Jekyll and Hyde - Introduction to “Jekyll and Hyde” and Stevenson + Background and Context Flashcards
1
Q
What is ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ about?
A
+Jekyll and Hyde is about man’s dual nature.
+The novel is about a respectable doctor, called Henry Jekyll, who transforms into the evil Edward Hyde.
2
Q
What values does Jekyll and Hyde reflect?
A
+Although it’s fictional, the novel reflects the strict values of Victorian society, in which people were expected to be restrained and appear respectable at all times.
3
Q
How does Jekyll and Hyde have a strong message?
A
+Jekyll and Hyde is about human nature - everyone has a good and evil inside them.
+If people explore their dark side, it can lead to problems - but hiding or denying it leads to problems too.
4
Q
What was Robert Louis Stevenson interested in?
A
Robert Louis Stevenson was interested in man’s different sides.
5
Q
As a child, how was Stevenson influenced?
A
+As a child, Stevenson was influenced by the strict Christian beliefs of his nanny, Alison Cunningham.
6
Q
What was Stevenson interested as an Adult?
A
+As an adult, Stevenson was interested in the behaviour of Victorian gentlemen - the way they maintained an outwardly respectable appearance, but secretly indulged in immoral behaviour.
7
Q
Who’s life was Stevenson particularly fascinated by?
A
+Stevenson particularly fascinated by the life of Deacon Brodie, a respectable cabinet maker who led a secret life as a robber.
8
Q
Describe Stevenson’s timeline of events.
A
- 1850 - Born in Edinburgh
- 1867 - Went to Edinburgh university to study engineering
- 1871 - Wanted to become a writer, but decided to study law first on his father’s advice.
- 1873 - Quarrelled with his father about religion - his father was upset that Stevenson had become an atheist.
- 1878 - Published his first novel, ‘An inland voyage’
- 1880 - Married Fanny Osbourne
- 1886 - Published ‘The Stange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’
- Moved to Samoa and never returned to Britain
- 1894 - Died aged 44
9
Q
Where is Jekyll and Hyde set?
A
Jekyll and Hyde is set in London
10
Q
What are the key locations in Jekyll and Hyde?
A
- Lanyon’s house
- Jekyll’s house
- Utterson’s house
- Hyde’s Soho house
- The maid’s house
- Cabinet
- Laboratory
- River Thames
*
11
Q
What did Victorian gentlemen try to hide?
A
Victorian gentlemen tried to hide their darker side
12
Q
What was it important to look like in Victorian middle and upper class society?
A
+In Victorian middle and upper-class society, it was important to look respectable.
+As a result, people hid their true feelings, especially if these were immoral or improper.
13
Q
What was very important to Victorian gentlemen?
A
+Reputation was very important to Victorian gentlemen.
+If they were seen doing anything which wasn’t respectable, their good name would be ruined.
14
Q
How would Victorian gentlemen protect their reputation?
A
+To protect their reputation, people often kept their sinful behaviour and less respectable desires secret.
15
Q
What did Victorian gentlemen not like to talk about?
A
+They didn’t like to talk about anything that might damage their reputation or upset their apparently civilised society.
16
Q
Who is Dr Henry Jekyll?
A
+Dr Henry Jekyll is a well respected Doctor and Scientist.
+He starts to act strangely and stops seeing his friends when he secretly experiments with his alter ego.
17
Q
Who is Mr Edward Hyde?
A
+Mr Edward Hyde is the evil side of Jekyll.
+He’s a violent and merciless character who makes people feel uneasy and disgusted.
18
Q
Who is Mr Gabriel Utterson?
A
+Mr Gabriel Utterson is a lawyer and Jekyll’s friend.
+He is very rational and sets out to solve the mystery of Jekyll’s odd behaviour.
19
Q
Who is Dr Hastie Lanyon?
A
+Dr Hastie Lanyon is also a Doctor.
+He used to be close friends with Jekyll, but they fell out over Jekyll’s controversial scientific ideas.
20
Q
Who is Mr Richard Enfield?
A
+Mr Richard Enfield is Utterson’s relative and friend.
+They enjoy spending time together even though they don’t have much in common.
21
Q
Who is Poole?
A
+Poole is Jekyll’s butler.
+He’s worked for Jekyll for 20 years and knows him well.
+He’s concerned about Jekyll’s strange behaviour.
22
Q
Who is Sir Danvers Carew?
A
+Sir Danvers Carew is an elderly gentleman and member of Parliament.
23
Q
Who is Mr Guest?
A
+Mr Guest is Utterson’s clerk.
+He notices that Hyde’s handwriting is almost identical to Jekyll’s.
24
Q
What is chapters one to three about?
A
+The mysterious Mr Hyde
25
What are the main events of chapters 1-3?
* Utterson and Enfield walk past a neglected building which reminds Enfield of a crime in which a man named Hyde trampled a young girl.
* Enfield explains that he put pressure on Hyde to pay for his crime - Hyde went into the building and came out with a cheque signed by Dr Henry Jekyll.
* Utterson is concerned by Jekyll’s will, which leaves everything to Hyde - He visits Lanyon and discovers that he and Jekyll have fallen out.
* Utterson meets Hyde and really dislikes him - it turns out that the building Hyde went into when Enfield saw him is the laboratory in Jekyll’s home - Utterson concludes that Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll.
* Utterson attends a dinner party thrown by Jekyll - Utterson questions Jekyll about Hyde, but Jekyll asks him to let the matter drop; Jekyll makes Utterson promise that he’ll carry out the instructions in his will.
26
What are chapters four to five about?
The dissappearance of Mr Hyde
27
What are the main events of chapters four to five?
* A year later, a maid witnesses the violent murder of Sir Danvers Carew by Hyde - Utterson takes the police to Hyde's home in Soho where they find the murder weapon; Hyde is no where to be found.
* Utterson goes to see Jekyll, who looks very ill - Jekyll claims that he'll never see Hyde again and shows Utterson a letter from Hyde which backs this up.
* However, Utterson is concerned when Poole tells him that no letters had been delivered to the house that morning.
* Later, Utterson shows Guest the letter, who points out the similarity between the handwriting of Jekyll and Hyde.
28
What are chapters six to eight about?
Jekyll is in trouble
29
What are the main events of chapters six to eight?
* There's still no sign of Hyde, and Jekyll becomes more like his old self - But a few months later he hides himself away from his friends again.
* Utterson visits Lanyon, who's very ill - Lanyon refuses to talk about Jekyll; He says he's had a terrible shock and expects to die soon.
* Jekyll writes to Utterson to say that he can't see his friends any more - Lanyon dies and leaves Utterson a letter to be read after Jekyll's death or disappearance.
* Utterson and Enfield walk past Jekyll's house and see Jekyll sitting in the window - They invite him out for a walk, but a sudden look of terror comes across his face and he quickly shuts the window.
* Poole comes to Utterson's house because he's very worried about Jekyll - They go to Jekyll's laboratory and shout to Jekyll, but the voice that responds sounds like Hyde.
* They break in and discover Hyde dead on the floor, having poisoned himself - There's no sign of Jekyll; A letter on the desk addressed to Utterson tells him to read Lanyon's letter and then Jekyll's confession.
30
What are chapters nine to ten all about?
The mystery is solved
31
What are the main events of chapters nine to ten?
* Lanyon's letter explains that Hyde drank the potion and transformed into Jekyll in front of him - The shock that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person caused Lanyon's death.
* Jekyll's confession reveals that he had turned into Hyde without meaning to in the park - He wrote to Lanyon, asking for his help to retrieve the ingredients he needed for his potion.
* Jekyll writes that he came from a respectable family, but he was ashamed of his darker desires.
* He created a drug that allowed him to transform between Jekyll, his original self, and Hyde, his purely evil side.
* As time went on, Jekyll started to turn into Hyde without taking the drug.
* He eventually ran out of drugs, which meant that he would become Hyde permanently.
32
When did Stevenson publish Jekyll and Hyde?
+Stevenson published Jekyll and Hyde in 1886, when Queen Victoria was on the throne.
+The novel will make far more sense if you know a bit about that period of history.
33
What group is Jekyll and Hyde about?
Jekyll and Hyde is about a group of gentlemen.
34
What was an important figure in Victorian society?
+The 'gentleman' was an important figure in Victorian society.
+A man's social class was part of being a gentleman - gentlemen were from the upper-classes of Victorian society.
35
How was a gentleman's profession also important?
+His profession was also important.
+Army officers, church ministers, doctors and lawyers might all be counted as gentlemen.
+Some middle-class men [such as bankers and successful merchants] also aspired to be gentlemen.
36
What were gentlemen expected to have?
+Gentlemen were expected to have strong morals and be kind, particularly towards poorer people.
+But plenty of people saw this as a less important part of being a gentleman.
37
What benefits did being a gentleman bring?
+Being a gentleman brought many benefits - It gave you a chance to enter well-paid professions like medicine and law, and gain the respect of rich clients.
+**_Character - Utterson:_** Utterson, a successful lawyer, is a good example of the Victorian gentlemen.
38
How was being a gentleman important for their children?
+It was also important for your children.
+A gentleman could use his contacts to arrange good marriages for his daughters and well-paid jobs for his sons.
39
What were gentlemen obsessed with?
+Gentlemen were obsessed with their reputations
40
What were gentlemen determined to do?
+Gentlemen were determined to maintain their reputations - without a good reputation, a man couldn't be considered a gentleman at all.
+**_Theme - Reputation:_** Utterson wants to discover the truth about Hyde, but he is worried that it might damage Jekyll's reputation.
+This slows him down when he is trying to solve the mystery.
41
What would gentlemen often walk through?
+Gentlemen would often walk through public places, such as Hyde Park in London.
+This helped them to keep up their appearance as gentlemen.
+Utterson and Mr Enfield go on these walks regularly.
42
What were gentlemen expected to keep under control?
+Gentlemen were expected to keep their emotions under strict control.
+This forced them to hide their desires for things like sex and alcohol.
43
What were many gentlemen snobbish about?
+Many gentlemen were publicly snobbish about disreputable places, like public houses and brothels, whilst visiting them secretly at night.
+Stevenson hints at this hypocrisy in the novel.
+**_Theme - Dual Nature of Man:_** Jekyll struggles with the social pressure to be respectable.
+He "concealed" his "pleasures", but this made him feel like a "double dealer", even before he created Hyde.
44
What were Victorian gentlemen prepared to pay?
+They were prepared to pay large sums of money to keep activities like these private, which made them vulnerable to blackmail.
+Utterson assumes that Jekyll is being blackmailed about something in his past.
+Even Hyde, who doesn't need to protect his reputation is prepared to pay money, partly to avoid a public scandal.
45
How can you be a Victorian gent?
+"I had been safe of all men's respect, wealthy, beloved"
+To be a Victorian gent: keep conversation controlled, appearance perfect and immoral activities under the rug.
+And you know, don't invent a potion that transforms you into a muderous, ape-like being of pure evil.
46
What was working-class London?
Working class London was overcrowded.
47
How did the middle an upper class live compared to others?
+Whilst the middle and upper-classes lived in richly-furnished houses [like Jekyll's house, which has "a great air of wealth and comfort"], this wasn't true of everyone.
48
What did the Industrial Revolution mean?
+The Industrial Revolution meant that many working-class people migrated to large towns and cities to live and work.
+Housing had to be built rapidly to accommodate workers and their families - Large areas of slums, heavily populated areas of poor quality housing, sprang up in London's East End.
49
What was slum-housing like?
+Slum housing was generally of a poor quality because it was built so quickly.
+Whole families could live in one or two rooms - houses were often damp, with no running water or proper sanitation.
+This led to widespread outbreaks of fatal diseases, like cholera.
50
What were the streets in slums like?
+The streets in the slums were narrow and poorly lit - Victorian London was known for its smoke, caused by burning coal on a large scale.
+The East End slums were built close to factories so that people could easily work long hours - this meant that the slums suffered particularly from pollution.
+**_Writer's techniques - Setting:_** In parts of the novel, London could seem nightmarish - the fog and gloom are thick and powerful.
51
What part of London was not respectable?
+Working class London was not respectable
52
Where would most respectable men not want to be seen?
+There were some parts of London where most respectable men wouldn't want to be seen, such as the working-class slums.
+They also wouldn't want to be seen visiting brothels or public houses.
53
What is divided in the novel?
+**_Theme - Dual Nature of Man:_** It's not only the characters who are divided in the novel - this theme also applies to the settings.
+Jekyll's home has two very different entrances, but they both lead to the same building.
54
What part of the city is Hyde associated with?
+Hyde is associated with these less respectable parts of the city.
+His house is in a "dismal quarter of Soho", where "ragged children" huddle in doorways.
55
How did two sides of the city overlap?
+But the two sides of the city did overlap.
+Some gentlemen would deliberately travel to the "dismal" areas of London [where there was less chance of being recognised] to satisfy the desires they hid in public.
+Jekyll takes this one step further by changing who he is entirely before going to these areas.
56
Who does Jekyll set up a house for?
+Jekyll also sets up a house for Hyde in Soho, and furnishes it in "luxury and good taste".
+This ties him, a respectable gentleman, to a disreputable part of the city.
57
Where were Gothic novels traditionally set?
+**_Writer's Techniques - The Gothic Novel:_** Traditionally, Gothic novels were set in farway places, such as abandoned castles in foreign countries.
+Stevenson chose to set his story in a place very familiar to his readers, which might make the novel more frightening.
58
What were _some_ Victorian gentlemen quite familiar with?
+"Soho...with its muddy ways, and slatternly passengers"
+Although they'd insist otherwise, some Victorian gents were quite familiar with the dodgy parts of town.
+Dark alleys, narrow streets and constant fog - the perfect place for hiding your secret night-time exploits.
59
What did the Victorians practice a lot?
+The Victorians were a very religious lot, but they were also really keen on their science.
+You probably don't need me to tell you that these two don't always play nicely together.
60
What society was very religious?
+Victorian society was very religious
61
What had a strong influence on many areas of everyday life?
+Christianity had a strong influence on many areas of everyday life in Victorian England.
+One particularly influential branch of Christianity was called Evangelicalism.
62
What did the Evangelicals teach?
+The Evangelicals taught that all people are naturally sinful, and that it's up to individuals to seek forgiveness from God.
+They should do this by living according to a strict moral and religious code - with an emphasis on total morality and avoiding sin,
63
Who is particularly critical of his own sinfulness?
+**_Characters - Jekyll:_** Jekyll is particularly critical of his own sinfulness, more so than any other character.
+He thinks of his sin as "the doom and burden of our life".
+He creates Hyde in an attempt to rid himself of this "extraneous evil".
64
Who's theory was controversial?
+Darwins theory of evolution was controversial
65
In the early 1800s, what did Christianity teach?
+In the early 1800s, Christianity taught that God created every species to be perfectly adapted to its environment.
+The Book of Genesis also taught that humans were made in God's image, different from all other animals and ruling over them.
66
What did some scientists argue?
+Some scientists argued that species evolved [developed] gradually over time.
+There were many different theories of how this process occurred.
67
What idea did Darwin put forward?
+Darwin put forward his theory in "On the Origin of Species", published in 1859.
+Darwin's book claimed that all creatures evolved from common ancestors through a process called "natural selection".
+In a later book, he wrote about humans, arguing that they shared a common ancestor with apes.
68
What did Darwin's writings go against?
+Darwin's writings went against the Christian idea that man's nature was different from other animals.
+It's an unsettling idea that there may be an animalistic side to everyone, capable of uncivilised acts and violent crimes.
69
How does Steveson use the idea of evolution in the novel?
+Stevenson uses this idea of evolution in the novel.
+Hyde is described as the "animal within" Henry Jekyll.
+He seems "hardly human", lets out a scream of "animal terror" and Poole says he is "like a monkey".
+Hyde is also shorter than Jekyll, which could suggest that he's a less evolved version of the doctor.
70
Show how context is linked to the events in the novel.
+Science and religion can be tricky topics, but the thing to focus on is how they might have influenced Stevenson's writing.
+It's good to mention the bits of the novel that are particularly frightening for Victorians.
