Quotes

Question 1

“a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty… every mark of capacity and kindess” - Jekyll

Answer 1

Euphemistic description of “smooth-faced” - creates a veneer of polished respectability suggesting a immaculate exterior, masking his duplicity which materialises in the body of Hyde.

• emphasises Jekyll’s internal struggle, positioning him as an archetype of Victorian duality where Jekyll is a façade for Hyde’s depravity.
• Jekyll is emblematic of the smooth faced façades of the upper class of Victorians where public personas conceal the dark heinous desires of its reality

Asyndetic listing - creates a simple rhythm reinforcing his charm, complete outward appearance and his social prestige

• this merely impossible perfection of appearance hints at a duplicitous nature within.
• the compressed structure suggests that beneath the façade of victorian gentleman lies a rebellion of societal repression shown in the case of Jekyll

Context - Victorian London - Victorian London was highly hypocritical, as even though it was plagued with extremely restrictive social norms, prostitution and drug use were rampant. Jekyll’s public persona isnt an aesthetic choice, it is a stragetic façade to navigate a city where public virtue often hides deep desires.

Physiognomy - was the pseudoscientific belief that a person’s character could be judged by their outward appearance. Physical abnormalities often inclinated a deformed internal character. Jekyll contradicts this as his immaculate exterior acts a façade for his heinous desires in the body of Hyde.