repression Flashcards
“He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone …But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy“(Chapter 1)
Utterson is very careful in terms of how he behaves. He only drinks alcohol whe n alone and has not even been to the theatre for twenty years. However, he is happy to be tolerant towards other people and their behaviours, but lots of people were not. Utterson can often be jealous of others for their behaviour.
You start a question, and it’s like starting a stone. You sit quietly on the top of a hill; and away the stone goes… No sir, I make it a rule of mine: the more it looks like Queer Street, the less I ask. (Chapter 1)
Enfield stops himself from asking questions when he is suspicious for fear of what he might find out. He represses this desire to be inquisitive.
“I am ashamed of my long tongue. Let us make a bargain never to refer to this again.” (Chapter 1)
Enfield says he is ashamed of himself for gossiping. He and Utterson agree not to do it anymore.
“I come here at the instance of your colleague, Dr. Henry Jekyll, on a piece of business of some moment; and I understood …” He paused and put his hand to his throat, and I could see, in spite of his collected manner, that he was wrestling against the approaches of the hysteria—”I understood, a drawer …” (Chapter 9)
Hyde is desperate for the drawer but calmly and politely speaks to Dr Lanyon – he represses his excitement, fear and anxiety.
“Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of me.” (Chapter 10)
Dr Jekyll explains that he repressed his sinful side in public to give the appearance of being respectable.
“At that time my virtue slumbered; my evil, kept awake by ambition, was alert and swift to seize the occasion; and the thing that was projected was Edward Hyde.” (Chapter 10)
Jekyll explains that the more he tried to repress ‘Hyde’ within him, the more keen he became to come out.
“It was Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty. Jekyll was no worse; he woke again to his good qualities seemingly unimpaired; he would even make haste, where it was possible, to undo the evil done by Hyde. And thus his conscience slumbered.” (Chapter 10)
Jekyll makes himself feel better by repressing his conscience. He tells himself that it was Hyde who committed those crimes, not himself.
“My devil had been long caged, he came out roaring.” (Chapter 10)
By repressing Hyde as long as he can, Jekyll only makes him more desperate to ‘come out’.
