- Was crime common in Victorian life? What kind of crime? Is it possible to find facts and figures? Who was likely to be the victim of crime, or the perpetrator? What were the causes of crime? Was it very different to today?
- Why were the Victorians so afraid of crime? How was this fear of crime expressed in popular culture? Books, stories, plays, songs, newspapers?
- What effect did the Metropolitan Police have on crime? How did they get started? Did they have 'detectives'? What were they like? What happened when you went to prison?
2. London in the 19th Century
Things to research:
- Poverty
- The Social Classes
- Settings in the Novel
- Stevenson lived a short but busy life...divide his life up into sections and pick out the interesting things you discover. Consider how his life may have influenced his writing. What events were happening in his life that may have given him ideas for his work.
4. Science in Victorian England
- There are three important scientists you can research for this project. They are Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud and Francis Galton. Introduce the topic by exploring some of the great scientific advances of the Victorian age. Were there any advances that may have affected police work or criminal activity or the work of the medical establishment? What about medical advances?
- Then concentrate on the three scientists. Introduce them and their background, their key work or works, and then explore how their ideas affected both Victorian society, their contemporaries and the themes of Jekyll and Hyde. You might finish by showing how their ideas have percolated through history to today, who did they influence, who were their followers?
5. Jack the Ripper and Jekyll &Hyde
- Introduce the class to the story of 'Jack the Ripper'. Who was he, what did he do and where did he commit his crimes? What were his crimes (try not to be too 'sensational' in your reporting!)?
- How were the crimes reported at the time? Why were people so interested in him and these crimes? what did the police try to do to catch him? Were they successful? Was he ever caught?
- How is Jack the Ripper viewed today? Do people still try and work out who he was? Does he still appear in the media? What are the links between Jack the Ripper's crimes and the story of Jekyll and Hyde?
6. Religion and Victorian England
- Was Victorian Society particularly religious? What kind of religion did they follow? How did the Church try and help the poor in Victorian society? Can you find any examples to help explain these ideas?
- How did certain scientist or artists or writers begin to challenge Victorian views of the Bible and Creation? What effect did certain theories have on Victorian beliefs? How might this impact on Jekyll & Hyde?
- What were the views of Victorians on the nature of good and evil? What were Victorian attitudes to things like adultery, prostitution and homosexuality? How were these influenced by religion? Are there any famous cases of people being tried for these 'crimes'? how might this impact on Jekyll & Hyde?
- Define as best you can what Gothic Literature is. What are the key elements that when put together make up a gothic piece of writing? what might a typical 'gothic' novel or story include?
- Choose from these examples of books or stories influenced by 'gothic' ideas to explore and try and find links between them and the story of Jekyll & Hyde:
- Frankenstein (1816) by Mary Shelley; The Bodysnatcher (1884) by Robert Louis Stevenson; Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker; The Castle of Otranto (1765) by Horace Walpole; Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte; The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) by Oscar Wilde.
