them, or in many cases biographical fiction, but needed to hide the themes of homosexual relationships”.[5] Because of the oppression society put people under to conform to class stereotypes,“ one way to hide controversial topics in plain sight was to write within the genre of Gothic fiction or horror.” [5] Stevenson Explores the dissonance Dr. Jekyll experiences as he tries to suppress his evil personality within, through the descriptions of Hyde It can be identified how his appearance and reaction from surrounding people would suggest the horror and grotesque repulsion people feel towards him is representative of the repulsion that is felt towards homosexuality. “it wasn’t like a man”, the horrifying descriptions Take away Hyde’s humanity by reducing him to an “it”, homosexuality would have been disgraced in this same way. With punishments as serious as imprisonment. There are also Bestial descriptions of Hyde that are both Degrading and derogatory, with these elements of repulsion making Hyde feel more comfortable and natural insinuating how he is desperate to express his true self as a homosexual. He is described as “ape like” and having “left her screaming on the ground “which was “hellish to see” for the surrounding people. Religious imagery is used to compare Hyde to a Satanic monster as he indulges in his repressed self. Stevenson uses religious imagery for affect because of the rising conflict between religion and science that developed significantly after the release of Darwin’s book on evolution which made many people turn against religious belief or at least question it. The third person narration draws out suspense as limited information is given away making the reader question this possibility that would have shocked audiences. The narration also explores established class conventions in how people react to Hyde’s character and the mystery that surrounds him. Feminists would critique the Victorian society in which Stevenson lived and based Jekyll and Hyde, acknowledging the theory that Jekyll is in fact homosexual because of the clear evidence of oppression and their disgrace faced in society made them more than outlasted but repulsed criminals. The oppression would internally cause a battle in one’s self to repress their homosexual urges to avoid the extreme discrimination they would face.
To conclude, both texts evidently portray the protagonists voyage into complete insanity through the oppression they face living in a patriarchal society, restricted by their lack of expression in how they believe they should live their lives. The female narrator exhibits all the signs of an intelligent woman with the capability to live a fulfilled life. Yet is oppressed by her husband and by the 19th century society inevitably leading to her insanity. Just like Gilman herself who after dealing with severe mental illnesses served to be extremely successful female who went on to achieve a life filled with productivity. Both novels are extremely different in essence yet share the prevalent theme of the protagonists being led to insanity through the oppression they face. This gothic element of insanity within both novels highlights the importance of equality because of the impact the oppression has on mental health. Particularly ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ this is presented as a highly possible manifestation to insanity that can happen in real life and effect many women as oppression within society and oppression enforced by males still exists. In the same way Jekyll’s character shows how an oppressive society can push someone to rebel against behavior expectations to give themselves a sense of freedom in a society that allows very little individuality.