Fitzgibbon Analysis

Having a career in science and medicine was a big deal during this time. Dr. Jekyll is an educated, wealthy, and well-respected man. Through the eyes of the public, he is seen as a perfect, ideal Victorian man. He is a “large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness” (31). Because of his status in society, Dr. Jekyll is obligated to hide his pleasures and show the society his caring, affectionate, and loyal virtues.

The focus remained on metertice and their role, as unmarried women were most heavily stigmatized for their relationships. This brings McGough to her second study in Chapter 2, looking at how gender affected perception and response to the French disease. (For men, some considered the French disease as a symbol of sexual success, however for the most part society accused diseased men as being undisciplined, unable to resist the temptation of the female body. It was widely understood that women were the cause and carriers of the disease, and able to inflict it upon men. The diseased women were portrayed as promiscuous, and usually beautiful according to folk myths that the disease arrived in the form of a beautiful prostitute, who slept with hundreds of French soldiers. In Chapter 3 stigma is further imposed, as the French disease becomes seemingly more treatable. This thrust the burden of stigma upon ‘incurable’ patients and McGough looks at several case studies to prove this. Incurable women were assumed to be continuing in sexual relations, and not serious about reform. Men occasionally looked for witchcraft as being the cause of incurable disease, or were blamed for continued sexuality and lack of discipline. This lead to differences in aid displayed in Chapter 4. Women were institutionalized to protect virginity or encourage repentance, while men had much more opportunities for medical care. Women’s institutions such as the

Following the release of The Woman Rebel, Anthony Comstock spearheaded an anti-birth control campaign with the aid of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, “vice” as Comstock described it “intemperance, gambling, and evil reading”(6,1,122). Document 2 is an interview with Comstock by Mary Alden Hopkins of Harper’s Weekly on the issue of birth control and the laws against its distribution and publication. Comstock approaches the birth control issue as a religious zealot, arguing that it is the moral and spiritual obligation of the people to stray from “vice” and practice abstinence as the only means of family planning. Comstock’s conservative rhetoric appealed to the “Victorian” era principles of “self-control” and moral fortitude. Moreover, Comstock employs the ideology of “rule by fear,” by

The early twentieth century was a turning point in American history-especially in regards to the acquisition of women's rights. While the era was considered to be prosperous and later thought to be a happy-go-lucky time, in actuality, it was a time of grave social conflict and human suffering (Parish, 110). Among those who endured much suffering were women. As Margaret Sanger found out, women, especially those who were poor, had no choice regarding pregnancy. The only way not to get pregnant was by not having sex- a choice that was almost always the husband's. This was even more true in the case of lower-class men for whom, 'sex was the poor man's only luxury' (Douglas, 31). As a nurse who assisted in delivering

It is clear by reviewing the article that the author is very much concerned with the well-being of women at this particular time. She mentions that some “doctors showed themselves more interested in protecting themselves than in caring for their patient.” McLaren also goes into detail with examples to show how the doctors would threaten their patients. Like for instance, Stewart Murrow threatened his dying patient Jennie Young that he would not treat her for septic poisoning if she didn’t name the person who performed the operation. Another case is the Sarah Robins affair where she was stimulated with drugs so as to declare the person who performed the operation. Some doctors saw themselves as the authorities. If a woman were dying in a hospital as the result of a bungled abortion, a statement was taken if only to protect the doctor and the hospital staff. This is why McLaren feels it wasn’t fair for women that doctors were too concerned for their reputation rather than the women who needed their help. McLaren also argues that methods of contraception were very expensive, for example the condom.

“These scholars note that Victorians often bowed to conformity, concealing their true natures and tastes and pretending to adhere to social norms. Some Victorians passed themselves off as more pious or moral than they really were. But in reality, pornographic literature and prostitution were common phenomena during the late nineteenth century, showing that some Victorians only pretended to lead chaste lives.”(Joyce Moss)

Next, a very useful way to stay STD free is to know your status. Most students today have no clue they are infected and unknowingly pass it on to partners or spouses. The government has made available health clinics where check up’s to know your status on STD’s are free. Clinics are also places where treatment can be given, if a certain STD is found and is treatable. Many students are embarrassed or scared to know their status and would rather just live their lives, not knowing their status. This mindset among citizens is very selfish, which can lead to the danger of others. In the sense of a woman knowing her status, she will be able to determine if birth is still an option if a certain STD has affected her fertility. Offspring’s are also kept safe, so parents can make wise decisions on whether diseases would be passed on off

Among the words used to describe the elitist Victorians, “hypocrites” may very well be the most popular. This supposed generation of “Do-Gooders,” with their heightened sense of morality, repressed sexuality and increased piety, were actually far from perfect. They had an exceptional list of standards by which they claimed to dutifully abide, but more often than not fell short of. The Victorians were, in the words of literary critic Walter Houghton, brilliant actors able to “[conceal] or [suppress] their true convictions and their natural tastes” (146). The matter of Victorian hypocrisy, as it has come to be known, has been scrutinized by a plethora of critics and authors alike. However, the moral façade that has come to be associated with the Victorian era was perhaps first criticized in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Apart from being an exceptional Gothic work, Stevenson’s novella is an excellent critique of the hypocrisy that dominated the Victorian era. In his novella, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson uses the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to expose the double standards and moral pretensions that governed Victorian society.

Throughout the book, Bailey argues that in cities around the country in the 1960’s, the “ordinary” person battled the constant struggle of both private and public sexual behaviors, which came to follow post WWII in America. Throughout the text, Bailey

In seventeenth-century England, the crime of sodomy was considered to be a heinous sin. In a time when religion governed law, homosexuality was not tolerated. The case against Lord Audley, Earl of Castlehaven, represents the treatment of those convicted in engaging in sexual behavior with men. Not only was sodomy frowned upon because it went against God’s laws, but it was also considered a crime against honor. Lord Audley’s trial shows that a crime of deviance is worse than a crime against another human being in seventeenth-century England.

The introduction of Alan Hunt’s Governing Morals: A Social History of Moral Regulation presents an overview of the many theoretical debates and resources spawned by the concept of ‘moral regulation’ – an ideology prevalent in the 1980’s which can be defined as a practice of governing in order to focus attention on social actions which attempts to influence the conduct of human agents. Through Hunt’s introduction case studies are utilized in paving the path for his discussion on moral regulation examining three British studies fluctuating from the Society for the Reformation of Manners which was active around the 1700’s, to Victorian aged sexual panics which allows for significant insight on early moral regulation projects. Although Hunt discusses multiple contentious issues on the concept of moral regulation, an isolation of some fundamental points in his

In my opinion, when I read chapter eighteen “ First Comes Love, Then Comes Herpes: Sexual Health and Relationship”, I have support to this chapter. In the present, sexual transmitted diseases have spread more than before, and a lot of people do not have information about the safer sex. Although the sexual transmitted diseases have spread, people do not try to safe themselves. However, I agree with the education does not educate young people about the safer sex. I am compelling about the condom is a way to protect yourself from sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, some parents do not teach their children to protect themselves from risks sexual. For example, my family does not teach me about the sex before I am marriage. Therefore, when

One case in North Sydney that drew avid attention was the alleged relationship and planned elopement of Willoughby Sing, Ah Sing’s son, and Fanny Asher, a 17 year old shop assistant working for Ah Sing. The gazette, Truth, covered the incident in an article describing the affair, complete with undignified caricatures — Willoughby Sing depicted as a short, frowning, cigar smoking man. The article stated that ‘little Willie Sing’ had ‘grown fat and wealthy and purse proud’, a description aimed to put him ‘back in his

In this century, the 3 categories of classes couldn’t be more different and separated. The upper class enjoyed leisure, operas, balls and everything what had to do something with luxury and what none of the lower classes could afford. Aristocracy was well known by their morals and etiquette in the Victorian ages. The Victorian Aristocratic views on morals were extinguished which was even prudish. Prudery went as far as sexuality was a taboo, human body must have been covered and talking about body was inappropriate. In the Victorian Era society started to have different values in morality. Upper class people had low tolerance for sexuality and crimes, and isolated from any of the lower class members. Thus sexuality, especially prostitution was not acceptable and eminently discriminates in the Victorian high society.

The sin of hypocrisy and secrecy is represented through the character, Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale, the minister of the town, got a married woman pregnant and concealed the fact that he did from the rest of the townspeople for many years. In the beginning of the novel, the townspeople viewed Dimmesdale’s “eloquence and religious fervor” as bringing a positive innocent man to the town (46). Though he portrays an outwardly goodness about him, he truly is mendacious on the inside. His guilty conscience caused him to become extremely sickly. The townspeople believed that Dimmesdale’s health “had suffered severely, of late, by his too unreserved self-sacrifice to the labors and duties of the pastoral relation” (74). Truthfully though, the young minister was “pale, and holding his hand over his heart” as a clue of is suffering from hiding his sin (78). Later, it is