Undermining of Late Enlightenment Progress in "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" Anonymous College

In the 1890s, realization that new knowledge and vast technological innovation created the potential for our own ability to shape the future of humanity, for better or significantly for the worse, prompted the existential crisis of a decade. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde suggests enlightenment ideals cannot protect against class divisions and conflict, possibility of racial degeneration, and overall mismanagement of knowledge and technology due to human nature itself.

1890s barons amplified class divisions considerably, economically and culturally. “...the fin de siècle has come to be identified as the moment of emergence, in their modern configuration, of the forms of ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture.” (Ledger & Luckhurst, 4). London’s topography reinforces this class division, Jekyll's own home’s position alluding to his duality, but also the duality of London's class divisions, between slums and mansions. (Luckhurst, xxviii). Just how poor the disparaging lower class is described. “Tramps slouched...children kept shop upon the steps; the schoolboy had tried his knife on the mouldings...for close on a generation.” (Stevenson, 6). Referring specifically to the class of children who play in the streets near prostitutes and...