Sensibilities and Hypocrisy in Victorian Fiction Essay Example

Sensibilities and Hypocrisy in Victorian Fiction Essay The Victorian era was one of strict sensibilities.   Religiosity prevailed, if only for form’s sake, and good manners were held in great esteemeven if they were only used as a public front.   Victorian hypocrisy was such that pianos were draped so that their legs would not show and while men might admire a woman’s breasts, the breast of the chicken was known only as â€Å"the white meat.†Ã‚   Many Victorians themselves were aware of this hypocrisy.   The two pieces of fiction that this paper will be used two examine reflect the hypocrisy as seen through the authors’ eyes.   Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story The Minister’s Black Veil and Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde both demonstrate their authors’ awareness of how the exterior presentation of Victorian sensibilities mask the truth of the people who hide behind them. The Minister’s Black Veil The minister in Hawthorne’s story is outwardly a good and godly man.   He separates himself, however, behind a black crape veil.   The veil makes its first appearance shortly before a sermon on the subject of secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hid from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness (Hawthorne 27).   Hawthorne’s minister preaches about they hypocrisy of maintaining a hidden inner life and yet he hides his own inner thoughts behind his veil.   He is a hypocrite himself because he is supposed to provide his clergy with comfort, yet his veil not only [throw] its influence over his whole person, and [make] him ghost-like from head to foot (Hawthorne 28), it hangs between him and the congregation and keeping him from his job of providing them guidance and comfort.   Rather than providing them with comfort, he causes deeper gloom at a funeral and makes a wedding â€Å"dismal† (Hawthorne 30).   The revere nd can hardly be the man he wants purports himself to bea man of God and a servant to his congregationwhen he indulges himself in such a peculiar fashion.   The minister, then, represents the Victorian propensity to say the apparently proper thing and hiding a perhaps ugly truth behind an innocuous veneer. We will write a custom essay sample on Sensibilities and Hypocrisy in Victorian Fiction specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Sensibilities and Hypocrisy in Victorian Fiction specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Sensibilities and Hypocrisy in Victorian Fiction specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Stevenson, however, shows another side of hypocrisy.   While Hawthorne shows a bland and quiet hypocrisy that is dangerous for its ability to leave doubt about the truth, Stevenson shows the danger that comes when that hidden hypocrisy is allowed to force its way to the forefront.   Jekyll is like the minister’s veil.   He is bland and quiet, â€Å"smooth-faced,† yet with a â€Å"slyish cast† (Stevenson 12).   Jekyll is a perfect hiding place for the menacing nature that is Hyde who is that dark secret that the veil hid, the basic instinctive nature of humankind.   Hyde is truly hidden by Jekyll’s hypocrisy in his failure to acknowledge his inner demon and by Utterson’s failure to speak up when he discovers Jekyll’s secret.   Instead, he chooses to do what a proper Victorian gentleman would do in his position: he hides the unpleasantness that emanates from Jekyll’s situation in order to preserve the status quo at the cost o f the truth. Hyde is not only hidden by these men, he is also hidden by â€Å"an ivory-faced and silvery-haired old woman† whose evil face was â€Å"smoothed by hypocrisy† that is nevertheless veiled by â€Å"excellent manners† (Stevenson 16).   This woman is the truth of Victorian society unveiled.   She and Hyde are the male and female aspects of the brutal force of instinct, perversions of the bland and caring natures that Victorian society usually painted on housekeepers and doctors. Both of these stories reveal the hypocrisy of Victorian society.   Hawthorne’s minister shows the danger of hiding secrets, while Stevenson’s Hyde shows the danger of those secrets revealed.   Both, however, examine how the brutal inner force of truth can be hidden by the bland veil of deception. Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel.   Twice-Told Tales, Rosemary Mahoney (ed.).   New York: Random House, 2001. Stevenson, Robert Louis.   The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.   New York: Dover Thrift, 1991. nbsp;