Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: quotes + analysis Flashcards
(96 cards)
1
Q
“Utterson the lawyer”
A
- lawyers are respectable + uphold the law
[] supposed to be morally sound - upper echelon of society; supposed to behave properly
- Victorian ideals of behaviour and ideology
2
Q
“when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye”
A
- “wine” = alcohol; respectable drink mentioned in the Bible
[] BUT when had too much of, causes drunkenness etc. - “beaconed” = light, outward signal to the world of some inner characteristic
- “eminently human” = something inherently human
- Hobbesian ideas; humans inherently bad and evil and this comes out when drinking alcohol for Utterson
3
Q
“Mr Richard Enfield… the well-known man about town. It was a nut to crack”
A
- “well-known man about town”
[] Enfield lives a hedonistic lifestyle very different to Utterson’s - probably frequents prostitute houses and brothels, drinks a lot etc. - representative of the more unconstrained sides of London (absinthe, high prostitution rates) - sins of the flesh
[] people like Enfield looked down upon by people of Utterson’s rank and social status and propriety
[] “well-known” = notorious for hedonism - “nut”
[] shell of a nut is very hard and tough to crack open, however the meat is very delicious, nutritious and often sweet
[] likewise, it is very hard to see why Utterson and Enfield are friends, but once finding the reason, it is very telling of their personalities
4
Q
“chief jewel of each week”
A
- “jewel” = precious
- “chief” = primary
- their meetings every week were the highlight of their weeks
- UTTERSON AND ENFIELD ARE SO CLOSE BECAUSE THEY ARE SO DIFFERENT
[] Utterson can live vicariously through Enfield’s tales of hedonism, thus helping him maintain his repression, and Utterson keeps Enfield in check a little so his hedonism doesn’t spiral out of control
[] psychoanalytic reading; Utterson constantly maintains his persona dictated by his superego and desire for social acceptance as “good” and moral
[] to maintain persona must consistently repress repressed unconscious
[] to avoid repression causing emotional outbursts/dreams/hallucinations that release the repressed unconscious all at once, must slowly let repressed unconscious out in a controlled manner, and this is when he lives vicariously through Enfield, as his stories of hedonism satisfy the selfish and “evil” and societally shunned desires of the repressed unconscious
[] Enfield benefits from Utterson reminding him to be somewhat repressed despite his hedonism, as Freud posited that personas exist in order for social cohesion; if everyone acts in a way which others find acceptable, it is easier to reach agreements about things as well as get aid from others
5
Q
“the shop fronts stood… with an air of invitation, like rows of smiling saleswomen.”
A
- “fronts”
- sibilance
- “smiling saleswomen”
[] smiling connotes friendliness, kindness and one being happy to see the other, but saleswomen smile to give this impression so that they get more customers and thus more profit - repressed unconscious desiring money (sin)
[] being “saleswomen” also may imply that the rich in society in essence “sell themselves” by conforming to social expectations
6
Q
“blind forehead of discoloured wall”
A
- “blind forehead” refers to a very shallowly sloped forehead, like that of an ape’s
- presents Hyde as being atavistic in nature (Cesare Lombroso) and thus representing criminals
- “discoloured” = not maintained, neglected etc.
- from a psychoanalytic reading where Hyde is portrayed as the repressed unconscious, demonstrates how strongly the Victorian upper class repressed themselves and neglected entire sides of themselves (Victorian Hypocrisy Walter Houghton - shutting eyes to anything unpleasant or unsavoury (Victorian etiquette and societal standards ran so deeply that it affected people’s views of even themselves)
- also, “discoloured” implies that the true colour of the wall was more vibrant and clean and neat; foreshadows Jekyll’s only real fault initially being “too happy” and how society twisted and contorted his arguable strength into a fault that needed to be repressed
7
Q
“showed no window… neither bell nor knocker”
A
- “window” = used to see out of and into buildings
- if Hyde’s house has no window, not only can no one look in (from a psychoanalytic perspective solidifying that he does infact represent the repressed unconscious, but also that he is very deeply repressed) but Hyde cannot look out (either showing how deeply repressed the repressed unconscious is again, OR demonstrating the repressed unconscious to be selfish and self-preserving, thus uninterested in the interests of others)
- further, if a room has no window it will be dark inside; the fact that Hyde is living in darkness can be said to be representative of the repressed unconscious’ evil nature, due to the gothic convention linking darkness with evil
- from a Hobbesian reading, this could be construed to mean that the repressed unconscious and thus ‘true’ desires of EVERY person are evil inherently, not just seen as evil, thus making every human inherently evil and the only reason that people are remotely good is society
- “bell nor knocker” = no way to get Hyde to let people in; presents him as mysterious, selfish - psychoanalytic reading
- ARGUABLY this lack of bell, knocker and window is the architect’s doing though and not Hyde’s (thus arguing that the repressed unconscious itself is not evil, but the confinement of the repressed unconscious and its demonisation in Victorian society is what makes it appear evil); perhaps society is the building itself, confining entire aspects of people’s identity ?
8
Q
“black winter morning… nothing to be seen but lamps… all as empty as a church”
A
Gothic trope of pathetic fallacy - BUILDS TENSION
- “black” = evil, darkness vs light, death - foreshadows that something evil or terrible will happen
- “winter” = cold, very dark with little sun (sun = light = Jesus = goodness), all non-coniferous foliage is dead - again foreshadows that something bad will happen and adds the aspect of fear in too (bone/spine-chilling)
- “empty as a church” = perhaps Stevenson’s criticism of religion through the irony of the Victorian obsession with religion BUT ONLY AS A FACADE OF PIETY
[] in Victorian Era, church attendance dropped massively (5 mil out of 18 mil attending church only)
- VICTORIAN HYPOCRISY
- Stevenson rejected his Christian faith and proudly declared himself an athiest (was also a neo-Romantic and thus rejected organised religion)
- alternatively, churches are representative of God’s presence, so the church being “empty” signifies a lack of faith in God and thus possibly a lack of God’s presence, also signifying that something evil is about to happen
9
Q
“the man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground”
A
- juxtaposition of “trampled” (brutal, violent word) and “calmly” (peaceful) creates lexical incongruence and makes it hard for the reader to aptly imagine Hyde(‘s actions)
- thus may be Stevenson’s way of communicating that Hyde looks different to everyone, OR from a psychoanalytic reading, that the repressed unconscious is so far repressed that people do not even know that part of themselves well enough to imagine it and put a face to it (criticism of extreme Victorian repression)
- also may represent Hyde’s dual nature
- juxtaposition also makes Hyde seem really fucking unnerving (Gothic horror)
- “child’s” = children connote innocence, naievety, joy, and the fact that a child is “screaming” (an overt expression of horror and fear) essentially corrupts this innocence and is horrific to the reader
- Freud’s death instinct; humans have two sides - Eros and Thanatos - to explain human behaviour, with Eros being representative of all the good motives, and Thanatos representing the bad motives such as destruction of the self or others, anger, etc.
10
Q
“He was the usual cut and dry apothecary… I saw that sawbones turn sick and white with the desire to kill [Hyde]”
A
Hyde brings out the worst in people, even those regarded as so “normal” and “dry” that they should be essentially free from malicious or sinful intent
- psychoanalytic theory
11
Q
“keeping the women off him as best we could for they were as wild as harpies.”
A
- “wild” = atavistic, Cesare Lombroso + psychoanalytic theory that Hyde (being a representation of the repressed unconscious) brings out the worst in people and their own repressed desires, which are often criminal and thus viewed as less evolved and primitive
- “harpies” = in Greek mythology, used in the underworld to punish the souls of sinners and bring justice
- feminist reading = possibly sexist, as women are not only presented as hideous atavistic monsters, but also as being controlled by emotion, equating emotion and a lack of ability to think logically unlike the men in this scene with femininity
12
Q
“the very pink of proprieties”
A
- plosives highlight just how “proper” Jekyll is seen as by others of his social sphere
- “proprieties” = shows that Jekyll has put meticulous time and effort into crafting his persona to be as societally acceptable as possible (Victorian Hypocrisy)
13
Q
“I feel very strongly about putting questions; it partakes too much of the style of the day of judgement.”
A
14
Q
“something wrong with his appearance… he must be deformed somewhere”
A
- vagueness in the indefinite words “something” and “somewhere” demonstrates the elusive nature of Hyde
- psychoanalysis, Victorian Hypocrisy and repression
- “deformed” = not properly shaped; Cesare Lombroso, the uncanny in Gothic horror, can’t tell WHERE he is deformed just that he is,showing that he is similar enough to the average person not to notice much but there is just something very wrong about him (mystery)
- Hobbes
15
Q
“shifting, insubstantial mists”
A
- “shifting” = not the same, differently shaped depending on perspective
- perhaps Stevenson noting how aspects of the human psyche being seen as “good” or “bad” is entirely subjective, so Victorian repression forcing one perspective on everyone can cause severe damage (eg. Jekyll seing his happiness as a flaw whilst others would envy it)
- could also be a comment on how everyone’s repressed unconscious is different due to everyone having different desires, so the fog (associated with Hyde due to being in Soho) is similarly shifty
- could ALSO refer to the emotional instability of one’s repressed unconscious, as something which is constantly shifting is restless and not secure in itself
- may ALSO ALSO represent how trapping oneself in the box of a persona can be very damaging to one’s mental health, as true human nature shifts constantly and is never truly defined by one portrayal of the self - YUNGIAN PHILOSOPHY
- “insubstantial” = no substance - Hyde is a mere concept rather than a literal person (may also refer to people stripping their repressed unconscious of substance by repressing it so zealously)
- “mists” = fog, obscures one’s vision
- could be Stevenson commenting on how the rich use Victorian Hypocrisy and etiquette to cloak their illicit promiscuity and drinking etc. in Soho (the red light district)
- could also show how the repressed unconscious (illicit desires/thoughts/feelings) is cloaked also by the person and how mysterious the true personalities of people are
- Christine Corton in her study “London Fog” notes Stevenson’s use of fog in London as a cloak to conceal the immoral actions of the upper class and working class alike
- refers to “true London fog” as being “born in the 1840s”; same time as industrial revolution, so Stevenson portraying the fog as directly linked to Hyde and thus evil through the repressed unconscious may be a criticism of industrialisation according to his Romantic belief set
16
Q
“you and I must be the two oldest friends that henry Jekyll has”
A
no matter how close you are to someone, you’ll never truly know them as a result of the persona and repressed unconscious
17
Q
“Such unscientific balderdash”
A
- “balderdash” = disparaging; Lanyon completely rejects Jekyll’s transcendental science
- “unscientific” = portrays Lanyon as an authority figure on science, and perhaps as representative of traditional scientific methods
- as seen in other gothic works, like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, there seemed to be a lot of fear at the time of science going ‘too far’ due to the rise of the industrial revolution, which came with many new innovations and technologies that more puritan and traditional people grew scared of
- could also be a religious rejection of spiritual science like Jekyll’s, as Victorians were very focused on God at least outwardly, so attempting to control something like death or spirituality, which only God is supposed to do, may have been seen as a massive overstepping of humanity’s bounds
18
Q
“there would stand by his side a figure… even at that dead hour, he must rise and do its bidding”
A
- the phrasing of “by his side” implies that the figure will never leave, as well as that the figure is equal to Utterson
- “figure” = very vague, no features mentioned nothing
- from psychoanalytic reading, this vagueness could again refer to the extreme repression of Victorian society, so much so that no one actually can recognise the repressed part of themselves even though it is a part of themselves as a whole human being
- also from a psychoanalytic reading, the figure being “by his side” could demonstrate the repressed unconscious AND the persona to be of equal importance to one’s functioning as a person; critique of Victorian Hypocrisy, as trying to exist solely as one’s persona and be solely viewed as moral is nigh-on impossible to do
- a Hobbesian may argue that this demonstrates Hobbes’ argument that humans are inherently evil, but arguably it demonstrates Hobbes to be wrong, as it also portrays the persona as a core part of one’s being, suggesting maybe that humanity is inherenty neutral; not good or bad
- “do its bidding” = presents a person as a slave to their ID, supports Hobbesian reading
19
Q
“the figure had no face… even in his dreams, it had no face”
A
- “face” = representative of one’s thoughts, emotions and desires in literature and art
- the fact that Hyde in Utterson’s dream has no face contributes to Hyde’s elusiveness and how mysterious he is as a character to the reader BECAUSE Victorians were so heavily repressed that they didn’t truly know themselves, thus parts they repressed were mysterious to them
- also may represent the fact that all people have different repressed desires, so their own Hyde appears differently to them
- from a psychoanalytic reading, dreams are where one’s repressed desires often resurface, but the fact that Utterson’s repressed unconscious has no face thus again reinforces how detached he is from himself as a result of the extreme Victorian repression
- Andrew Lang; “Every Jekyll has his own Hyde”
20
Q
“small and very plainly dressed”
A
one reading = Hyde as underdeveloped
- Hyde = repressed unconscious, so BECAUSE he has been repressed for basically Jekyll’s whole life, he hasn’t developed as a person and thus is “small” like a child, and “plainly dressed” with no personal touches or fashion sense of his own
another reading = Hyde as atavistic
- “small” = more ape-like than human, Cesare Lombroso
- “plainly dressed” = the upper classes viewed the way one dressed as indicative of their moral character, as it often allowed one to express their beliefs and alignment with upper class Victorian society (who regarded themselves as the most sophisticated and cultured); not doing so would make one seem primitive or barbaric almost
- MARXIST THEORY; the working class and proletariat would often be “small” and “plainly dressed” due to starvation and poverty rife in London at the time, and thus viewing the proletariat as primitive and thus other allowed the bourgeoisie to reify the proletariat and further separate the two societal echelons, preserving the idea that the bourgeoisie are fundamentally above the proletariat and that the proletariat are only poor BECAUSE OF THEIR OWN INABILITY TO STAY OUT OF TROUBLE - ideological state apparatus
21
Q
“murderous mixture of timidity and boldness”
A
22
Q
“troglodytic”
A
Cesare Lombroso + Hyde as atavistic and crude
23
Q
“ancient, handsome houses, now for the most part decayed from their high estate”
A
- “ancient” = old, often referring to a great civilisation now fallen (like the Romans)
- could refer to how the Victorian upper class lost the majority of their wealth and power and influence when industrialisation began, as the majority of people left the countryside for the cities, so stopped paying rent to the upper classmen who owned the land
- “handsome” = a term of attractiveness or endearment usually used to refer to someone who comes off as ‘proper’
24
Q
“bright, open fire… pleasantest room in London”
A
- “bright” = light, good, godly
- portrays Jekyll as righteous and good; his persona is as socially acceptable and reverable as possible to avoid judgement and align with societal standards for a man of his class
- “open fire” = warmth, openness emotionally, honesty
- ironic, as this is simply how Jekyll presents himself, not who he actually is (Hyde) according to a Hobbesian reading (though one may argue that Jekyll’s persona is every bit a part of himself as his repressed unconscious)
25
"Hyde go in by the old dissecting room"
- the dissecting room is at the back of Jekyll's house
- JEKYLL'S HOUSE IS REPRESENTATIVE OF HIS PSYCHE; the front rooms where he welcomes guests and proudly shows off is representative of his persona (the things he is proud of about himself and views as societally acceptable) whilst the back rooms where Hyde lives sometimes are representative of the depths of Jekyll's psyche, where he represses his desires and keeps them locked up away from the world; visitors are never welcomed through the back of a house
- the fact that Hyde resides in a "dissecting room" and not a proper dwelling emphasises the extent to which Victorians neglect their repressed unconscious - critique of extreme repression as it leads to the repressed unconscious becoming metaphorically uncomfortable with being confined in a small space of one's psyche and bursts out in the form of over-emotion, dreams, hallucinations etc.
26
"face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale... came a blackness about his eyes."
27
"to put your good heart at rest... the moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde."
- from an aristotelian reading, Jekyll's hamartia is his arrogance in believing that he can control Hyde
- "choose" = it is Jekyll's CHOICE initially to let Hyde out through the transcendental medicine despite him being evil and harming others when out; shows Jekyll to be selfish in seeking release from the pressure of extreme repression as doesn't care if people get hurt when he lets Hyde out despite all the charity work etc. that he does; Victorian Hypocrisy
28
"October 18---"
date blacked out as is representative of human nature across time
29
"startled by a crime... more notable by the high position of the victim."
sensationalised crime in the Victorian Era
- MARXIST THEORY; crime matters more when it happens to the bourgeoisie, especially if instigated by the proletariat as helps to further the ideological state apparatus' assertion that the proletariat are poor and underprivileged due to their own inability to stay out of trouble
30
"fog rolled over the city... early part of the night was cloudless... brilliantly lit by the full moon"
- presence of fog = mystery, some evil of some kind being cloaked over, foreshadows evil
- "night" = darkness, pathetic fallacy
- "moon" = romantic symbol, peaceful, feminine - juxtaposition of the fog and horror with the moon makes the following scene more unnerving and horrifying
31
"aged beautiful gentleman with white hair... bowed and accosted the other with a very pretty manner of politeness"
- the "gentleman" is imbued with more feminine description than is usual ("beautiful", "pretty") and makes him seem more innocent and lovely and delicate
- from a feminist reading, this portrayal of femininity as fragile can be viewed as sexist
- plosives in "pretty manner of politeness" remind of "pink of proprieties" and signal that the gentleman is of a similar social standing to Jekyll and thus is very respectable (making what follows next even more horriying to a Victorian audience, as only the rich could read)
- sensationalised crime
32
"ill-contained impatience... brandishing the cane... broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth."
33
"with ape-like fury"
Cesare Lombroso's theory of L'uomo Delinquente
34
"chocolate-coloured pall lowered over heaven... marvellous number of degrees and hues of twilight"
- "chocolate" = brown, sweet, a delicacy
- brown = dirt = moral corruption and evil, so Soho is a centre of moral corruption
- sweet = tastes good = enjoyable, thus sins of the flesh in Soho (red light district) are enjoyable
- "pall" = EITHER a cloth used in the funeral to cover one's coffin, white to remind of baptism OR cloth used during the Catholic Mass to cover the chalice with wine (Jesus' blood) so that nothing falls in or contaminates it
- funeral reading = faith in God is dead in this area of London due to the sins of the flesh etc. rampant in Soho
- Mass reading = heaven is blocked from seeing the sin and human indecency in Soho so that it is not contaminated; emphasises the severity of prostitution and adultery in London at the time (STDs etc.)
- "twilight" = half-light - duality of humans being good/bad (Hobbes, psychoanalysis)
- "marvellous number of degrees and hues" = literally because the fog is thicker in some places more than others, figuratively may be communicating that there are different degrees/types of evil and moral ambiguity, and it isn't as cut and dry as Victorian repression and society suggests
35
"muddy ways"
- "muddy" = dirt = evil
- mud also implies that this area of Soho isn't well-kept and thus isn't rich - may be allusion to the fact that the majority of prostitutes in London at the time were forced into prostitution by virtue of poverty
- critique of the gap between the rich and poor in London
- may suggest that evil is derived from desperation and poverty
36
"[Hyde's place] furnished with luxury and good taste"
- SHOWS THAT HYDE IS NOT WORKING CLASS, AND IS UPPER CLASS
- from a Marxist reading, breaks down the ISA's argument that the proletariat are poor because of their own illicit dealings, as Hyde is presented as a member of the bourgeoisie despite being easily the most monstrous character in the story
- Hobbes - EVERY SINGLE PERSON REGARDLESS OF RACE, CLASS, WEALTH ETC. IS INHERENTLY EVIL (in part)
- Victorian Hypocrisy
- Stevenson's criticism of the Victorian upper class; they say that evil comes from below them and they try to appear perfect and worldly but in reality the majority of evil stems from the actions of the upper class
37
"the few who could describe [Hyde] differed widely"
everyone's repressed desires are different so Hyde (repressed unconscious) looks different to everyone
38
"it was the first time the lawyer had been received in that part of his friend's quarters."
- Jekyll's house represents his psyche, so symbollically, Utterson is now being shown Jekyll's full and true nature instead of just his persona
- his dissecting room is representative of his repressed unconscious as his science is viewed as bad and "unscientific balderdash" by purists like Lanyon
- may portray the fact that Victorian Hypocrisy stems from the fear of rejection by society, as Lanyon stopped being friends with Jekyll after finding out about his transcendental medicine
- juxtaposition between Utterson being one of Jekyll's "oldest friends" and still being received in a part of his house for the first time emphasises how people barely know someone until they cast aside their persona
- Jekyll may be in this part of his house because he has killed Danvers Carew
- MAY ALSO REPRESENT JEKYLL'S SWITCH FROM BEING IN CONTROL OF HYDE'S RELEASE TO BEING CONTROLLED BY HYDE; HIS MAIN BEING IS IN THE REPRESSED PART OF HIS HOUSE, NOT THE FRONT
39
"three dusty windows barred with iron"
- "dusty" = the windows haven't been cleaned for a long time, suggesting that the room and thus symbollically this area of Jekyll's psyche has been neglected for a long time
- "iron" = strong, tough metal
- "barred" = brings to mind a prison, suggesting that people cage their repressed unconscious to repress it OR that Hyde is slowly impisoning Jekyll as he gains strength -> psychoanalytic theory of the more you unrepress, the stronger the repressed side gets and one is more likely to be controlled by the unrepressed side than the repressed
- beginning of Jekyll's peripeteia; he can no longer control Hyde
40
"I was thinking of my own character, which this hateful business has rather exposed."
- ironic, as Hyde IS Jekyll's own character
- to Utterson, comes across as selfish, which is completely unexpected of Jekyll and may be construed as a Freudian slip of Jekyll's true selfishness that he often hides in favour of being charitable outwardly
- again may signify Jekyll slowly losing control of Hyde
41
"the two hands are in many points identical: only differently sloped"
- literally "differently sloped" because Jekyll wants to avoid detection as being the same person as Hyde
- symbollically "differently sloped" but "identical" in many ways as a possible comment on the similarities between the persona and the repressed unconscious
- both the persona and repressed unconscious exist and make one act as one does due to the same desires in the ID, however the persona tries to get what it wants through social cohesion and people pleasing, whilst the repressed unconscious is more direct and crass
- criticism of Victorian Hypocrisy in this way; persona and repressed unconscious are driven by the same motives just execute in diff ways and are more similar that one thinks, so no point demonising one and putting the other on a pedestal
42
"he had always been known for charities, he was now no less distinguished for religion... his face seemed to open and brighten"
- criticises charitable people as virtue signalling and not being genuinely charitable
- same with religious people; religious only to absolve themselves of sin
- Stevenson's criticisms of religion may come from criticism of Victorian Hypocrisy or his own personal rejection of religion due to growing up in a very religious household
-
43
"[Lanyon] declared himself a doomed man. 'I have had a shock,' he said"
- "shock"
- Lanyon symbolises orthodox science, so Jekyll proving that transcendental medicine works has shaken Lanyon's entire worldview
- ALTERNATIVELY shocked as Jekyll's transcendental medicine has seemingly proved that everyone is evil deep down and he is shocked that he is also evil deep down (Hobbesian reading; however disproved by looking further in the text when Jekyll states that if his intentions had been pure, he'd have come out an "angel" rather than Hyde, showing that both the persona and the repressed unconscious are equally crucial to one's being and humans are inherently neutral)
- could ALSO be shocked because you never truly know who someone is until they cast away their persona
44
"I wish to see or hear no more of Dr. Jekyll"
- links Jekyll to Lanyon's shock; enigma coding
- Victorian Hypocrisy
45
"preferred to speak with Poole... surrounded by the air and sounds of the open city, rather than... that house of voluntary bondage"
- gothic convention; associating buildings with horror
- "open" vs "bondage" juxtaposition makes it clear that Utterson feels borderline claustrophobic when around Jekyll's repression
- perhaps a comment from Stevenson critiquing Victorian repression as well as perhaps implying that Utterson's own repressed unconscious is terrified of being repressed as extremely as Jekyll's (Freudian slip perhaps)
- "voluntary bondage" = repression
- bondage = being trapped, emotionally painful, restrictive - no one WANTS to be bound but Jekyll does it voluntarily anyway OUT OF FEAR; FEAR DRIVES SOCIETY AND HUMAN BEHAVIOUR AND IS THE SOURCE OF VICTORIAN HYPOCRISY
46
"They were both pale... 'God forgive us, God forgive us,' said Mr. Utterson."
- "pale" = fear, dread - Utterson and Enfield went pale because they saw Jekyll transforming into Hyde for a split second (not enough to confirm it was Hyde but enough to see that something was severely wrong) OR pale because they saw Jekyll's evil and realised that they're also evil deep down
- need to be "forgiven" because of their own evil
- kinda proves Stevenson's point that people only turn to religion when they need to be forgiven
47
"wild, cold... with a pale moon, laying on her back as though the wind had tilted her"
- "wild" foreshadows presence of Hyde (uncontrollable, atavistic etc.)
- "pale" connotes being sickly or dead, as does "cold", thus foreshadowing either death or something so horrible that the readers will feel sick or both
- "moon" = romantic symbol aiding to the creation of horror by contrasting beauty and innocence with abject horror; is also recurrent in j+h when something horrible happens (like the murder of Sir Danvers Carew)
- "wind" is often symbolic of the order/nature of events or the atmosphere; if the direction of the wind has changed so much to "tilt" the moon, foreshadows some life-altering worldview changing event and builds tension
48
"crushing anticipation of calamity"/"trees in the garden were lashing themselves"/"biting weather"
- semantic field of aggression foreshadows the coming violence and/or the presence of Hyde
- "lashing themselves" foreshadows Hyde's suicide; Freud's death instinct
49
"huddled together like a flock of sheep"
sheep = prey animals, innocent, followers of God
portrays the servants as completely innocent of Jekyll's evil and thus terrified by it
gothic convention of dramatic emotion for effect
50
"the housemaid broke into hysterical whimpering"
- dramatic emotional expression = gothic convention due to the gothic link with Romanticism due to being in the same time period (hence Stevenson expressing some Romantic beliefs through his work such as criticisms of industrialisation and organised religion)
- emphasises the horror of the situation
- from a feminist reading, portrays excess uncontrollable emotion as feminine, which is sexist
51
"Poole; this is rather a wild tale... it doesn't commend itself to reason."
- "wild" links to Hyde again and foreshadows his revelation, as well as the fact that Poole is right and Utterson is wrong
- "doesn't commend itself to reason" = AGAIN linking to Hyde, as repressed desires ARE entirely irrational often
- it's ironic that Utterson refuses to believe Poole, as it's entirely true, and may be due to Utterson wanting to believe that he isn't actually cruel and evil deep down
52
"here with a sudden splutter of the pen, the writer's emotion had broken loose"
- Freudian slip
- shows Hyde breaking loose
- "splutter" = uncontrolled blurting, often not thought out; reflects how one's repressed unconscious often acts directly on the ID, whilst the persona acts indirectly on the ID and in a socially acceptable manner (eg. writing a polite letter as seen here)
53
"do you think I do not know my master after twenty years?"
ironic, as Poole DOESN'T know Jekyll due to his extreme repression - criticism of people's terror of being honest with their emotions (possible link to Romanticism)
54
"The steps fell lightly and oddly... different indeed from the heavy creaking tread of Henry Jekyll."
- "lightly" = sounds like a prey animal, implying that Hyde is being hunted by those around him and trying to cage him again as the repressed unconscious, and thus he is trying to avoid detection
- "heavy" = very noticeable, persona tries to drown out even the smallest noises made by the repressed unconscious by being so loud in its own presentation - could refer to virtue signalling etc.
55
"the blow shook the building"
- literally, "shaking the building" shows how much force Poole put into the swing to break the door, which may demonstrate how deeply repressed Jekyll is and how strongly he attempts to cage Hyde but to no avail; perhaps Stevenson saying that no amount of repression will ever allow you to live solely as your persona, as your repressed unconscious is as much a part of you as your persona (critique of extreme Victorian repression)
- figuratively, house is Jekyll's psyche, so the blow to reveal Jekyll's repressed unconscious shows that repression is such an integral part of the Victorian person that removing the repression completely changes who the person presents as - their worldview is metaphorically shaken
56
"the wood was tough and the fittings were of excellent workmanship... not until the fifth that the lock burst"
- door being "tough" comments on extremity of Victorian repression
- "excellent workmanship" implies that it takes physical labour to repress as heavily as Jekyll and thus upper class Victorians do; critique of extreme repression, as it takes a huge mental toll on the person for putting that much work into repression every second of one's life
- "burst" could be read through psychoanalytic theory as referring to the bursting of the repressed unconscious through one's persona if being repressed too long, however weak argument, as door would have to be broken from the other side (however Poole and Utterson could represent the stressors and need for repression in daily life, thus wearing the door down and allowing the repressed unconscious to break through)
57
"a good fire glowing and chattering... papers neatly set forth... the things laid out for tea"
- "fire" = warm, pleasant, PRESENT IN THE ROOMS OF THE PERSONA ALSO; PERSONA AND REPRESSED UNCONSCIOUS ARE MORE SIMILAR THAN YOU THINK
- "chattering" = social, not selfish like Hyde is presented to be for the majority of the text
- the room which is representative of Jekyll's repressed unconscious is completely normal, and even pleasant and welcoming; demonstrates that extreme Victorian etiquette and societal expectations of propriety warp one's view of themselves and one's own flaws; Jekyll's repressed unconscious wasn't bad or evil inherently, but became that way to be paid attention to, or conversely because it was neglected for so long that it forgot what true warmth and love felt like
58
"the most commonplace"
EVERYONE HAS A REPRESSED UNCONSCIOUS; IT IS NOT UNIQUELY TERRIBLE OR DESERVING OF SLANDER AS VICTORIAN HYPOCRISY MADE MANY THINK AND THUS BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY NORMAL
59
"sorely contorted and still twitching"
- "sorely" = in pain, likely contorted or in discomfort for a long time
- "contorted" = twisted and posed in such an uncomfortable way that one looks as if they have been forced into a certain shape; represents extreme Victoria repression forcing the repressed unconscious into the tiny little space deep in their psyche, or alternatively how Victorian society took desires that were normal and human and "contorted" them in such a way as to make them appear evil and worthy of shame and hiding
- makes reader feel sorrow for Hyde, and perhaps done by Stevenson to make people realise that their own faults are not so bad and they should repress themselves less, else they are actively harming an entire side of themselves and alienating themselves from themselves
60
"the body of a self-destroyer"
- Freud's "death instinct"
- Hyde committed suicide; Freud's theory of the death drive (named Thanatos) is characterised by aggression, self harm, destruction etc. and explains the human desire to cause destruction and chaos
- alternatively, "self-destroyer" could refer to Jekyll killing himself through repressing himself so much that his repressed unconscious burst out and killed him so that he would be free of the repression from the persona; destroyed both the repressed unconscious itself and the persona out of desperation to be free
61
"a pious work, for which Jekyll had several times expressed a great esteem, annotated, in his own hand with startling blasphemies"
- "pious" = godly, religious; Jekyll portrays himself as righteous and pious but in reality is evil deep down
- "expressed a great esteem" = Victorian Hypocrisy; agreeing that something outside of one's own personal tastes is great simply to fit in and be socially accepted
- reflects also how many "pious" Victorians also kept many prostitutes, used opium, absinthe etc., all which go directly against religion
- "annotated" = to write all over a book; essentially defiling a pious work with "blasphemies", demonstrating just how little Jekyll actually cared for the book; could reflect Stevenson's own feelings towards religion as he likely had to pretend to be pious and religious whilst living with his very religious family but became an atheist as soon as he could
62
"In my extreme distress of mind, I have a morbid fear of misdirecting you"
scared that Hyde will break loose and a Freudian slip will happen, OR scared that Hyde will "misdirect" Lanyon out of self-preservation and willing not to be repressed again by Jekyll; shows repressed unconscious to hate being repressed and thus locked away and trapped within the depths of Jekyll's psyche and perhaps may evoke some form of sympathy for Hyde
63
"charged your conscience with... the shipwreck of my reason."
- repressed unconscious directly opposes rationality; atavistic and impulsive
- implies that Stevenson may believe that SOME repression is necessary for society to function, but not so much that it ends up destroying one in a different way; a balance is needed
- "shipwreck" = repressed unconscious makes rationality 'sink' further into one's psyche, with the repressed unconscious metaphorically taking the place of the persona and the persona instead being repressed
64
"simple crystalline salt of a white colour"
- "white" = good, pure
- "crystalline" = like crystals, often viewed to be precious and beautiful
- thus, the salt is representative of Jekyll's persona
65
"phial... half full of a blood-red liquor, which was highly pungent... some volatile ether."
- "blood-red" = passionate, perhaps connoting injury or death; intense at the very least and this reflects the emotional intensity of the repressed unconscious
- "liquor" = alcohol; sinful
- "pungent" = horrible smelling, repulsive; again representative of the more societally reprehensible desires of the repressed unconscious
- "volatile" = chemistry-wise means evaporating quickly, possibly representing the impulsivity of the repressed unconscious unlike the salt, which is a neutral substance and thus is stable and logical; can also refer to the repressed unconscious' aggression and violence
66
"small... great muscular activity and great apparent debility of constitution"
- "small" = underdeveloped; Cesare Lombroso OR repression and thus not able to grow
- "muscular" = strength; repressed desires are very strong and eventually override suppression - PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
- "debility of constitution" = poor health; Hyde is repressed so much that he gets no food, no exercise and nothing that makes him healthy and thus able to grow - gives impression of abusing someone and makes reader feel some sort of pity for Hyde and thus the repressed unconscious
- contradictory description as repressed desires are different for everyone and thus incongruous across different accounts; could also demonstrate how the repressed unconscious works on instinct and emotion solely, and not on a sustained string of logic
67
"struck in me... disgustful curiosity"
- "disgustful" = reprehensive, involuntary curiosity on Lanyon's part, Hyde/the repressed unconscious makes Lanyon disgusted (thus demonstrating Victorian rejection of their repressed unconscious so much so that even seeing a part of themselves makes them disgusted and wanting to look away and ignore it even more)
- also may reflect that Hyde brings out the worst in others
- "curiosity" is Lanyon's hamartia; he is too curious for his own good and this is what eventually kills him
- also presents Hyde as so unusual that he warrants studying; here Hyde is used to portray the gothic trope of the uncanny
68
"I took pity on my visitor's suspense, and some perhaps on my own growing curiosity."
demonstrative of how ID drives outward actions of the persona as well as the repressed unconscious; Lanyon here is still presenting himself as chivalrous etc. but uses this to satisfy his own desires
69
"convulsive action of [Hyde's] jaws"
animalistic portrayal; Cesare Lombroso
70
"to brighten in colour... the compound changed to a dark purple, which faded again more slowly to a watery green"
- "dark purple" = very strong alkali in universal indicator in chemistry; used for cleaning tough stains etc. and may be representative of Jekyll trying to cleanse himself of Hyde when drinking the potion
- these strong alkalis are also extremely corrosive in nature, perhaps showing how maintaining purely your persona publicly and not allowing any element of one's repressed unconscious to also shine through takes so much energy and dedication that it may metaphorically eat through one's energy etc.
- "watery green" = neutral colour on universal indicator, showing that at the end of the day, humans are inherently NEUTRAL not good or bad; the strong "acid" representing the repressed unconscious is neutralised by the strong alkali of the persona to make a whole person who has capacity to do both good and evil
71
"My life is shaken to its roots"
dramatic expression of emotion to build horror and also emphasise that Lanyon's entire worldview has been shaken to its core by the revelation that transcendental medicine actually works
- represents fear of orthodox scientists during the industrial revolution that new sciences would mess with spirituality etc. an irreversible amount and thus change the face of the earth forever
- in gothic period, a lot of fear of change
72
"fond of the respect of the wise and good among my fellow men"
- demonstrates that the persona stems from the desire to be valued and respected amongst one's peers, or conversely from the fear of being rejected by one's peers
- THE PERSONA IS CREATED BY THE SUPEREGO (the moral voice of society dictating what is and isn't societally acceptable)
73
"the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition"
the very "worst" of Jekyll's "faults" was being too happy; Stevenson criticising the extremity of Christian morality and Victorian repression for making even good attributes seem like something needing to be shamed
- the fact that this "gaiety" is Jekyll's WORST fault means that he is otherwise perfect; criticises Victorian society for making the very best and most moral of society feel so insecure in themselves that they try to warp themselves to fit in and end up damaging themselves rather than improving - self destroyer
74
"Many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities... I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame"
emphasises Jekyll's repression, as others would celebrate possessing what he is ashamed of
75
"severed in me those provinces of good and ill which divide and compound man's dual nature"
- Stevenson again critiquing Victorian extreme repression
- Jekyll has been "severed" into two parts and is no longer a whole congruous person; he is alienated from himself essentially
- his expression of his "good and ill" is imbalanced now because of how repressed he is, not a balance as Stevenson argues through asserting that mankind is neutral in disposition, not inherently good or bad like Hobbes and Rousseau argue respectively
76
"perennial war"
- "perennial" = eternal and cyclical
- "war" = violent, explosive, traumatising
- Stevenson essentially saying that everyone has a war within them between their persona and their repressed unconscious and which controls the ego and that this war will NEVER end unless humans stop pitting the two sides against one another and instead learn to live with both side by side, as inherently neutral beings
77
"man will be ultimately known for... incongruous and independent denizens"
- under a Yungian lens, people are made of countless different factions of the self which are all warring for dominance (shown by "incongruous")
- here can be read as Stevenson again criticising the Victorian view of the self as strictly good or evil, as human identity is so complex that viewing it as a dichotomy would invalidate so many different aspects of the self that you'd be repressing different facets of your personality without even realising
78
"a beloved daydream, on the thought of the separation of these elements"
- "beloved" = dear to one's heart; Jekyll has fantasised about separating his psyche so frequently that it's almost dear to him
- could also be "beloved" as would free him from the "perennial war" created by Victorian society's rejection of the repressed unconscious and anything that doesn't comply to Victorian societal standards
- "daydream" = fairytale, unrealistic, whimsical; Stevenson implying that it's unrealistic to attempt to completely "separate" two aspects of oneself that make one whole, and thus people need to learn how to live in harmony with both sides of themselves and be neutral in their presentation of themselves, not trying to come across as entirely good
79
"the unjust twin might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin"
Jekyll wanted to separate his persona and repressed unconscious so that the persona could chase aspirations and good reputation without needing to repress the repressed unconscious and thus be dragged down by it, and so the repressed unconscious could go and do whatever it wanted without being repressed so heavily to maintain the persona's reputation
80
"when the attempt is made to cast it off, it but returns upon us with more unfamiliar and more awful pressure"
- from psychoanalytic reading, outbursts of emotion + resurfacing repressed unconscious when tried to suppress HARMS people ("awful pressure" implies pain)
- Stevenson again saying that one cannot in any way, shape or form, physically or mentally, separate the different aspects of oneself ("perennial war"), as all it does is harm people
- Freud's death and life drives being inseparable
81
"sold a slave to my original evil... I was suddenly aware that I had lost in stature."
- "sold" = a willing trade for something beneficial or bringing joy to the buyer; ironic, as later on Hyde becomes in control of this exchange between himself and Jekyll and the trade is no longer beneficial to Jekyll through relieving his repression
- sibilance suggests that Jekyll despises giving up control of his body to Hyde, despite enjoying the freedom from repression; alternatively, could be read as despising Hyde's evil but finding joy through his freedom and carelessness in order to serve his own desires
- "original evil" = original sin = Christian morality/the Bible -> Hobbesian reading; Jekyll, through allowing Hyde to take control, has allowed his original sin to control him - alternatively, portrays Jekyll being tempted by the metaphorical devil through Hyde into giving up his control and righteousness just as Eve did when listening to the snake version of the devil
- Jekyll using transcendental medicine for the first time can be perceived as him having "bitten the apple" so to speak
- "lost in stature" = physically had become smaller due to Hyde/his repressed unconscious being more atavistic or underdeveloped as a result of the extreme repression; morally lost high ground as had become the physical embodiment of his more primal, reprehensible desires -> Cesare Lombrosso
- alternatively, stature may refer to Jekyll's social stature being lost also in Hyde (Marxist theory)
82
"much smaller, slighter and younger than Henry Jekyll."
- "younger" = inexperienced; Hyde has been repressed so long that he has zero experience being in the world
- same as reason for smallness (though this could also be him being atavistic in nature and thus related to Cesare Lombroso's theory)
83
"I was conscious of no repugnance... This, too, was myself. It seemed natural and human."
- "repugnance" = repulsion
- Jekyll not repulsed by Hyde's appearance unlike so many others because he recognises Hyde as an intrinsic part of himself
- ALSO because there really isn't anything truly morally reprehensible about what the majority of Victorians repressed (like Jekyll's happiness)
- "natural and human" = from Hobbesian reading, everyone is inherently evil, from another reading, he says this "TOO" was himself, not that his persona wasn't himself, and thusboth good and bad being intrinsic parts of the self make humans inherently neutral
84
"Had I approached my discovery in a more noble spirit... I had come forth an angel instead of a fiend."
became repressed unconscious instead of pure persona because his intentions were malicious (wanted to do whatever he wanted without consequence - arrogance (his hamartia))
85
"a man who could afford to laugh at suspicion"
- "laugh" = scornful, mocking etc.; doesn't take suspicion seriously because he is of such a high class and social status and does so much virtue signalling that to the general public, him being a criminal sounds ridiculous
- evidence of Jekyll's hubris, as he believes that he's immune to scrutiny
- shows that whilst Jekyll is presented as the more noble one than Hyde, Jekyll is the WHOLE person, not purely his persona or purely his repressed unconscious, and thus exhibits both "good" and "bad" tendencies
86
"the Babylonian finger on the wall"
- Biblical story where the king of Babylon is eating and a hand of God appears and writes on the wall a warning of the downfall of the Babylonian empire, which the king ignores
- representative of the fall of Jekyll's intellectual empire and the figurative empire that is Jekyll's persona
- also representative of Jekyll's arrogance in assuming that he can safely ignore any warnings of his downfall due to his intellect and the fact that he has succeeded in his transcendental medicine
- "finger" = point, very clear what the "Babylonian finger" is warning him about as opposed to a broad gesture
[] Jekyll ignores even the most clear signs of his own downfall
- HUBRIS
87
"Jekyll would suffer smartingly in the fires of abstinence, Hyde would be not even conscious of all that he had lost"
shows that Jekyll is both good and evil whilst Hyde is purely evil
88
"My devil had been long caged; he came out roaring."
- "devil" = Hobbes, Christian morality in Victorian Era (demonisation of desire)
- "caged" = animalistic representation of the repressed unconscious (Cesare Lombroso), psychoanalytic theory for repression, imprisonment and neglect
- "roaring" = Cesare Lombroso, anger, shows Hyde to act purely on emotion and not logic or rationale, psychoanalysis saying repressed desires resurface as emotional outbursts
89
"my better impulses thus buttressed and guarded by terrors of the scaffold."
- basically Jekyll's saying that the only reason he could repress Hyde after the murder of Sir Danvers Carew was that Hyde was deathly terrified of being imprisoned in an actual jail (aka a "scaffold")
- demonstrates that (for the bourgeoisie) people's altruism often stems from a place of self-preservation and not wanting to go to jail, not genuine niceness
- MARXIST THEORY; illustrates how the repressive state apparatus (jail system) keeps the proletariat from rising against the bourgeoisie (Hyde killed a member of the bourgeoisie) through brute force
90
"clear, January day"
up until this point, fog has been used to convey hidden truths about human nature
- thus, the disappearance of the fog symbolises and foreshadows the complete revelation of human nature in the following scene
- "clear" = clarity
91
"at the very moment of that vainglorious thought... I was once more Edward Hyde"
- "vainglorious" = relating to vanity, egoism
- the SECOND that Jekyll lets his guard down and expresses his hubris, he turns into Hyde
- this highlights ego as the main fault of the Victorians; thinking that one is better than others for virtue signalling etc.; Stevenson saying that everyone is equal so shut the fuck up you snobby fucking bastards
92
Hyde = "he", Jekyll = "I"
Jekyll has alienated himself so far from Hyde despite saying "this too was myself" at first that he now sees Hyde as a completely separate being; aids in continuing the "perennial war" as fosters division within the self and not the ego as the master of the persona and the repressed unconscious
- comment on extremity of Victorian repression and how it prevents them from truly knowing themselves
93
"if I slept, or even dozed for a moment... always as Hyde that I awakened."
psychoanalysis; repressed desires surface in dreams, also demonstrates how powerful Hyde has gotten as Jekyll can't let his guard down even for a moment
94
"horror was knit to him closer than a wife"
the wickedness inside him that threatened to destroy him was closer to him emotionally than a marital partner
- marriage is a bond formed by God, whilst the wickedness inside him directly goes against God
- those incongruous faggots just can't stop fucking huh
95
"I am now persuaded that my first supply was impure, and that it was that unknown impurity which lent efficacy to the draught."
- Jekyll was arrogant enough (hubris) to believe that he had understood the true nature of humans and transcendental medicine but simply came across it by chance
- TAKES AWAY JEKYLL'S POWER OF CREATION - asserts that humans can never reach the same rank as a God and it's foolish to believe one's own abilities extend this far
- also foolish to believe that human nature is so simple that one can understand it as a dichotomy, let alone control its expression
96
"your sight shall be blasted with a prodigy to stagger the unbelief of Satan."
- presents Hyde directly in conjunction with the devil
[] transcendental science as evil and against God - gothic convention/industrial rev.
[] ID as evil - Hobbes
[] shocks Victorian audience; big on piety
- "blasted"
[] violent
[] to completely destroy - highlights how deeply this revelation will affect Lanyon's understanding of the world
- "sight" = how you see the world around you
[] will be changed forever
- plosives in "blasted"/"prodigy"/"unbelief" = violent tone, OR simply exaggerates Lanyon's own peripeteia as a tragic hero when he agrees out of curiosity (hamartia)
