Key Quotes on Science and Religion

Question 1

“My Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity” – Narrator, Chapter II

“And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot” Narrator, Chapter IV

Answer 1

Both of these quotes describe the character of Hyde to the reader

Analysis

Hyde is described throughout in terms of animalistic imagery which increases as the novella develops: “savage”, “snarled”, “with ape-like fury” and “hardly human” all allude to his aggressive, predatory and primitive nature

Stevenson’s deliberate use of animal imagery is used to suggest Hyde’s separateness from human society and his unrestrained nature

It could also be an allusion to Charles Darwin’s ideas about evolution:
- That human being are descended from apes

Stevenson suggests that “he gives a strong feeling of deformity” though he does not specify what this deformity is

This casts an uncertainty as to Hyde’s character and also hints at a supernatural element as the descriptions of him are quite ambiguous

Question 2

“My life is shaken to its roots” – Lanyon, Chapter IX

and

“I ask myself if I believe it, and I cannot answer” – Lanyon, Chapter IX

Answer 2

This quote appears in Lanyon’s letter which Utterson reads in Chapter IX and it reveals Lanyon’s final encounter with Jekyll

Analysis

Stevenson positions Lanyon as the only character to witness Jekyll’s transformation as his belief in the laws of science does not enable him to accept what he has witnessed

Lanyon is a respectable and conventional scientist and stands in contrast to Jekyll, as he views Jekyll’s experiments as dangerous and describes them as “scientific balderdash”

Lanyon’s shock at Jekyll’s experiment is so great that it leads to his own physical and mental deterioration and subsequent death