Character- Jekyll Flashcards
Quotations
“The moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr Hyde.” (Chapter 5)
-Analysis: Jekyll naively believes he can control his scientific creation, reflecting the hubris (excessive pride) of Victorian scientists.
-Grade 9 Insight: His illusion of control shows Stevenson’s warning that scientific ambition can become dangerously uncontrollable.
Theme: Science and Ambition
“The temptation of a discovery so singular and profound.” (Chapter 10)
-Analysis: The word “temptation” evokes religious imagery, linking Jekyll’s scientific pursuit to sin and moral downfall.
-Grade 9 Insight: Stevenson critiques unchecked scientific curiosity — suggesting it mirrors the original sin in Eden.
Theme: Science and Ambition
“Man is not truly one, but truly two.” (Chapter 10)
-Analysis: Jekyll believes humanity is fundamentally divided into good and evil halves.
-Grade 9 Insight: Stevenson explores the psychological complexity of humans, attacking Victorian ideals that people were wholly moral or wholly sinful.
Theme: Duality of Human Nature
“I was radically both.” (Chapter 10)
-Analysis: The word “radically” shows that Jekyll acknowledges deep internal contradictions.
-Grade 9 Insight: Jekyll embodies the human struggle between social expectation and instinctual desire.
Theme: Duality of Human Nature
“The moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr Hyde.” (Chapter 5)
(Also fits here!) Jekyll’s secrecy allows him to maintain a respectable façade while indulging private desires.
-Grade 9 Insight: Reflects Victorian obsession with outward respectability, hiding inner corruption.
Theme: Secrecy and Reputation
“I concealed my pleasures.” (Chapter 10)
Analysis: Jekyll admits to hiding his sinful activities to protect his public reputation.
-Grade 9 Insight: Stevenson critiques how society forces individuals to repress their true selves, creating hypocrisy.
Theme: Secrecy and Reputation
“Edward Hyde would pass away like a stain of breath upon a mirror.” (Chapter 10)
-Analysis: Jekyll imagines evil as something temporary and removable.
-Grade 9 Insight: Simile highlights Jekyll’s dangerous underestimation of evil — evil isn’t easily erased.
Theme: Good vs Evil
“The lower side of me, so long indulged.” (Chapter 10)
-Analysis: Jekyll blames Hyde’s dominance on his own repeated indulgence in sin.
-Grade 9 Insight: Stevenson shows evil strengthens when it is repeatedly hidden and satisfied — repression makes it worse.
Theme: Repression and Psychological Conflict
“The animal within me licking the chops of memory.” (Chapter 10)
Analysis: Vivid animalistic imagery shows Hyde/Jekyll’s base instincts craving sin.
-Grade 9 Insight: Stevenson suggests that repression transforms natural human urges into monstrous appetites.
Theme: Repression and Psychological Conflict
“I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life.” (Chapter 10)
-Analysis: Jekyll recognises he is already leading a double life before Hyde is even created.
-Grade 9 Insight: Stevenson shows that even without science, individuals naturally split public respectability and private desires.
Theme: Repression and Psychological Conflict
