Duality, Repression, and Social Critique in Romantic and Victorian Literature

Posted on Nov 4, 2025 in Modern Philology. English

William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

William Wordsworth’s poetry bears some resemblance to Blake’s. He lived during the Industrial Revolution, too. He lost his mother when he was 8 and his father at 13.

Wordsworth’s Poetic Philosophy

• Value of Childhood: Wrote about everyday life.
• Nature and the Human Mind: Celebration of nature and its impact on the human mind, concentrating on the inner effects of external sensations and the development of the inner self.
• Harmony with Nature: Living in harmony with nature, away from the corrupt city (inspiration: Lake District).
• Time and Memory: Focus on time, the passing of time, and memory (autobiographical poetry; the impact of memory on the present).

Analysis of “We Are Seven”

“We Are Seven” was published in 1798 as part of the poetry collection Lyrical Ballads, which included poems by Wordsworth and his friend, Coleridge. The poem is a ballad that narrates a dialogue between a man, who is the speaker, and an eight-year-old girl, who represents innocence.

The speaker is pessimistic, in contrast to the girl who escapes accepting the reality of the passage of time. The first stanza poses a rhetorical question that seems logical when dealing with a girl and death, but the more the dialogue takes place, the more it is shown that she really understands death as part of life and that the speaker is in denial. Wordsworth also lost his mother at age eight, so the man in the poem may be his adult version, now understanding death, and the young woman (the girl) representing himself when he lost his mother.

Poetic Features of “We Are Seven”

• Structure: Composed of sixteen quatrains and ends with a five-line stanza.
• Rhyme and Meter: Rhyming pattern ABAB each stanza (Ballad form).
• Vocabulary and Setting: The description of the girl tells us that they are in the country, maybe in the Lake District, the place that was Wordsworth’s primary inspiration.

Figurative Language and Symbolism

• Symbolism of Innocence: The words “simple child,” “little cottage girl,” “little maid,” and “sweet maid” are symbols of innocence, optimism, and energy.
• Symbolism of Time: The grass changing can be interpreted as the passing of time. When it is green, it suggests spring; when it has grown, time has passed. Dry grass refers to summer, and grass covered by snow represents winter, when another of her siblings dies. This also suggests the growth of the girl herself and how the passage of time has healed her sadness, explaining why she accepts death in such a mature way.
• Irony: The narrator thinks he is describing the young woman, but in fact, he ends up describing himself.
• Metaphor:
  • “Their graves are green, they may be seen,” This line shows the vivid presence of the graves that represent death.
  • “’Twas throwing words away; for still.” This line means that the man surrenders to changing the maid’s mind about her dead siblings and feels that he is wasting his words.
  • “Thy God released her of her pain;” (Implied metaphor for death/release).
• Imagery:
  • Visual Imagery: “Her eyes were fair, and very fair.” / “Their graves are green, they may be seen,” (showing the siblings’ location).
  • Kinesthetic Imagery: “Together round her grave we played,” (showing the action she plays).
  • Auditory Imagery: “And sing a song to them.” / “In bed she moaning lay,” (sound of singing and moaning).

Intertextual Allusions

The title of the poem is repeated constantly, 44 times throughout the poem by the little girl, often in different ways. This represents her strength and ability to recognize that her siblings are dead, but they still live in her imagination. She has not forgotten them.

William Blake: “London” (1794)

The poem is a first-person narrative. It is a critique of human power, suggesting that those who have control abuse others. The speaker could be the poet, criticizing institutions.

Poetic Features of “London”

• Structure: It starts with a very general vision (what he sees) but becomes more specific. It is repetitive.
• Stanzas: Four stanzas, quatrains with an ABAB rhyme. This well-organized structure could represent London and the people who lived there—all confined, everything regulated by the authorities (“chartered”), even nature (the river).
  • Stanzas 1 and 2 focus on the people suffering.
  • Stanza 3 focuses on the causes (monarchy, church, industrialization).
  • Stanza 4 returns to those suffering (cyclical structure, highlighting constant and inescapable suffering).
• Repetition: Repetition is key and reflects how the life of suffering is affecting everyone, with no relief because those in control do nothing.
• Meter: Most of the poem is written in iambic tetrameter (x /), suggesting inescapability. But line 4 has only 7 syllables, making the verse weak.
• Sound Patterns (Alliteration): Blake frequently uses alliteration to link concepts: the weak are in ‘woe’ / misery, the ‘mind’ is ‘manacled’, the sooty ‘chimney’ is equated with the ‘blackening church’, and the ‘soldier’ sighs.

Vocabulary and Figurative Language in “London”

• “Chartered”: Repeated. Originally a document granting privileges, here it emphasizes the control of everything (irony: you can’t control a river).
• Acrostic: “HEAR” and a lot of vocabulary related to hearing.
• “Mark”: Has different meanings: to notice every face, and the physical and mental scar, referring to the fatigue and sorrow of the workers (physical, due to long hours; mental).
• “Every”: Reinforces the universality of human misery.
• Imagery of Suffering: “Mark of weakness, cry of every man, infants cry…”
• Metaphor (L8, “mind-forged…”): Literally means chains made by the mind, but he is not saying they are actually chained. He is saying they are enslaving themselves by not doing anything about the injustice. It also presents the restriction on people’s ability to think; they have been brainwashed and must accept the situation. Blake believed that man was free when he was born but that the authorities and the church limited society. (Personification of the marks and synesthesia are also present).
• Metaphor (L9-10, Blackening Church): Has two meanings:
  1. The church is literally black from the pollution of the chimneys of the Industrial Revolution.
  2. It is “blackening” in the sense of corruption. They are corrupting kids. Instead of helping the chimney sweepers, they send them to do dangerous work. The church is disgusted by their cries because they are exposing them.
• Metaphor (L11-12, Hapless Soldier): Blake talks about the soldiers who are supposed to be authorities themselves but instead they are “hapless.” Just like the kids, they are used as instruments of the state. This suggests that the unhappy soldiers serving the king might revolt against him. The idea that the monarchy (palace = symbol) had blood on their hands, because the soldiers are just following orders they don’t want to do.
• Last Stanza Imagery (Midnight): The poet chooses the dark atmosphere to project fear, sorrow, and loneliness. The prostitutes were very young (children being abused).
  • “Curse”: May mean they are cursing (using obscene words, indicating corruption) or that they are cursed (their punishment is prostitution).
  • Metaphor (Last two lines): Even the most innocent are corrupted by the harlots. She curses at the tears of a newborn baby. This reveals the hardened heart of the harlot, which represents the hardened heart of society.
  • Oxymoron: Contradicting the happy image of marriage with death, indicating that men who have sex with prostitutes will infect their wives and children (transmitting venereal disease like syphilis). This criticizes the misuse of power by institutions causing continuous suffering.

Intertextual Allusions in “London”

Blake makes a biblical reference to the Plague of Egypt. God punished the Egyptians with different epidemics so that he would let the Hebrews go. This associates the poem with God punishing society by giving them venereal diseases because of loveless marriages.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)

Victorian Context and Morality

The Victorian period was a mass of contradictions, which perfectly suits Stevenson’s masterpiece. The era was characterized by a strict code of sexual morality and repression.

Influence of Evolution and the Gothic

• Darwin’s Evolution: Darwin argued that humans descended from other forms. This erosion of human uniqueness took the form of animal-human hybrids in popular fiction. Readers see this in Mr. Hyde’s “ape-like” and “troglodytic” nature.
• Gothic Literature: The Gothic evoked strong emotions and embraced folk beliefs, legends, and myths rather than the new inventions of science. Gothic writers focused on death and the irrational, concentrating on the dark and mysterious. This darkness can be literal (set at night) or symbolic (sin and crime). Unnatural passions are common.
• Narrative Structure: Stevenson builds mystery and suspense using nested manuscripts (narratives within narratives). This means there is no objective unifying perspective. Documents written at different times provide different glimpses, and readers must weave the information together.

Themes of Repression and Sexuality

Homosexuality in Repressed Society: It has been argued that the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde looks like a homosexual affair to Utterson and would have looked that way to Stevenson’s readers. Utterson’s line, “It turns me cold to think of this creature stealing like a thief to Harry’s bedside,” supports this interpretation. The suggestion that Hyde may be blackmailing Jekyll would also signal possible homosexuality (threatening to expose a man as gay). This would also explain why Jekyll might leave everything to Hyde.

Setting: Edinburgh vs. London

Stevenson was raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. That background shaped this work in two ways:

1. Old Town vs. New Town: Edinburgh was composed of two sections: New Town (respectable, conventional, polite) and a much more bohemian Edinburgh (chaotic structure of tenements, brothels, and sadness). The Old Town grew organically, and its streets are narrower, rougher, and darker.
2. Critical Interpretation: Critics have argued that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is actually set in Edinburgh rather than London, as Stevenson states, based on the descriptions of the city.

Key Symbols

• Darkness and Mist
• Houses (Duality): The state of the house gives clues to the state of the psyche. The front is the public persona; the back is the part hidden away and kept private. Jekyll greets people through the front, while Hyde enters through the back, using a door that not everyone knows accesses Jekyll’s house.
• The Appearance of Evil

Major Themes

• Duality of Human Nature: Dr. Jekyll confesses that he has been fascinated by the duality of his own nature, believing it affects all men. Even before the climax, the duality creates tension between the good, social Jekyll and Hyde, who enjoys causing harm.
• Psychological Aspect: Hyde is portrayed as an evil-looking, dwarfed man with a violent temper, while Jekyll is a respected man of science. They are polar opposites. Hyde slowly seems to take over and destroy Jekyll.
• Repression and the Dark Urge: Hyde’s takeover suggests that the human condition is not double, but rather one of repression and dark urges. Once repression breaks, it becomes impossible to restore, allowing the “true,” dark nature of man to emerge. Jekyll describes the pleasures of being Hyde as “undignified.” Evil is private, passionate, and physical; good is public, mental, and spiritual. When Jekyll refers to Hyde as “younger,” the conflict is between a younger, passionate self and a more mature, disciplined self.
• Reputation and Self-Repression: Jekyll’s actions suggest the outcome of self-repression. He feels compelled to find a secret outlet for the urges he cannot share—Mr. Hyde. He believes he can maintain his reputation while enjoying his darker urges, but Hyde’s takeover suggests that repression only strengthens what is repressed, causing it to explode.
• Class: As a member of the upper class, Dr. Jekyll is expected to behave carefully and properly. His decision to release his lower urges is shocking to his peers, flying in the face of social rules. Mr. Hyde’s violence and unchecked sexuality show a complete disregard for strict codes.

Science, Reason, and the Supernatural

• Science vs. Gothic: The laboratory is the main setting, but it is deserted and strange—more Gothic than scientific. This hints at the insufficiency of traditional science. Jekyll is leaving behind known knowledge for unknown truth.
• Deformity and Madness: Hyde is described as a deformity. This emphasizes the power of the supernatural over the natural. A fear of madness and a new world of science and disorders that traditional reason cannot comprehend lurks behind the action.
• Science vs. Religion: Science is important because Jekyll made his discoveries through scientific theories and created a drug. Religion sets rules. Hyde got in the way of Jekyll’s religious works. Jekyll believes man should have both a good and evil side, but Utterson believes everyone should follow their religion. God and Satan are mentioned; Hyde is likened to Satan.

Bachelorhood and Friendship

All the main male characters are single bachelors. Traditional family life is unexplored. This gives the personal lives of Utterson, Jekyll, and others a lonely, isolated feeling. Their social calls feel official. The social constructs (money, law, science) may be taking them away from communal traditions of family and friendship, leading to a public disguise.

Narrative Analysis

• Narrator: Told in the third person, with three narrators: an anonymous narrator (most of the story), Dr. Lanyon, and Dr. Jekyll (who narrate one chapter each through confessional letters).
• Narrative Technique: Complicated interaction between characters—confessions, transferals of responsibility, and the narrative itself are all forms of documentation that create suspense and mystery.
• Pathetic Fallacy: Stevenson uses pathetic fallacy to create a Gothic atmosphere (weather matches the mood). He uses it when Hyde describes the sky (“constellations that looked down upon me”) and when Carew is being murdered.
• Duality/Doppelgänger: The story explores the concept of the doppelgänger (the phantom double of a living person, often an evil twin).

Duality in Setting and Character

• Street Description: The street in the first chapter reinforces the theme of duality. It is an anonymous street in London whose shop fronts, “like rows of smiling women,” have a brightness that contrasts with the dingy neighborhood.
• Jekyll’s House: Two doors from the corner stands a dreary, Gothic house, which “bore in every feature the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence.” Jekyll’s house itself has an innate duality: congenial, prosperous, and respectable, as well as threatening, mysterious, and sinister.
• Jekyll’s Split Personality: Jekyll claims his alter ego’s original tendency was not towards the vicious, but towards the “loose”—a desire for personal freedom repressed by the need to conform to strict virtue.
• Class and Imperialism: Jekyll must behave as a member of the “respectable,” professional upper middle class. He is also a representative of a “master-race”: “my imperious desire to carry my head high.” Hyde’s behavior is an urban version of “going native.”
• Hyde’s Nature: Hyde is not Jekyll’s opposite but something within him, a part of him. Therefore, he is dwarfish and smaller than the doctor.