Stevenson and Martin offer numerous parallels due to their shared interests in the portrayals of the Victorian gentlemen. However, due to their different identities, one a Victorian gentleman himself and the other a female modern writer, they present different standpoints on the same topic. The lives of the well-respected Victorian gentlemen in Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde imply hypocritical values and aspects of the society, manifested in the lack of women and lower classes. In contrast, Valerie Martin's adaptation, Mary Reilly, takes on this hypocrisy from an opposite approach, focusing primarily on women and the lower classes. By addressing these patriarchal features, Martin provides deeper insights of these gentlemen's lives, and thus unfolds the hypocrisy more extensively.
Martin uncovers and criticizes the hypocrisy of the Victorian society by following Stevenson's course of events. In doing so, she better identifies and relates the parallels and thus helps the readers appreciate the emphasized differences in the two novels. Stevenson paints a picture of the Victorian society from the public perspectives and thus hides its hypocritical issues and the repression of the gentlemen. Martin, on the other hand, addresses these issues through further revelations of these men's personal lives. Specifically, Martin portrays Jekyll on a much more personal level, instead of from the public expectations. Through the voice of Mary - the housemaid, and the events in Jekyll's house, Martin unveils Jekyll's increasing desperations. A subtle yet certain attraction also arises between Jekyll and Mary. As Jekyll speaks to her as a friend, rather than as a master, Mary finds herself attached to him. His trust is manifested as he sends her on his personal, secretive "miserable errands" to Mrs. Faraday (Martin 64). The trust becomes mutual as Mary feels that Jekyll "values" her as "no one ever has" (Martin 101).
