Moment 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case Flashcards
‘Hence it came about that I concealed my
pleasures… I regarded and hid them with an
almost morbid sense of shame’
This is the sinful side to Jekyll’s life that he is
attempting to hide.
‘With even a deeper trench than in the majority
of men, severed in me those provinces of good
and ill which divide and compound man’s dual
nature’
This is a very visual metaphor of the duality of
human nature. It makes references to
geographical ideas, like a trench, either being
more natural or more dramatic.
‘Committed to a profound duplicity of life’
Jekyll is obsessed and addicted to this entirely
evil side of his nature, much like Stevenson
was supposedly addicted to cocaine in the 6
days of writing the novella.
‘A grinding in the bones, deadly nausea’
A dreadful image of the transformation into
Hyde - visceral.
‘Braced and delighted me like wine’
This makes reference to much of the book,
where wine is a sinful indulgence.
‘The evil side of my nature… was less robust and
less developed than the good which I had just
deposed’
Jekyll is not used to this new part of him. He
has ‘deposed’ the good, seeming to suggest
being rid of it permanently.
‘All human beings, as we meet the, are
commingled out of good and evil. Hyde, alone
in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil’
This is, in effect, the moral of the story. It also
shows why Hyde is so disliked. It is possible to
be entirely evil, but not to be entirely good.
‘My new power tempted me until I fell into
slavery’
Jekyll become addicted to the drug, before
losing control of its effects entirely. The noun ‘slavery’ hyperbolises Jekyll’s addiction and his alternate persona, Hyde.
‘They soon began to turn towards the
monstrous’
His actions as Hyde are clearly awful and he
knows this, but cannot control it.
‘I had gone to bed Henry Jekyll, I had awakened
Edward Hyde’
This is when he notices that he is permanently
trapped by this condition.
‘Down two pairs of stairs, through the back
passage’
A gothic description through many hidden
pathways around Jekyll’s laboratory.
‘Had fallen upon his knees and lifted his clasped
hands to God’
Jekyll still has faith in God, though it seems
ironic as he is, at times, entirely what Satan
represents.
‘And it was as an ordinary secret sinner’
Jekyll suggests that all of society sins secretly
anyway, but doesn’t let it show out of their
own obsession with image.
‘Languidly weak in body and mind, and solely
occupied by one thought’
He is now entirely controlled by evil and the
drug. Could be related to when Faustus is
taken by the devil and loses all control
whatsoever.
‘For two months’
Repetition - it outlines the dedication Jekyll has had for being somebody else.
‘I led a life of such severity as’
Potential reach to the reader to gain empathy about the pain / struggle for Hyde.
‘his brutish, physical insensibility’
Harsh tone, self depreciating violent adjective to describe Hyde’s nature.
‘moral insensibility’
Shocking as morals are significant to humans. Insensibility expresses the horrific nature of Mr Hyde.
‘before God,’ and, ‘spirit of Hell’
Rebelling against typical Christianity in Victorian society - juxtaposition of good and evil reflecting Jekyll and Hyde.
‘Instantly the spirit of hell awoke me and raged.’
Metaphor for Jekyll’s restraint and Hyde’s overcoming - references to hell and devilish depictions.
‘tasting delight from every blow’
Disturbing image - enjoying murder - juxtaposition of ‘delight’ and ‘blow’
‘gratitude and remorse’
Love-hate relationship with Hyde - oxymoron.
