Robert Louis Stevenson

[jsantos]

References to Homosexuality in Stevenson's Jekl and Hyde
(www.123helpme.com)

Stevenson's choice of certain words in the novel is extremely pertinent to a homoerotic reading of the text. In some Victorian 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 generally 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 apparently 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, rather ambiguous, words that Stevenson uses that have Victorian homosexual connotations.

During their walk together, Utterson and Enfield come across the home of Edward Hyde. After relating his story about Hyde, Enfield refers to the place as "Black 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 less I ask" (9).

Both of these references to Hyde's home are more direct references to Hyde himself, made by a man who, at least publicly, must acknowledge the distinction between himself and the man who lives in Soho. Poole also makes a reference to Hyde's homosexuality: "Then you must know as well as the rest 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 existing activity among the lower classes - an activity that thrived in London's own East End. Those who were thought to be homosexuals were often blackmailed. With the Labouchere Amendment in 1885, homosexuals faced a greater threat of exposure 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.

Enfield's reference to "Queer Street" also denotes a homosexual connotation. According to Elaine Showalter, the homosexual significance of the word "queer" did not enter English slang until 1900 (72). Nonetheless, Enfield's use of the word suggests the privacy that was necessary to protect those who desired to remain secretly homosexual: ". . . the more it looks like Queer Street, the less I ask" (9).

Another word used in the novel is "earnest". Certainly popularized by Oscar Wilde in his play The Importance of Being Earnest, the word itself (again, only in some circles) was synonymous for homosexuality (Aronson 18). In the novel, Jekyll denounces any suggestions that his actions (on becoming Hyde) were hypocritical: "Though so profound a double-dealer, I was in no sense a hypocrite; both sides of me were in dead earnest. . . " (76). Here, Jekyll confesses his homosexuality to be natural; that is, he (as both Jekyll and Hyde) had always been gay, but the need to create Hyde was prompted by a (upper-class) society that would have otherwise refused to accept him; hence, arranging a place in Soho - an area of Victorian London where it was not uncommon to be "earnest".

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi Chris,

That was oneof the reasons I always gave up on the Lewis Caroll theory (besides the idiocy of the cryptogram portion of it - shades of Ignatius Donelly and his "THE GREAT CRYPTOGRAM" proving that Bacon wrote Shakespear's plays!). Caroll looked like he could be knocked over with a feather. I could just see Annie Chapman or Mary Kelly knocking him down.

Actually so does Druitt, but we know Monty really was athletic because he played cricket so well.

Jeff

Hi Jeff

As shown by one of the group photographs of Druitt at Winchester College, he seems to have been quite a muscular chap unlike the somewhat aesthetic portrait of him that has often been likened to the "Collars and Cuffs" portrait of Prince Eddy. As I say, Jack, whomever he was, must have been an able-bodied man for him to have carried out the murders alone, as most of us think.

Best regards

Chris

[Mayerling]

Thanks, Jeff.

The other thing about it is that Jack must have been a healthy, strong, and nimble man, not an ailing writer such as Wilkie Collins or the consumptive Robert Louis Stevenson. Jack had to have been strong enough to manhandle a woman as well as to make his escape without being detected.

All the best

Chris

Hi Chris,

That was oneof the reasons I always gave up on the Lewis Caroll theory (besides the idiocy of the cryptogram portion of it - shades of Ignatius Donelly and his "THE GREAT CRYPTOGRAM" proving that Bacon wrote Shakespear's plays!). Caroll looked like he could be knocked over with a feather. I could just see Annie Chapman or Mary Kelly knocking him down.

Actually so does Druitt, but we know Monty really was athletic because he played cricket so well.

Jeff

[K-453]

To French and German users: There's a documentary about "Jekyll and Hyde" on arte tonight at 22.50.

Gretings, K.

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi Greg,

I actually did consider a great name in Detective fiction who was alive in 1888 - William Wilkie Colins (THE MOONSTONE, THE WOMAN IN WHITE, NO NAME, ARMADALE, MAN AND WIFE). But Collins was all but blind in 1888, and bedridden - also he was hooked on opium. He died in 1889.

Jeff

Thanks, Jeff.

The other thing about it is that Jack must have been a healthy, strong, and nimble man, not an ailing writer such as Wilkie Collins or the consumptive Robert Louis Stevenson. Jack had to have been strong enough to manhandle a woman as well as to make his escape without being detected.

All the best

Chris

[Mayerling]

Exactly ChrisGeorge and well said....we could go on of course..."Masque of the Red Death" about experiences with tuberculosis..again with a medieval setting........"The Gold Bug"...army experiences on the Islands off South Carolina..."Descent into the Maelstrom" his experiences at Sea...others he may have completely pulled out of his imaginative head....."The Black Cat" or "A Cask of Amontillado" for example...........I'd expect the murders in Poe's tales would far outnumber those of RLS's and I believe the worst of accusations against Poe were a few drunken brawls............it's a shame Poe wasn't alive during the Autumn of Terror as I imagine the inventor of detective fiction would have loved to take on the case..........


Greg

Hi Greg,

I actually did consider a great name in Detective fiction who was alive in 1888 - William Wilkie Colins (THE MOONSTONE, THE WOMAN IN WHITE, NO NAME, ARMADALE, MAN AND WIFE). But Collins was all but blind in 1888, and bedridden - also he was hooked on opium. He died in 1889.

Jeff

[Mayerling]

"Yes, the Titan was written BEFORE the events, which is the only reason that theory was given credence. The timing was the only reason a claim could be made (wrongly) that the author had information that was only available to the conspiracy." - "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" was also written BEFORE the crimes. It also contains many coincidences with Jack`s story. And you know why the coincidences are not bigger? Because RLS was forced by his wife to burn his first version of the "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde". And why "The Ebb-Tide" was made after the crimes? Because he committed the crimes and then it can talk about them in the form of a fictional story, without being censored.

"Santos, I assume you posted your theory here for critique and peer review." - Absolutely yes. But I must admit that the jokes don`t help any theory.

Hello Mr. Santos,

I really am not knocking your right to present a new theory, but before you read too much into the juxtoposition of THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JECKYLL AND MR. HYDE (published in 1886), it's stage presentation starring Richard Mansfield (1888) and the Whitechapel Murders (also 1888) please note this.

Stevenson was a keen student of history and crime (yes he was). Most notably in TREASURE ISLAND, where one of Long John Silver's pirates is "Israel Hands", who was based on a real pirate who was in Blackbeard's crew, and in the two novels KIDNAPPED and DAVID BALFOUR which are based on the still unsolved murder of "THE RED FOX" Campbell in Appin forest in 1752, and the judicial murder of James Stewart of the Glen by a trial court controlled by the Campbells (with approval of the British Government). KIDNAPPED, like THE MASTER OF BALLENTRAE, deals with the problems of the Scots following the 1745-46 rebellion under Charles Stuart, the "young pretender to the throne" ["Bonnie Prince Charlie"].

Similarly DR. JECKYLL AND MR. HYDE was based on the double life of the carpenter and Edinburgh official, DEACON WILLIAM BRODIE (hanged 1788).
Brodie was a burglary gang leader using his resectability (like Jeckyll) to avoid suspicion for his crimes. He was active in the 1770s and 1780s.

The short story THE BODY SNATCHER was also based on the 1827 West Port Murders of William Burke and William Hare, who killed people to sell their cadavers to the skillful surgeon and anatomist and teacher of surgery Dr. Robert Knox.

Yours

Jeff

[Mayerling]

Summary of The Ebb-Tide: A Trio and Quartette, 1894, by RLS, written in collaboration with stepson Lloyd Osbourne, on the Robert Louis Stevenson website.

jsantos, what does The Ebb-Tide have to do with the Whitechapel Murders? Do you have another theory that Edgar Allan Poe committed the Murders in the Rue Morgue... he certainly wrote about them, so he must be guilty, no?

Best regards

Chris

Hi Chris,

I just read THE EBB-TIDE in August. It is a good book about three human derelicks with personal histories of tragedy (a sea-captain who lost his ship and passengers due to drunkeness), crime (a Cockney from the East End of London who is vicious, low, and potentially deadly - throwing vitriol), and an Oxford educated man who can't succeed at work). Chance throws them onto an unchartered island rich in pearls, run by another Oxford man who is no pushover, but has a definite self-righteousness problem. It is a short novel, but interesting - one of three Stevenson wrote with wife Fanny Osbourne's son Lloyd (the others were the comic The Wrong Box (made into a comic film with Michael Caine, Dudley Moore, Ralph Richardson, and John Mills in 1966) and THE Wrecker. THE EBB-TIDE was made into two films (neither really sticking to the story): one in the 1940s starring Ray Milland and Lloyd Nolan, and one in the 2000s with Robbie Coltrane.

As for Poe,since his second Dupin tale ("Marie Roget") is based on an unsolved New York murder of 1841 (of Mary Cecilia Rogers) that would be the case to suspect him about. Irving Wallace does suggest it in his chapter on Mary Rogers in THE FABULOUS ORIGINALS, but admits he is just playing a game there.

Hm. First Lewis Carroll, then Arthur Conan Doyle, now Stevenson. How about G.K.Chesterton, murdering whores in Whitechapel (assisted by his brother Cecil and friend Hillaire Belloc - the latter brother of Mrs Marie Belloc Lowndes who wrote THE LODGER) to stir up anti-Semitism - which Chesterton and his associates boasted about.

Jef

[jsantos]

Phil, I understand your point of view, and I would like to thank you and Tom for your opinions.
If I find something that I think it`s in everyone`s interest I not hesitate to put here.
My age... 36. And I have used the google translate to write in english. Sorry for that.

[Phil H]

Thanks, Tom.

But it is easy to get carried away in the heat (and frustrations!) of debate, even to overstate one's point. I felt that was what was happening here (in my posts). A proposal such as jsantos' is hardly worth getting too heated about.

I am also very conscious of the fact that while jsantos' English is very good, it is clearly not his first language. The barrier to communication may well, therefore be linguistic rather than intellectual or factual. It also occurs to me that I have no idea of jsantos' age, which might be a consideration.

I hardly think that RLS as a suspect will gain legs, after all.

Phil

Will someone please let me know if, after all that, jsantos produces overwhelming evidence that RLS was actually an alias used by Le Grand and that he was indeed the Ripper. Nothing would surprise me any more.

[TomTomKent]

I don't think you have to worry Phil. You are making objective arguments against the theory, not the person. I assume you do this for the same reasons as the rest of us, out of academic interest. The holes in theories have to be highlighted, or the subscribers wont know what evidence is required to validate the theory.

[Phil H]

I am withdrawing from this thread.

I think I have said enough to make my views clear and - having re-read yesterday's posts - fear I am getting unduly strident. I would also not want to be thought of as "harrassing" jsantos in any way.

It is, of course, up to him what he believes, but I hope that what has been said in this thread will indicate to him that he needs more supporting evidence (indeed ANY) supporting evidence if he wishes to convince others.

Phil

[TomTomKent]

RLS wrote fiction. You santos invented the presumption that the fiction makes RLS a suspect. There are no reasonable grounds for this presumption. The Maybrick diary may well be a fabrication, but it was also a reason. Something you have not supplied. Saying there are other rubbish theories is a not a reason to validate yours.

Do you actually have anything other than subjective interpretation of fiction? Anything that might be called a "fact" based upon "evidence"?

[Phil H]

jsantos

You have made an accusation about RLS without evidence, corroboration or anything else to sustain it and in defiance of the known facts (his whereabouts). Your only basis for what you say is a short story RLS wrote. Author's deal with imagination, with placing themselves in the shoes of others' - it does not mean (unless you have something to support the contention) that they have ever done what they describe.

On that basis you could accuse any author of having done what they write about. Would you have dared say what you did had RLS been a living author?

You seem not to understand my words, when you write in response to something I said:

So... Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper? He said he was Jack or he was interested in Ripper case?

I made no claims in regard to Sickert, but if you look back to quite old works on the JtR case you will see his name mentioned in connection with his fascination with the crimes and was mwentioned as a possible suspect by people like Florence Pashley -long before Ms Cornwell picked him up as her preferred suspect. But my intent was to show that in comparison to your proposals in regard to RLS, Sickert has been discussed as a suspect for decades and that there is thus a logic and a basis for discussion of him.

I said... "...Aaron Kosminski, Michael Ostrog, and a thousand more?"

But only Ostrog and Kosminski were mentioned by MM and thus are linked (with Druitt indeed) while "a thousand more" are NOT! Are there a "thousand more" names associated with being the Ripper? Hundreds perhaps, but exaggeration of this sort further diminishes your already threadbare credibility.

You have every right to disagree with the relationship I did.

And I fully intend to continue to do so.

Phil

[jsantos]

"Maybrick's name emerged as a result of the "Diary", which inevitably gave rise to discussion of its authenticity and Maybrick's likelihood as JtR. The difference here, forgery or not, is the Diary."

Are you kidding... The Maybrick diary is more than a defamation! Is not an assumption but an invention!

"Sickert himself expressed a sustained interest in the Whitechapel murders..."

So... Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper? He said he was Jack or he was interested in Ripper case?

I said... "...Aaron Kosminski, Michael Ostrog, and a thousand more?"
I was not referring particularly to these names...

"Finally, no one before you has named RLS as a JtR suspect - it is thus incumbent upon you to show why you believe it reasonable to propose him - and reliance on the one story is insufficient, it would be a circular argument. RLS is dead and cannot defend himself. In all honour you should avoid besmirching his memory and reputation unless you have the strongest grounds for doing so. I have suggested in previous posts what some of those grounds might be, but you consistently ignore them."

I wrote the RLS words from his books "The Ebb-Tide" & "Dr Jekyll & Mr hyde", I did not invent any words. I just mentioned
the RLS words relating them with the Jack story and I published here. You have every right to disagree with the relationship I did.