The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

By Robert Louis Stevenson and Mint Editions

The sudden appearance and unlikely connection of the sinister Mr. Edward Hyde to the amiable Dr. Henry Jekyll troubles Jekyll’s friends. The more they discover about Hyde, a man as elusive as he is venal and cruel, the greater their concern. Matters lurch out of control when Hyde is revealed as a murderer and Jekyll seems to be protecting him. The revelation of Hyde’s terrible connection to Jekyll has become a cultural archetype but has lost none of its uncanny power on the page.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde first appeared in 1886 and was an immediate sensation. More than 130 years and dozens of adaptations to stage and screen later, the story retains its primal power. A twisted mystery, a gothic horror story, a psychological thriller, it is all of these things and rises above each with its unforgettable vision of human consciousness as a battlefield between good and evil.

With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is both modern and readable.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mint Editions
• Release date: Jun 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781513263809

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson was born on 13 November 1850, changing his second name to ‘Louis’ at the age of eighteen. He has always been loved and admired by countless readers and critics for ‘the excitement, the fierce joy, the delight in strangeness, the pleasure in deep and dark adventures’ found in his classic stories and, without doubt, he created some of the most horribly unforgettable characters in literature and, above all, Mr. Edward Hyde.

Book preview

STORY OF THE DOOR

Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which never found its way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these silent symbols of the after-dinner face, but more often and loudly in the acts of his life. He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove. I incline to Cain’s heresy, he used to say quaintly: I let my brother go to the devil in his own way. In this character, it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of downgoing men. And to such as these, so long as they came about his chambers, he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour.

No doubt the feat was easy to Mr. Utterson; for he was undemonstrative at the best, and even his friendship seemed to be founded in a similar catholicity of good-nature. It is the mark of a modest man to accept his friendly circle ready-made from the hands of opportunity; and that was the lawyer’s way. His friends were those of his own blood or those whom he had known the longest; his affections, like ivy, were the growth of time, they implied no aptness in the object. Hence, no doubt the bond that united him to Mr. Richard Enfield, his distant kinsman, the well-known man about town. It was a nut to crack for many, what these two could see in each other, or what subject they could find in common. It was reported by those who encountered them in their Sunday walks, that they said nothing, looked singularly dull and would hail with obvious relief the appearance of a friend. For all that, the two men put the greatest store by these excursions, counted them the chief jewel of each week, and not only set aside occasions of pleasure, but even resisted the calls of business, that they might enjoy them uninterrupted.

It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London. The street was small and what is called quiet, but it drove a thriving trade on the weekdays. The inhabitants were all doing well, it seemed and all emulously hoping to do better still, and laying out the surplus of their grains in coquetry; so that the shop fronts stood along that thoroughfare with an air of invitation, like rows of smiling saleswomen. Even on Sunday, when it veiled its more florid charms and lay comparatively empty of passage, the street shone out in contrast to its dingy neighbourhood, like a fire in a forest; and with its freshly painted shutters, well-polished brasses, and general cleanliness and gaiety of note, instantly caught and pleased the eye of the passenger.

Two doors from one corner, on the left hand going east the line was broken by the entry of a court; and just at that point a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street. It was two storeys high; showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower storey and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper; and bore in every feature, the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence. The door, which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained. Tramps slouched into the recess and struck matches on the panels; children kept shop upon the steps; the schoolboy had tried his knife on the mouldings; and for close on a generation, no one had appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair their ravages.

Mr. Enfield and the lawyer were on the other side of the by-street; but when they came abreast of the entry, the former lifted up his cane and pointed.

Did you ever remark that door? he asked; and when his companion had replied in the affirmative, It is connected in my mind, added he, with a very odd story.

Indeed? said Mr. Utterson, with a slight change of voice, and what was that?

Well, it was this way, returned Mr. Enfield: "I was coming home from some place at the end of the world, about three o’clock of a black winter morning, and my way lay through a part of town where there was literally nothing to be seen but lamps. Street after street and all the folks asleep—street after street, all lighted up as if for a procession and all as empty as a church—till at last I got into that state of mind when a man listens and listens and begins to long for the sight of a policeman. All at once, I saw two figures: one a little man who was stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe eight or ten who was running as hard as she was able down a cross street. Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground. It sounds nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see. It wasn’t like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut. I gave a few halloa, took to my heels, collared my gentleman, and brought him back to where there was already quite a group about the screaming child. He was perfectly cool and made no resistance, but gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running. The people who had turned out were the girl’s own family; and pretty soon, the doctor, for whom she had been sent put in his appearance. Well, the child was not much the worse, more frightened, according to the sawbones; and there you might have supposed would be an end to it. But there was one curious circumstance. I had taken a loathing to my gentleman at first sight. So had the child’s family, which was only natural. But the doctor’s case was what struck me. He was the usual cut and dry apothecary, of no particular age and colour, with a strong Edinburgh accent and about as emotional as a bagpipe. Well, sir, he was like the rest of us; every time he looked at my prisoner, I saw that sawbones turn sick and white with the desire to kill him. I knew what was in his mind, just as he knew what was in mine; and killing being out of the question, we did the next best. We told the man we could and would make such a scandal out of this as should make his name stink from one end of London to the other. If he had any friends or any credit, we undertook that he should lose them. And all the time, as we were pitching it in red hot, we were keeping the women off him as best we could for they were as wild as harpies. I never saw a circle of such hateful faces; and there was the man in the

Reviews for The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

[dste_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A strange, deformed man haunts the streets, trampling over fallen children and seemingly wresting money from the good Dr. Jekyll to escape the consequences of his misdeeds. Jekyll has even gone so far as to make this mysterious Mr. Hyde the sole benefactor of his will, against all advice from Mr. Utterson, his lawyer. Utterson suspects blackmail, and he's determined not to rest until he's helped his dear friend and client escape with his life. For surely, he thinks, Hyde must be tempted to murder Jekyll in order to usurp him. Utterson doesn't know how right he is, though not at all in the way that he suspects.The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a classic horror novel, and one that has been referenced so often in modern culture that I knew its biggest secret going in. For me, the surprises and the appeal were in discovering the way in which the story was told. Much of the plot involves watching Mr. Utterson and others slowly uncovering the mystery, and, for me, this resulted in a very interesting dramatic irony. I knew exactly what the characters were missing, but I didn't know all the twists and turns of the plot, how the characters would react to them, or how the story would reach its end. For me, this was enough to maintain interest, and I think other readers would have a similar experience if they have only a surface-level knowledge of the plot.This is a short book, certainly a quick read, and I found it to be a good example of British literature of the nineteenth century. Characters’ physical descriptions are meant to signify aspects of their personalities, houses and the weather are likewise described with obvious symbolism, the omniscient narrator tells you what the characters are like, and the characters have over-the-top reactions whenever anything remotely horrifying happens. Because of this, combined with how easy it is to read, I think it would make a great introductory book for anyone looking to get into British classics from the same time period without immediately jumping in the deep end.I also found it interesting as a window into the past, seeing how people lived and spoke and how they told their stories. I would recommend it if you have a similar interest, or if, somehow, you actually don't know the secret behind this particular mystery. If that's the case, I recommend you go out and read it right now. You're sure to have an experience worth talking about.

[bookwyrmm_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Everyone knows the story, which makes the book a little hard to categorize. Thought of as horror, it is more of a Victorian mystery - complete with the immense amount of talking common to Sherlock Holmes.

[laphenix · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Curious, but quite unexceptional in all but concept. Much of the first half is merely discussion and speculation, and the second, all told through a document, and thus, there seems only a mere instant of action.

[glennbell_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A classic tale of the duality of our personality. Although this is a short novel it is an interesting story and is presented in an intriguing manner. While the story is science fiction it touches on the reality of our decision making. Choices between acting out of altruism or selfish desires haunt us in our daily lives as we usually cannot have everything. Our decisions, which involve trade-offs can be influenced by drugs as in the story but in a less drastic manner.

[karin7-11 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A lawyer and a mad scientist are the two main characters in this gothic, science fiction horror novella. I won’t recount much since the main essentials of the story are quite well known. It’s the dual natures of good and evil fighting in humans and it was so very gothic a look on it, with the crazy mad scientist who looks so good. I thought I’d hate this, but due to the good writing, it was only a dislike and two stars.

[bagpuss-3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the only Robert Louis Stevenson book I have read and I loved it! It’s very short indeed (just 88 pages long) - the writing is so concise

I sort of knew the basic premise - that a scientist did some sort of experiment which meant he ended up with a ‘nasty’ alter ego, but I really didn’t know how the story would pan out. It wasn’t how I expected - I thought that Mr Hyde would be some kind of hairy monster, but although he was a monster in terms of what he did when in that guise, he resembled a normal human, albeit a distasteful looking one! A very clever and slightly chilling tale!

[scottcholstad · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A classic later surpassed by many but at the time, very original and quite good.

[emhromp2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book. It is a classic that deserves to be read and it took me about an hour to read it. Now I wonder why it took me so long to start reading it in the first place. Because it is a classic, I already knew what the end was going to be like, I already knew that Jekyll and Hyde were the same person, but that didn't mean I wasn't a bit shocked at the moral of this story. I like the way the story is built up and I like the main character, Mr Utterson as well. It is a story that lingers in your mind after you've finished it.

[alexmdac · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Although I already knew what happens in this tale, I found it a gripping read and the climax very effective. I enjoyed the quaint Victorian language and moral values.The weather updates to be found throughout the narrative feature colourful metaphors and similes that I hadn't seen before. This book would be useful reading for anyone who would like to make conversation with people as obsessed with climatic conditions as Robert Louis Stevenson clearly was. It'd be a good book for a flight to the UK.

[universehall · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book truly does earn the title of "classic". It has suspense, interesting characters, a fine storyline, and something that some books that are considered "classics" are lacking: a point. You could argue about whether the true demon of the story is man's nature, science, or the Promethian tendency of the eponimous doctor. However, the essence of the story is the classic "tradgedy" plotline: the hubris of the lead character leads to his downfall. I do emphasize the word "tragedy" in my review, as it's definitely not a happy-fun-time kind of book. But if you don't go into it expecting that, you will probably be perfectly satisified. In the end, I would say that the main flaw of this book is that it is infuriatingly short. You could almost complain that this book is nothing more than an extended short story. However, from another viewpoint this could be a virtue; what's better than a classic novel that can be read in less than two hours?

[jaygheiser · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great story. I was very surprised that the chronology was reversed. It starts at the end and works its way forward, a device that none of the knock-off versions of this tale use. A master story teller.

[magadri-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I love the story. However, since nearly 98% of the population is familiar with this story, it is kind of a drag to read this since you know how everything unfolds. I also didn't find the way in which the story was told very captivating. It is such a thin book, and I had a terrible time getting through it. I actually skipped parts in this book because they were so dreadfully boring.

[christajls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a quick read but a good one. Mr. Utterson, a well know and respected lawyer in the community begins noticing the menacing and evil behaviour of a newcomer, Mr. Hyde. At the same time he is struck by the strange and inexplicable behaviour of his good friend and client, Dr Jekyll. Evidence suggests to him that Mr Hyde is threatening and/or terrifying his friend, but as he continues to investigate he encounters even stranger behaviour and explanations than he could have ever imagined.Like many of you, it seems like I have always known the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, though I had never read it. I was surprised to find out it was narrated by a third party but found this provided a more well rounded approach to the story. I also found Utterson a very reliable narrator, whose account you could trust. This meant you weren't second guessing if things actually happened or if they were just the imaginings of a doctor whose done one too many experiments.This novella was written beautifully, the language was fun to read and easy to understand. It was easy to picture the Victorian setting and the dark streets and alleys Mr. Hyde would be creeping through. It's a fairly safe bet that you know what's going to happen in the end but Stevenson is such a great writer that you still get caught up in the story and are excited to find out how the truth is discovered. Beyond the story itself it also raises some interesting questions about the power/weakness of one's conscience and the lure of evil and desire.

[ocgreg34 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The story focuses on Gabriel Utterson, a lawyer who also happens to be a close friend of Dr. Henry Jekyll. While Mr. Utterson and his friend Richard Enfield are out and about for a walk, they chance upon a darkened doorway, and Mr. Enfield relates an unusual tale about a strange, short, loathesome man who literally ran right over a young girl without stopping or checking on her. When Utterson learns the name of this mand -- Hyde -- he suddenly remembers a will that he reluctantly drew for Dr. Jekyll, involving one Edward Hyde. So begins his mission to learn about his friend Jekyll whom no one has seen for some months. Yet as he uncovers more about he friend, he soon learns the awful price Jekyll has paid to unleash his inner demons."Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is definitely a classic, with remarkable writing and very vivid images. The heart of the story lies in describing the duality that hides in all humans -- the light side, which tends toward the good in things, is altruistic, friendly and happy; and the darker side, which relishes in the baser human tastes, violence and a general sense of evil. Through his tampering with the balance of light and dark, Jekyll learns that keeping one from overcoming the other is a difficult, almost impossible task. I also feel that the story sheds some light on addiction. Jekyll describes in his statement of events the white powder he created, how it affected his mood and personality, how it created the wonderful sense of change and power at the onset but over time turned into something more necessary to keep himself sane and intact.Whatever you take from the story after reading it, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" deserves its place in classic literature as a fine example of suspense and horror and human psychology.

[multifaceted_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book isn't bad; it's a short read, and doesn't go too much in depth. But I think the fact that, reading it today as one of the classics in literature that EVERYONE knows the story of, even though most of us haven't really read it, has really and truly spoiled it for me. I tried to transport myself back to Victorian England. I tried to think of the times where "penny dreadful" suspense and horror novels were rampant, and books like "The String of Pearls" (about and characters like Sweeney Todd) could be bought, or, later real life characters like "Jack the Ripper" could be read about in the sensationalistic newspapers. I tried to keep in mind the sentiments and misconceptions of the time about death and character. But for all of that, the suspense of this novel was ruined by my having been inundated with various versions of the story since I was a kid. I imagine it really could have been something, though, at the time it was published. After all, I do appreciate the author's picking out the calm, objective character (Utterson) to tell the story, in order to make the suspense build up that much more and make the other characters in it come across that much more fantastical. Having read a good bit of "Gothic fiction" again lately, I find this fits nicely in with fantastical, almost campfire-story-like books such as Dracula, Frankenstein and even the aforementioned String of Pearls. But overall it's not so strange and transporting as stories like The Monk, The Castle of Otranto, or even Faust. But then again, who knows? Perhaps if I had never heard of Jekyll or Hyde before this, I would put this book in with the latter group, too. Although I tend to think that in order to do that, Stevenson would have had to elaborate a little more on the differences between Jekyll and Hyde, and would have had to go into the psychological aspect quite a bit farther (and really, he only touched the tip of the iceberg here).

[csayban · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Written in a dark, minimalist style, Stevenson classic murder mystery novella of good versus evil is still capable of making your skin crawl even when you already know how it ends. Ultimately it is a tale of what happens when a person allows their evil impulses into the open air and how it is impossible to ever return unscathed.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of those favorites of which it seems everyone knows the story even though they may only have seen one of the film adaptations of the original book. It is their loss for the book is a minor masterpiece and the best offerings of Hollywood (my favorite is the 1941 version with Spencer Tracy but Frederic March, 1931, is a close second) wander far from the text of the book, particularly with the addition of a love interest for the good Dr. Jekyll that just is not there. That aside, the book is high Victorian speculation about the nature of evil and man's ability to create life or at least modify it. It reminds me of Well's The Island of Dr. Moreau, published a decade later, except Stevenson is a bit more of a romantic. It also provides an example for the theories of Dr. Freud, who was not on the scene when Stevenson was creating his short novel. There are many explanations for the dual personalities presented by Stevenson. I like to think of it as a variation of the doppelganger literature of which Poe's William Wilson and Dostoevsky's The Double are classic examples. Stevenson's story and character has entered our literary mind and vocabulary and was popular from the beginning with good reason. It is a great read.

[alejandrademena · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read it for my Great Books class in college. It is, for sure, a little weird, but it is interesting and it is a great book to find the patterns of contemporary literature. It has some mystery, it is sometimes frightening and it has a magical detail that I really liked.

[lindaliu-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very interesting. I thought I had read this before but perhaps the memory is from the various takes on this in film or other stories. A very short novel, which I could have finished in a day if I had not been looking at booking holidays instead. It is ultimately about the duality of personality and I think about evil that lurks in us all. Dr Jekyll stumbled on a way of separating his identities from his normal benevelent self from his undernourished evil self in the evil form of Mr Hyde. The mystery of the events from his lawyer friend's point of view drew me in quite quickly. The confession at the end by Dr Jekyll was intriguing in the way he explained what was happening, and it seems like the good doctor was not entirely separate from that evil self throughout his life. So ultimately a struggle of good against evil and the perils of what happens if you indulge that evil.

[dlow_54 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I originally selected this book because I have it on my bookshelf and I have never had the time to read it. I pulled it off the shelf and placed it by my bed with hopes to finish it before my reading class was over. As it turned out I just never found the time to crack open the cover. Therefore, I searched for the audio version. To my surprised I found it right away at a reseaonable price and by a narrartor with which I was familiar. I have listen to Dick Hill narrate several novels I have read by Sanda Brown. I listened to the book in one night. I was was intrigued by the story but also confused. I had a hard time following the narration. A few times I glanced through the book while i was listening to Dick read the pages. I was surprised with how difficult this book is to read. I didn't think it would be so complicated. I had never thought of this as a text for children, and now I really don't think that it is. I think the text is too difficult for many students, and students in the classes I teach would need a lot of background information taught before a story like this could be even be looked at. I do not forsee reading this book to my class, or for my class. I am glad I read the story and I feel it was important, but I think the text would be better suited for a college level course where students were able to talk about the characters in greater detail and with greater insight. I do recommend this book for adults. The text is a classic and it should still be read because it did explain what I knew about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

[rsplenda477 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great example of the theme of the duality of man, which all of us carry in our hearts. Stevenson exploits these fears in a well-structured, yet somewhat difficult, novel.

[something_-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I fantom I would have liked this book a lot more if I didn't already know from the start who was Hyde. Nevertheless, it was actually very interesting once the "action" picked up. Although I found Utterson somewhat boring at times, the ending of the book made it worth it to see it through. The most interesting part was definitely the explanation of Dr Jekyll himself at the end, which I read eagerly. Overall, it was a nice book.

[aylin1-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A heck of a lot more philosophical than the Bugs Bunny rendition with which I was familiar.

[alexthehunn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I first read this tale as a child (I was a precocious and voracious reader). I was in my stage of being fascinated by horror movies so I couldn't wait to read this. I was simultaneously delighted and disappointed. The disappointement stemmed from the lack of lurid action. I wanted a monster. But I was enthralled by the notion that psychological monsters might be even worse. I was only in 5th grade - I had never thought of that. And of course, there was the masterful writing. While I didn't read just junk, I also hadn't been exposed to much great writing and this was among the best I'd read up to that point. It was well constructed and masterfully handled. I couldn't have expressed it such at the time, but I knew I was reading something good.

[mzzkitee · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The idea I had in my head about this story was better than the actual book. I was a little disappointed.

[stipe168 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

very entertaining story about the dark side of man. actually kind of freaky.. nicely done.

[jdubba_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jekyll and Hyde is a cultural landmark for English speaking peoples, yet while the basic premise of the story must be known to all, I heretofore had never sat down and read the work in its original. It is interesting to see how our preconceptions can mingle with reality. Rather than a book of violent rampages from a large and monstrous Mr. Hyde, it is a very subtle work of slowly built suspense and chilling horror, far from the typical Hollywood caricature given to Mr. Hyde. And though not a hugely profound work, the portrayal of the fight between a man's passions and his reason was richer than the black and white, good versus evil I had assumed it would be. Since this work is very short in nature, more of a novella than a true novel, I would recommend anyone who knows the story to pick it up and give it a read, it might just change your perspective the next time your presented with the poorly drawn caricatures.

[clurb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Stevenson paints a very dark and bleak picture of London. His language makes the story very claustrophobic and although I came at this book already knowing the plot, I found that the understated writing style made it all just a touch more scary than I'd expected. Best read alone on a rainy night, under a blanket.

[1morechapter · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is said that Robert Louis Stevenson revised A Child's Garden of Verses and wrote Kidnapped and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a time span of under two years--if only all of us could be so productive! This is a very short book and can easily be read in a few hours, so I encourage you to read it if you have not. I was very surprised I waited this long myself.It tells the story of how Dr. Jekyll conducted an experiment to separate the evil and the good in his personality. Mr. Hyde was the result of his evil side coming out. Dr. Jekyll's appearance was so altered that he was unrecognizable--both in appearance and actions. What was very interesting to me was that the experiment was done not just for "scientific research", but because Dr. Jekyll admitted to actually enjoying his more sinful side. He wanted to separate the two personalities, in other words, so he could participate in the evil activities while still considering his "real self" to be essentially good. Of course he eventually loses control of the experiment with disastrous results. This simple tale teaches us the true nature of good and evil and our propensity to desire sin. It should be read by all!

[roboschro · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"There comes an end to all things; the most capacious measure is filled at last; and this brief condescension to my evil finally destroyed the balance of my soul."It may be difficult for a reader to forget what is half-known about these famous characters, and approach this story afresh. But it's worth doing -- it's a tidy little story, and the title characters embody an intriguing attack on the nature of Victorian morality.