There is a notable absence of women in Robert Louis Stevenson's short story, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which suggests that the woman is complicit in the scheme of patriarchy, or by denying its power. , or out of fear of its power. This thesis engages in an analysis of Simone de Beauvoir's "Second Sex" argument against Patriarchy and the consideration that Patriarchy is paradoxically erroneous: if woman is considered the opposite of man, she is in fact equal and therefore cannot be lower, or even lower. .Published as a populist piece of "Penny Dreadful" fiction at the zenith of the Victorian era in 1886, the short story is a gothic expose of the divided psyche against a backdrop of patriarchal conformity in which the protagonist, Dr. Jekyll, abuses of his privilege of scientific knowledge. and his social status to satisfy his desire to experience his alter ego. While the text has a strong theme of psychological conflict which offers Freudian and Lacanian interpretations, the question of power and fear and the abuse of power for power's sake, invites an analysis of the absence of women and the function of patriarchy, firstly with regard to the power it gave to white, educated, upper-class men in Victorian society and, secondly, the role of women in maintaining the status quo. Could Hyde have lashed out unchecked in a society where women believed in their power as much as men feared it? Simone de Beauvoir does not support him. Patriarchy is broadly defined as the dominance of men in society, but more importantly, it is an ideology and way of thinking that transmits ideas about men and women to the rest of society and encourages their maintenance . ensuring the self-propagation of male domination. Patriarchy is not just...... middle of paper ......eele (audio book)Excerpts from Augustine of Hippo, Ell-obvious Confessions, WOMEN AND OTHERSHetoric, Poetics and Logic, Aristotle, book audioThe Republic, Plato, audiobookSimone De Beauvoir, Ladelle McWhorter, (Audiobook) Simone De Beauvoir, “The Second Sex” (Norton 1406-1414). Beauvoir and the Second Sex, Margaret A Simons, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc, 1999) Edward Said, “Orientalism” (Norton 1991 -2011) Michel Foucault, 'The perverse implantation' (Norton 1648-59), HYPOCRISY OF GOOD AND FROM MALSigmund Freud, 'The Uncanny' (Norton 929-51)Eve Sedgwick, from Between Men (Norton 2434-8)Jean-Paul Sartre, John Compton, (audiobook)Simone De Beauvoir, Ladelle McWhorter, (audiobook)Rhetoric , poetic and logical, Aristotle, audiobookNietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, xxGeorg HW Hegel, Philosophy of Right, New York, Cosimo Books, 2008, p 64