Who’s to Blame? Bad Behaviour, Responsibility, and Punishment
“Henry Jekyll stood at times aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde; but the situation was apart from ordinary laws, and insidiously relaxed the grasp of conscience. It was Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty.” — Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
“Fear and guilt are sisters” — Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House
When something goes wrong, often the first thing we do is unjustly point the finger of blame (sometimes away from ourselves, sometimes towards ourselves). In this section of English 110, we will investigate how various kinds of literary texts—poetry, the short story, drama, the novel—navigate assignations of blame, as well as the difficulties in isolating behaviour from context. We will consider the ways in which people take responsibility, or not, for their misdeeds, as well as the types of punishments that ensue for causing harm to others. In determining these complex issues of culpability, we will situate our texts within various theoretical perspectives, such as feminism, postcolonial theory, and ecocriticism.
Texts will include a selection of short stories (available free online), the horror film Heredity (available through Criterion), Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (UBC Bookstore) and Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House (UBC Bookstore).
Evaluation will be based on two in-class essays, one take-home essay, and participation in both classroom and online discussions.