Jekyll and Hyde Moment 1 / Chapter 1

Question 1

Summary

Answer 1

In this chapter it is Mr Enfield who is narrating a passage to Mr Utterson. A sinister man, Mr.Hyde, tramples a young girl and leaves her screaming. The witnesses threaten to put his name in scandal. He disappears into a mysterious door, later on he re emerges from the shadows to pay off the victims with a cheque signed by a respectable gentleman, Mr. Jekyll.

Question 2

Key quotes

Answer 2

“The man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground”
“It was hellish to see”
“Gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running.”
“I had taken a loathing to my gentleman at first sight”
“With the desire to kill him”
“a really damnable man”
“Very pink of the proprieties”
“a kind of black sneering coolness”
“Black winter morning”
“Like harpies”
“Some damned Juggernaut”

Question 3

Context

Answer 3

Incident with little girl likely much worse in original script (an assault, possibly sexual)
Stevenson’s wife told him to burn it as she thought it was not appropriate to publish
Children were viewed as pure, virginal and virtuous which are important Victorian values
Scandal and reputation
High value on a gentleman’s good reputation
Desire and habits that did not fit in with these expectations had to be hidden or repressed and the novel explores the consequences of this

Question 4

Additional points

Answer 4

• First impression of Hyde is violent, devilish and evil
• The event happens in the morning it is dark, gothic convention
  -Religious references “damned”
  -Hyde’s lack of empathy
  -Freud’s theory about how there is a little bit of evil in everyone that no one wants to see
  -Hyde pays a lot of money for there to not be a scandal
  -He uses Jekyll’s money to pay the family