How Did Victorian Writers Use Different Literary Forms to Critique Prevailing Social Attitudes? with Reference to the Work of at Least One Victorian Poet and Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Discuss

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How did Victorian writers use different literary forms to critique prevailing social attitudes? With reference to the work of at least one Victorian poet and Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, discuss the way in which difference in the form of writing impacted on the presentation of social issues. The Victorian era refers to the period in history that spans the reign of Queen Victoria, from her crowning in 1837 to her death in 1901. This essay will demonstrate that prevailing social attitudes of the Victorian era were critiqued by Victorian writers through the use of technical features in the writer’s chosen literary form. The difference in the form of writing impacted the presentation of these literary works and how they were received. Literature from the Victorian period came in all forms and styles, however, for the purpose of this essay, the forms discussed will be limited to Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella ‘Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s epic narrative poem, ‘Aurora Leigh’. Both Stevenson and Browning were able to portray a number of relevant Victorian social attitudes through their chosen literary form such as the duality of humans, the repressive behaviour of Victorian society, concerns regarding scientific advancement and the impact on the old way of life as well as the role and inequality of woman in Victorian times through use of theme, narration style and characterisation. The Victorian era is commonly reflected upon as patriarchal, repressive and pious though, whilst those elements were certainly present in society, to reduce the period to such a narrow stereotype is to overlook much of what was occurring during that time. Victorians were ‘much more diverse and lively’ (Murfin & Ray 496) than they are credited with and the period was rich with change and a challenging of long held

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