Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reveals the tale of a well-known physician, Henry Jekyll, whose experimentations in the realm of human consciousness lead to his transformation into the horrifying, violent Edward Hyde. Many literary critics have speculated that the novella is a metaphor for multiple personality disorder, however, I believe that Stevenson was symbolizing a darker fear present during the Victorian era: the rise of cocaine use and the unexplainable disease of addiction. Dr. Jekyll portrays symptoms of addiction and withdrawal throughout the novella, and his professional friends, Utterson and Lanyon, provide attempts at intervention with no success at the conclusion of the story. The substance in which Dr. Jekyll uses for his transformative potion ultimately leads to the death of Hyde, and therefore, the death of Jekyll himself. Cocaine was first compounded in 1859, and was considered a therapeutic treatment for various illnesses by 1884. Physicians were calling it the “miracle drug,” and prominent figures such as Sigmund Freud wrote articles about its use for treatment in opium and alcohol addiction, as well as depression (Fishman, 215). Dr. Myron G. Schultz in his article for the Journal of the American
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Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the haunting portrayal of the darkness of a professional man's psyche, and his urge to quell that darkness through the use of self-medication. When Jekyll's attempts to suppress the desires deemed inappropriate by Victorian society fails, he turns to a readily available substance to numb the existence that has become mundane to him. With medical research backing the use of cocaine and opium to treat disorders like depression, Jekyll would have found this a viable route to maintain order in his life. Without extensive knowledge of the addictive properties that come with cocaine and opium use, however, Jekyll was dooming himself from the
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the haunting portrayal of the darkness of a professional man's psyche, and his urge to quell that darkness through the use of self-medication. When Jekyll's attempts to suppress the desires deemed inappropriate by Victorian society fails, he turns to a readily available substance to numb the existence that has become mundane to him. With medical research backing the use of cocaine and opium to treat disorders like depression, Jekyll would have found this a viable route to maintain order in his life. Without extensive knowledge of the addictive properties that come with cocaine and opium use, however, Jekyll was dooming himself from the