{"id":2883,"date":"2023-11-25T09:00:12","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T14:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/?p=2883"},"modified":"2023-11-25T09:00:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-25T14:00:12","slug":"how-hyde-hides-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/2023\/11\/25\/how-hyde-hides-away\/","title":{"rendered":"How Hyde, hides away"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the S<\/span>trange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde<\/span><\/i>, looking through the lens of how mental health was dealt with in the 19th century, Mr.Hyde\u2019s name is apparent wordplay for the perceived danger of mental illness and how it has to be hidden from society. So far in the text, Mr. Utterson wants to stay out of the situation to protect Jekyll and conceal his condition; however, he is still very curious and begins to realize that the two men are hiding a secret. When Utterson\u2019s clerk compares handwriting samples, he says, \u201cThere\u2019s a rather singular resemblance; the two hands are in many points identical: only differently sloped\u201d (Incident of the Letter). With this realization, they both suspect that there is more to Jekyll and Hyde than meets the eye, but to protect his friend’s status, he shuts the mini-investigation down with \u201cI wouldn\u2019t speak of this note, you know\u201d (Incident of the Letter). Utterson has an underlying yearning to know more about Jekyll and Hyde. Still, he does not want to implicate or be associated with anyone considered abnormal by Victorian standards. As we know from other 19th-century texts, such as <\/span>Lady Audley\u2019s Secre<\/span><\/i>t, locking up individuals who defy social norms, such as having perceived or exaggerated mental health conditions, was commonplace, and that could be why Utterson wants to remain silent. All of these quotes further emphasize the careful choice of Hyde\u2019s name to continually reinforce how severely stigmatized mental health was in the 19th century. In this context, the word \u201chide\u201d means to conceal a secret, and Hyde himself is secretive, mysterious, and viewed as a pariah by those interacting with him. The 19th-century ideas surrounding mental health made seeking help and discussing preventive measures difficult, if not impossible.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, looking through the lens of how mental health was dealt with in the 19th century, Mr.Hyde\u2019s name is apparent wordplay for the perceived danger of mental illness and how it has to be hidden from society. So far in the text, Mr. Utterson wants to stay … Continue reading How Hyde, hides away<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5340,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169399],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2023-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}