Key Quotations For Themes And Characters Flashcards
Jekyll
- Lanyon says Jekyll is going “wrong, wrong in the mind”
Foreshadows future events - Jekyll has an honest and friendly appearance: “a large, well-made man […] who displays every mark of capacity and kindness”
- Sensible, professional man who has “pleasant dinners” with “intelligent reputable men”
- he is described as “feverish” when he hears about Mr Hyde Killing Sir Carew
- His isolation in chapter 6 suggests something is up, as does his “expression of such abject terror and despair” - hopelessness
- Jekyll is described as sitting by the open window, ‘with an infinite sadness of mien, like some disconsolate prisoner’ - ch7 - ironic as he is a prisoner to himself
‘Mien’ means facial appearance, indicating mood. He is described as being like a prisoner, which is a simile - suggests he hasn’t been completely taken over by evil yet - “I concealed my pleasures” - from a young age he had a dark side
- “profound duplicity of life”
“ at the first breath of this new life to be more wicked, tenfold, more wicked […] delighted me”
Hyde
“There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable.” - Enfield - Lombroso theory
Many describe him in this way
Hyde is uncanny
Supernatural creation that words cannot describe
“trampled calmly” “he was trampling on my his victim under foot” re-occurring motif of “trampling” to show his disregard of human life, and no care for consequences - inhumane
“hide shrank back with a hissing intake of breath”
“Ape like fury”
People in the renaissance times believed that humans would de evolve.
Calling Hyde this reignites this fear - regression
Dehumanising Hyde
CYCLICAL STRUCTURE AND REOCCURRING MOTIF OF CHARACTERS DESPISING HYDE
“The man trampled calmly over the child” - aggression
- “a prodigy to stagger the unbelief off Satan” - cyclical structure and reoccurring motif of blasphemy
“Something seizing, surprising, and revolting” -“seizing” lack of control, violence
Duality
Dr Jekyll’s house - front entrance has a “great air of wealth and comfort” when the back entrance used by Hyde us unwelcoming and neglected “equipped with neither bell nor knocker, blistered and distained”
“ I concealed my pleasures”
“My master is a tall, fine, build of a man and this was more of a dwarf” and “deformed”
“Good and ill that divide and compound man’s dual nature” duality, is a recurring motif throughout the novel
Contrast in personalities - id vs superego
Hyde is very aggressive when Jekyll is respectable
“ man is not truly one but two”
“ the profound duplicity of life”
Jekyll described much more positively than Hyde- Jekyll: “every mark of capacity and kindness” but Hyde: “haunting sense of unexpressed deformity” - “haunting” horrifies others
Mystery and tension
- Pathetic fallacy ‘a little damp’ and ‘full of premature twilight.’ - connotations of darkness (suffering)
Typical gothic conventions to foreshadow as something does not feel right “a chocolate coloured pall”
“Trampled calmly” Using an oxymoron here creates a sense of mystery and tension due to his abnormal response to his action. The verb “trampled” implies a vicious attack and highlights his lack of conscience. The expectations of a Victorian gentleman were very prominent and were made clear so having a man who is so clearly not adhering to the rules make the reader question this man and his intentions. - Makes the reader question why he would lash out like that in an “ape like fury” - unclear why by acting like an animal, Hyde does not conform to societies expectations
- “Swift physical decay” when before he was “rosy” - Withholding information - doesn’t tell us what has happened to Lanyon and what Jekyll’s “unscientific balderdash” was —> “death warrant, written legibly upon his face”
- Unclear why Jekyll associates himself with Hyde “The large handsome face of Dr Jekyll grew pale to the very lips, and there came a blackness about his eyes”
Withholding information - doesn’t tell us what has happened to Lanyon
What is significant about Dr Jekyll’s setting
Jekyll’s house is described as having “a great air of wealth and comfort” - same layout as John Hunter (dual life to foreshadow). - these abstract nouns reflect j’s social status and profession - reminds reader that’s sometimes appearance can be superficial- appearance vs reality
But in the inside Utterson notices a “ menace of flickering of the firelight”- foreshadowing to suggest that’s something nasty is hiding belief the nice surface”
Jekyll’s laboratory is described as “dingy, windowless” - implying corruption and secrecy
Mr Hyde’s setting
- The door he walks through is “blistered and disdained”
- Hyde lives in an area which is “like a district of some city in a nightmare” in Soho which had a bad reputation
- Links Soho to hell as the fog is described as “a great chocolate-coloured pall lowered over heaven”- unholiness and link to death and hell
- reoccurring motif of fog related to Hyde
2 main quotations in chapter 10 that show Jekyll’s duality
“Man is not truly one but two”
“Profound duplicity of life”
How is Jekyll presented in the first 8 chapter
Stevenson withholds information from as and presents Jekyll as a respectable Victorian gentleman he is presented as associating himself with all “intelligent and reputable men”
He has an honest friendly appearance witch “every mark of capacity and kindness” but in reality he has a darker side
Mr Utterson key quotations
- “If he be Mr Hyde […] i shall be Mr seek”
- “he was austere with himself” means strict, but this strictness is broken in the hunt for Hyde as he fails to inform the authorities
“He was undemonstrative at the best’ - no emotions, significant to show the power of Hyde as even people “undemonstrative” show strong emotion to hunt for him.
Says “tales”- ambiguous- unreliable narrator
Key symbol: DOORS
THE DOOR is the gateway to more evil world it is The access point for violence in unpleasantness “blistered and distained” - not cared for. Could symbolise Hyde’s personality “blistered” mentally diseased “distained” - means discoloured so disliked by many people when Jekyll’s door has an “air of wealth and comfort but we also realise it is “plunged in darkness”. Poole also points out that the servants have had to deal with a “closed door” - door is a symbol of secrecy and desperation and foreshadows something bad is about to happen
Key symbol: FOG AND DARKNESS
“Although a fog rolled over the city […][the sky] was brilliantly lit by the full moon” - just before Carew murder, moon gives a romantic tone but the fog has undertones of something sinister foreshadowing something sinister will happen
Then a “chocolate coloured pal lowered over heaven” religious imagery. “Pall” associated with coffins, suggesting the whole city is a dead body with a “pall” being thrown over it showing the power of evil. Here fog symbolises Hyde’s evil intent and something ghastly
Examples of blasphemy throughout the novel
“A prodigy to stagger the unbelief of Satan” - “prodigy” even Satan doesn’t believe the pure evil of Hyde. Cyclical structure and re-occurring motif of blasphemy. Character development - gone from “Satan’s signature” in ch3 to being so unbelievably evil that even Satan doesn’t believe it. Juxtaposition between prodigy and Satan.
Examples of physiognomy
“Something downright detestable about the man”
“Something seizing surprising and revolting” - triplet, “seizing” lack of control violence and instantaneous - the response is instinctive and uncontrollable. Cyclical structure and reoccurring motif of characters instantly despising Hyde. Also links to physiognomy and the Lombrosso theory. EFFECT: speed of disgust of Hyde
Examples of Hyde’s primitive and troglodytic nature
“Ape-like fury” - fear of regression
“my devil had been long caged up he came out roaring”ch10 - motif fog uncontrollable anger and blasphemy and animalistic imagery.
Dr Lanyon
“Hearty, healthy, red-faced dapper gentleman” - asyndetic listing to emphasise he is a respectable Victorian gentlemen
This respected gentleman is influenced by the shear power of Hyde as now he “Had a death warrant written legibly upon his face”- metaphor
“My soul sickened at it”, “ my life is shaking to its roots; sleep has left me” - atmosphere of horror, lack of sleep emphasises that Jekyll’s experiments are unnatural
“The rosy man had grown pale; his flesh has fallen away; he was visibly balder and older”
Had a look of some “deep-seated terror of the mind”
