DARWIN AND DEVOLUTION IN VICTORIAN DYSTOPIA:STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE AND THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

Abstract

In the Victorian Age, many people were apprehended not only by Dar win’s theories of evolution, but also the possibilities for a reverse evolution. Thus, Stevenson and Wells build their dystopias on Darwin’s evolutionary theories and Victorian fears of devolution. In Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Stevens imagines man’s degeneration into savagery as the result of the repressiveness of the Victorian morals that demanded restraint of instinctive urges. He illustrates not only the potential of repressed desires to burst out into ferocity, but also perversity that may result from indulgence in vice behind the mask of sobriety. Similarly, in The War of the Worlds, Wells relates human devolution to the idea of natural selection in human societies. Besides, he anticipates a future in which technology is involved in human evolution, overtaking the functions of certain parts of human body and leaving men deprived of feelings for each other. It is concluded that both of the dystopian novels project the Victorian concerns about the future in relation to the Darwinian theories of evolution and the possibility of devolution.