hyde Flashcards
“The man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground.”
H is a criminal who is capable of unspeakable acts.
introduced via his barbaric nature, emphasised- oxymoron ‘trampled calmly’ where Stevenson explicitly juxtaposes his lack of remorse with his aggressive actions
This contrasts the strict moral conventions of Victorian society, wherein one was expected to behave with ‘proper’ manner at all time
“Some damned juggernaut’
the satanic connotations of “damned” are Juxtaposed against the omnipotent connotation of “juggernaut”, this implies that Hyde is restricted by conventional ideas of religious morality
juggernaut means destructive force. The further theme of sacrifice implied by the word ‘juggernaut’ may reference to the sacrifice Jekyll makes to Hyde in exchange for indulging in inappropriate behaviour. This suggests Hyde is controlled solely by impulse.
“With a kind of black sneering coolness frightened too, I could see that but carrying it off, really like Satan.”
The contrast between black sneering coolness and frightened highlights, the opposing nature of Hyde’s behaviour and manner.
The simile like Satan shows that Hyde is an abominable human being, he doesn’t really have a conscience. This shocks the Victorian reader due to their religious beliefs, and their knowledge and understanding of Satan’s behaviour and actions.
‘something displeasing, something downright detestable’
Hyde is vague in nature and is unable to be pictured in words- evokes fear in other characters, and the reader.
Stevenson’s use of ambiguity forces, the reader to imagine the worst fears in Hyde. uses repeated harsh “d” consonants to introduce Hyde as a force of evil and the pronoun “something “ creates a sense of intangibility.
several characters say that they can’t explain why they dislike Hyde. The fact that these characters can’t (or won’t) make any sense of Hyde may reflect the way they repressed their own darkside
this is repeated to empahsise the intended Victorian reader that the man has a monstrous, amoral character also due to their belief in physiognomy
ch2
‘glide….stealthily…more swiftly, even to dizziness through wider labyrinths’
the adverbs ‘‘swiftly’ and ‘stealthily’ aim to give supernatural abilities to the image of Hyde and leave the reader afraid of his domineering power
the term ‘labyrinth’ links to the story of the monstrous minotaur in Greek mythology, who has the head of a bull but body of a man, representing the primal fear of the unknown, the evil nature of Hyde, as well as the duality of Jekyll/Hyde.-links to Darwinism
‘pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity’
These adjectives both relate to him, being weak or deformed “pale” relates to lack of life or vigour also has horrific connotations, which linked him to vampires. And “dwarfish” Although linking him to short, could also suggest that he is below other people socially as well as physically also that he is less involved than the civilised gentleman of Victorian England
this is again touching on the pseudo-science of physiognomy and the reference in Victorian society that physical deformity equated to poor character
Troglodytic
Utterson describes Hyde as inhuman and having a prehistoric appearance
Adjective resembling a primitive cave man. This pushes Hyde back down the evolutionary ladder because of the presence of Darwin’s evolution theory, many Victorians were frightened of the idea of ape like people
“Satan’s signature upon a face”
The alliterative phrase draws the reader’s attention to the use of ‘Satan’ which highlights a strong sense of evil within Mr Hyde. As the lead figure of hell and all sinners, ‘Satan’ implies that Mr Hyde is the embodiment of evil himself. By having his ‘signature upon his face’ it suggests that Satan has already signed him over the dark side. Due to the strict religious requirements of the Victorian period, the reference to ‘Satan’ would cause intense concern and fear in the reader as they strongly believed in heaven and hell. People wary of their behaviour, in order to get into heaven, unlike Hyde who is shown to be the complete opposite highlighting the fact he is a frightening outsider.
‘he broke out in a great flame of anger’
The ordered series of clauses depicting Hyde’s behaviour contrast with the violent and irrational nature of the action. His volatility is shown by the metaphor of his violence as a “flame” which has natural connotations suggesting that this is ingrained to his character.
‘ape-like fury’
This shows that Hyde is animal-like as he has no control over his emotions, which led to his violence and animalistic behaviours.
This dehumanising image of a Hyde as an animal strips him of his humanity, and highlights his lack of remorse. As Carew has done nothing to deserve this murder, Hyde’s fury seems to be wild and arbitrary.
The reference to the ape implies there is something primitive about the violence and evil that Hyde exhibits linking to atavism
shows hyde has regresses back into a primitive form, where man indulges in their instinctive desires. This parallel between mankind and their primal instinct would have been prevalent in the Victorian era due to the rise of Darwinism and the theory of evolution- Hyde may be an embodiment of the fears of Victorian society in regard to mankind being alike to animals and having these uncontrollable instincts
Particularly small and particularly
wicked-looking”
maid’s description of Hyde to the police. Through physiognomy, his appearance would convict him as a criminal. Repetition of “particularly” shows that Hyde was one of a kind and unique as shown by his violent actions (not like the rest of society)Stevenson suggestion that there is a primitive Mr Hyde, within a respectable man, like Dr Jekyll forces, the reader, to consider that there could be a dark immoral side to everyone
ch8 “If it was my master why did he cry out like a rat’
The noun rat highlights, yet again animalistic imagery portraying Hyde as a savage and less civilised than Jekyll who is a reputable gentleman.
This links to the wider theme that all humans have a dual nature and there is a continuous battle between the good, civilised side and the darker more primitive side of man.
Upper-class, Victorians, like Utterson and Jekyll were very concerned with appearing respectable so they struggled with the idea that people had a primitive side. They hid their darker desires, beneath a civilised exterior by following strict code of conduct. The fact that Hyde is actually part of a well respected Victorian gentleman would have been very agitating to a Victorian audience
‘No, sir, that thing in a mask was never Dr. Jekyll-God knows what it was, but it was never Dr. Jekyll’
The irony of Poole’s statement is that the ‘thing’ and Dr Jekyll are one person
the motif ‘mask’ repeated within ch 8, symbolises the dual existence of inner feelings in contrast with the outer life. Dr J is hiding behind the mask of Hyde, where he can express his true feelings of barbarity and immorality which he usually keeps hidden.
When the masked thing like a monkey jumped from among the chemicals and whipped inside the cabinet it when down my spine like ice”
simile has animalistic connotations proven by his savage traitshe separated from the rest of the characters, because he was created by “chemicals”The verb jumped shows how he felt threatened, and was in a state of panic suffering from withdrawal from potionsDarwin’s theory of evolution- Hyde is a degenerate both in the colloquial and scientific fashion
