NAME: SANDRA MARCELA LIBREROS RIAÑOS DATE: JUNE- 8TH- 2010

SUPER-EGO’S INFLUENCES IN THE AUTHOR, THROUGH THE DOUBLE MORAL

OF THE VICTORIAN PERIOD.

Funnily enough, in the Victorian period, there were people, who standout and
demonstrated their abilities and knowledge, and nowadays they are still important, a
clear example is “Sigmund Freud, (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939), he was an
Austrian neurologist who founded the psychoanalytic method of psychiatry; he also
came to see personality as having three aspects, which work together to produce all of
our complex behaviors: the Id, the Ego and the Super-ego. All 3 components need to
be well-balanced in order to have good amount of psychological energy available and
to have reasonable mental health.”1

Though, in this essay, it will be took into account the super-ego defined by Sigmund
Freud as “the last part of the mind to develop. It might be called the moral part of the
mind. The Super-ego becomes an embodiment of parental and societal values. It
stores and enforces rules. It constantly strives for perfection, even though this
perfection ideal may be quite far from reality or possibility.”2

Admittedly, the super-ego of a person can be affected due to the pressure of a

community, as starting point, it will be employed the book “The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” written by Robert Louis Stevenson, which the main character
decides to create an alter ego to do the things he could not do as Dr. Jekyll; due to the
society their thoughts and his superego, to liberate his repressed feelings without any
kind of judgement.

The author previously mentioned, “Robert Louis Stevenson (13 November 1850 –
3 December 1894) was a Scottish essayist, poet, and author of fiction and travel
books, known especially for his novels of adventure, and some of them have also
horror and supernatural elements.”3 In short, it is important to say he stood out in the
Victorian period by his literature.

Likewise, “in some of Stevenson’s works, it was strongly criticized the Victorian values
hypocrisy and its puritanical conventions” 4 , therefore, he expressed his point of view
about the society, through his characters; all this process according to “Wayne Booth
was argued long ago in The Rhetoric of Fiction (the classic study of author/narrator
relations.)” 5 It means, when the author expresses and involves his thoughts and
feelings through his characters.

1
http://www.biographyshelf.com/sigmund_freud_biography.html

2
http://wilderdom.com/personality/L8-4StructureMindIdEgoSuperego.html
3
http://kirjasto.sci.fi/rlsteven.htm
4
http://www.radioredam.com.mx/grc/redam.nsf/vwALL/MLOZ-639SR5
However, In spite of living in the Victorian period Stevenson always rejected the
Victorian people behavior, since, “the society at that time was considered with a strong
morality, refined modals, and impeccable behavior, although, actually, they carried a
double life, they apparently were religious, conservatives, discreet, in other words,
respectable people; but, privately they committed all kind of immoral things, like go to
the brothels, robbery, affaires, illegal business, among others.” 6

It can be said, the behavior at that time was constantly based on double moral to
satisfy the darkest wishes and twisted things, keeping the respectable person status,
even though, it was just in the higher classes, which is common nowadays, but, in all
kind of societies, because, there are people who look like decent people but they can
have two families.

Somehow, in the Victorian period was very important the differences in the social
classes, emphasizing; high class which included people who belonged to the church
and the nobility, similarly, the middle-upper class which was integrated by artists,
explorers, business man, soldier, great criminal, doctors, lawyers and accountants,
among others, given that, they gained so much money in their jobs, and some others
had good education, it was what allowed them to locate in this status.

Furthermore, it is thought, maybe the Stevenson’s reasons to choose a doctor as the

profession to his character and to create Mr. Hyde, it was because during his life, he
was surrounded by them, in addition, doctors always look like serious and kindhearted
people, apart from the doctor’s status was related with the double morality, he always
criticized, as well.

In any case, the previous part is reflected in the story “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde”, since, the main character is Dr. Jekyll, a person who looked like a good
man who wanted to explore that dark world of double moral, prevailing his good
impression in the society, for this reason he decided to create a Mr. Hyde a little
repulsive, violent and intelligent personage who is the bad personality inside of him.

Finally, Mr. Hide creation was made, because of the Victorian society conduct, in the
same way, as he belonged to the high class; consequently, he knew and saw all the
behaviors of that social class people, who had a double life in a society seemingly
guided by the moral values, thus, he demonstrated all those aspects throughout Mr.
Hyde performance and physical appearance, to stand out the evil being inside each
person, the dark secrets and repressed feelings of the society at that time.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

5
Wayne Booth, Rhetoric of Fiction, esp. 364-74. (taken from Peter Rabinowitz, narrative
conventions)
6
http://www.oscurossecretos.com.ar/introduccion-a-la-edad-victoriana
• Wayne Booth, Rhetoric of Fiction, esp. 364-74. (taken from Peter Rabinowitz,
narrative conventions)

WEBGRAPHY

• http://psychology.about.com/od/sigmundfreud/p/sigmund_freud.htm

• http://wilderdom.com/personality/L8-4StructureMindIdEgoSuperego.html

• http://kirjasto.sci.fi/rlsteven.htm

• http://www.radioredam.com.mx/grc/redam.nsf/vwALL/MLOZ-639SR5

• http://www.oscurossecretos.com.ar/introduccion-a-la-edad-victoriana