Jekyll and Hyde annotations

Question 1

cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable

Answer 1

utterson = stereotypical Victorian gentleman

alliterative l and d are deep and heavy, mimicking his dull, tedious personality
adjectives describe the sort of life Jekyll later rejects
“cold”“embarrassed in discourse reflects the value placed in privacy and secrecy in their society and in this is the cloak of invisibility that allows Jekyll to perform his experiment uninterrupted

Question 2

the man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground…it wasn’t like a man; it was some damned Juggernaut

Answer 2

first depiction of Hyde’s evil character

contrasting “man” and “child”is threatening, and oxymoronic “trampled calmly” increases reader’s fear of him
“child’s body” dehumanises the victim and the image pf her “screaming” is a powerful sensual depiction of Hyde’s cruelty
“damned” = his sinful nature, hell, religion
“juggernaut” = violent, powerful force surging forwards in an unstoppable manner

Question 3

…a volume of some dry divinity on his reading-desk, until the clock of the neighbouring church rang out the hour of twelve, when he would go soberly and gratefully to bed

Answer 3

utterson contrasting Jekyll, rigidly sticking to structure, maintaining a routine and a socially acceptable lifestyle
++++++++++++++++++++++++

Question 4

the large handsome face of Dr Jekyll grew very pale to the lips, and there came about a blackness about his eyes

Answer 4

the change from good to evil is disturbingly quick when he is asked about his will

juxtaposition of “ handsome” with his pale lips and black eyes shows that man’s dual nature is not just a mental conflict but also a physical one
“pale” associations with death
“blackness” alludes to the darkness of H’s soul
“grew” and “came about” = sense of evil spreading uncontrollably

Question 5

and the next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot, and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the roadway

Answer 5

brutal animalistic violence and evil, inhuman destruction of another human life highlights the power of evil

“ape-like” not yet evolved, also link to nature as he inflicts a metaphorical “storm of blows” - brutal force of nature
the victim becomes totally dehumanised - he is nothing more than “bones” and a “body” once H is done with him
swiftness of these actions is frightening - it all happens in a “moment”

Question 6

a yard which had once been a garden, to the building which was indifferently known as the laboratory or the dissecting-rooms…and his own tastes being rather chemical than anatomical

Answer 6

++++++++++++++++++++

Question 7

he had a death warrant written legibly across his face. the rosy man has grown pale; his flesh had fallen away

Answer 7

relationship between Lanyon and Jekyll or Hyde