Homosexuality in Robert Louis Stevenson The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde :: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essays

References to Homosexuality in Stevensons Jekl and HydeStevensons choice of certain words in the saucy is extremely pertinent to a homoerotic reading of the text. In some niminy-piminy circles (and most certainly not in others), certain words had very explicit homosexual connotations.The word homosexual seems to have come into the English language around 1869, introduced by a Hungarian named Benkert but not slackly used by the British until the 1880s. Yet, according to Theo Aronson, there were other words used at that time to identify the love between the same gender. Homogenic love, similisexualism, and Uranism were manifestly among the more common references to homosexuality. Within the novel, however, the word homosexual is never used. If it were, perhaps, then such a homoerotic interpretation as this would be redundant. There are, however, certain, instead ambiguous, words that Stevenson uses that have Victorian homosexual connotations.During their walk together, Utterson a nd Enfield come across the home of Edward Hyde. After relating his story about Hyde, Enfield refers to the place as Black chain mail House (8).When asked if he ever inquired about the man who lived therein, Enfield replies, No sir, I make it a rule of mine the more it looks like Queer Street, the little I ask (9).Both of these references to Hydes home are more direct references to Hyde himself, made by a man who, at least publicly, must have sex the distinction between himself and the man who lives in Soho. Poole also makes a reference to Hydes homosexuality Then you must know as well as the eternal sleep of us that there was something queer about that gentleman - something that gave a man a turn. . . (57). During the 19th century, of course, homosexuality was acknowledged by heterosexuals (particularly of the upper classes) as an animated activity among the lower classes - an activity that thrived in Londons own East End. Those who were thought to be homosexuals were often b lackmailed. With the Labouchere Amendment in 1885, homosexuals faced a greater threat of pictorial matter through blackmail. In fact, the threat of exposure as a sodomite is the basis of more than half of the prosecutions throughout the eighteenth century (Jekyll & Hyde, par. 8). Other Victorian writers, like Oscar Wilde, faced this threat, which often damaged their reputations if the affair ever made it to a court. Enfields reference to Queer Street also denotes a homosexual connotation.