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I figured I would post that TGS essay that I did for my english class that I was posting about before.

The Strange Case of the Glass Scientists

Stories reflect the time period they were written in. Authors use their life experiences as inspiration for their stories. As society changes, so do the life experiences authors use to write their stories, therefore the stories themselves change to reflect society. When a story is rewritten by an author from a different time period, the changes the rewrite makes reflect the changes in society that have occurred. Such is the case for The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Louis Stevenson, and its rewrite, The Glass Scientists by Sage Cotugno. The differences between the two stories show how society has changed over time. The format of the story has changed, the way the characters speak has changed, and the story has been rewritten with queer themes.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written in prose. At the time, for a story of its complexity, prose was the only way to record such a story. However, technology has advanced since the writing of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, allowing for more varied forms of storytelling. Along with prose, stories can now be told through movies, video games, comics, and other such mediums. Even if Stevenson wanted to , he could not have told the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde through a webcomic, the technology just did not exist at the time. His options were much more limited than those of storytellers today. Cotungo had a greater amount of options available to them when deciding what format to tell their story in. They were able to make the choice to tell their story as a webcomic as society has advanced enough that the technology exists to give them that option. Comics are a popular form of storytelling nowadays, whereas when Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written, they were unheard of. The internet also did not exist when Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written. In order to read the story, the reader must have had a physical copy of the novella. To read The Glass Scientists, the reader needs a device and an internet connection. The Glass Scientists is a retelling of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but advancements in society have allowed their formats to be drastically different. The difference in format shows just how much society has changed over time.

Along with the medium, the language used to tell the two stories is different. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is approaching one hundred and forty years old. People do not talk the same way they did one hundred and forty years ago. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written in the 1880’s for an audience of people living in the 1880’s, meaning the language it uses is appropriate for that time period. The Glass Scientists on the other hand, was written in the 2010’s to 2020’s for an audience of people living in that time period, meaning that the language is much more modern. The English language has changed between the 1880’s and now. This is clearly shown through the difference in the dialogue between the two stories. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, while explaining his relationship with Dr. Jekyll, Dr. Lanyon explains, “But it is more than ten years since Henry Jekyll became too fanciful for me. He began to go wrong, wrong in mind: and though, of course, I continue to take an interest in him for old sake’s sake as they say, I see and I have seen devilish little of the man. Such unscientific balderdash would have estranged Damon and Pythias.” (Stevenson, 36) While this was once how people talked, it is evidently different from the way the characters in The Glass Scientists talk. The following is a conversation between Jekyll and Lanyon in The Glass Scientists,

(Cortungo, chapter 3, page 12)

Both characters are Lanyon, however they are speaking in a different manner, one which is appropriate to the time period they were written in. Lanyon in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde speaks much more formally, whereas Lanyon in The Glass Scientists is much more casual. Comparing the language between the two stories shows how society has changed over time.

Just as the language changes between the two stories, so do the themes. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the faults that Jekyll uses Hyde to indulge in are never revealed. One possible explanation , and one of the explanations The Glass Scientists gives, is that Jekyll is using Hyde to conceal his queerness. In his full statement of the case, Jekyll writes, “And indeed, the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition, such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high, and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public” (Stevenson, 81). It is not the only possible explanation, however it is possible to interpret Jekyll’s so-called ‘fault’ as queerness. During the period when Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was published, being queer was considered improper, and not something that was openly discussed. If Jekyll is queer, then as a man of high society, he could not both be out and maintain his reputation. This taboo also would have prevented Stevenson from confirming Jekyll’s queerness in the text, if it were to be the case. In the modern day though, queerness is much more accepted and discussed. As such, The Glass Scientists is able to directly explore the queer undercurrent in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In The Glass Scientists, Jekyll is canonically queer. The following panels are from an interaction between Jekyll and Lanyon,

(Cotungo, chapter 11, page 21)

While he is not comfortable being out, Jekyll in The Glass Scientists is undeniably queer, as shown through his relationship with Lanyon. Society’s views on queerness have shifted since Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written. It is no longer taboo to discuss or write stories about queerness. As such, The Glass Scientists is able to be explicitly queer, and is able to explore this angle of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This shift in attitude around queerness in the two stories shows how society has changed over time.

The Glass Scientists is explicitly queer, whereas Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is not, which is one of the differences between the two stories, along with their difference in format and their difference in language. These differences reflect the changes in society that have occurred between the writing of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and now.