Repression Flashcards
Utterson - Repression
“He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages;” - Represses his true desires, even when they are simple and easily resolved, even when nobody would judge him for it, to practice virtue and patience.
“I am ashamed of my long tongue” - he represses his curiosity for the sake of society as a gentlemen ‘should not’ express too much emotion as it is not proper. U and J express their hidden desires/dont express them in certain ways - U’s deepest desires are involved with simple vices (that would still be seen as somewhat outrageous), but J’s are twisted and dark
Dr Jekyll - Repression
“I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life.” - already was repressing his true desires before he became H, which was the reason he needed H as an escape
Ultimately represses the most integral part of his personality until he cannot stand it anymore - he is a character in the book that doesnt repress parts of himself. Despite his charitable work to counteract H’s wrongdoings and crimes, he still indulges in becoming H.
as H - “`Name your figure.” - shows that despite his freedom to act on his natural urges, he is showing a form of repression in covering up his tracks and crimes as any respectable victorian gentleman should.
J begins to believe being H is wrong - “for two months i led a life of such severity as i had never before attained to, and enjoyed the compensations of an approving conscience” - however he cant repress this part of himself anymore “i began to be tortured with throes and longings”
Descriptions of violence - Repression
“the man trampled calmly” “something displeasing” - had to abide to indecency laws of the victorian age - formal, restrained tone. This is notable as it is E who tells U these details. Cannot speak of such violence as it is improper. Reader is left to embellish the details on their own, leading to varying levels of imagined violence.
However in Carew’s murder as this is not told by a gentleman and instead described by the narrator, more shocking and violent imagery is clearly described. “storm of blows” “audibly shattered” all create an animalistic sense of unrestrained/uninhibited violence for H. This violence is not hidden or repressed by the description.
Consequences - Repression
“Yet it was by these that I was punished. My devil had been long caged, he came out roaring.” - compares himself to a “drunkard”, implying he is out of control and the repressed side of him is taking over as it has been hidden for so long. He is reduced to his basal animalistic impulses, something horrifying and alien to victorian audiences.
This leads him to kill himself to rid the world of H - “i bring the life of that unhappy henry jekyll to an end” - even though he had gotten his deepest desires he was still unhappy and dissatisfied with his life.
