Hey, You Monster : Ideological Representation and Resisting Interpellation in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Sammanfattning: This essay discusses the representation of Victorian ideologies and interpellation in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. By utilising Louis Althusser’s theories of ideology and interpellation, in combination with a critical understanding of Victorian ideologies as introduced by Rosemary Jann and Jihay Park, this essay aims to analyse the characters’ representation of and submission versus the resistance to these ideologies. Additionally, by analysing whether the characters conform to the Victorian ideologies, introduced by Jann and Park, this essay proposes that non-conformity to ruling ideologies suggests resistance to interpellation, which is what constitutes a bad subject. This analysis lends itself to the discussion of how Althusser’s theories may be used in literary analyses, as well as to the discussion, initiated by Judith Butler, of whether an individual’s deviation from interpellation is possible. This essay argues that Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Gabriel Utterson represent ideological functions by conforming to the Victorian ideologies, which constitute them as submitting to interpellation as good subjects. However, Mr. Edward Hyde’s non-conformity to Victorian ideologies constitutes him as resisting interpellation as a bad subject.