London at the End of the 19th Century: Social Realities Expressed Through the Fantastic in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The present essay studies the intimate relationship that exists between the Fantastic and the Urban in the classic short novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hydeby Robert Louis Stevenson. This article attempts to construct a critical view of the novel in question from previous literary theory pertaining to the work, to later offer a different reading centered on the figure of Mr. Hyde as an extension of the city’s «soul», all the while being its explorer and representative. A genre-specific relationship will first be defined, so as to make possible the delving into the social problems present in the English capital during the last decades of the Victorian Era, by using Stevenson’s novella as exemplifying material.