Hyde

Question 1

Hyde quotes:

Answer 1

• “There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable”
• “With ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim”
• “that masked thing like a monkey jumped from among the chemicals”

Question 2

What themes does the quote “there is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable” link with?

Answer 2

• Appearance vs reality
• Duality
• Repression
• Science vs religion
• Good vs evil

Question 3

Analyse “there is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable”

Answer 3

• This displays the Victorians upholding the theory of physiognomy, that a person’s character was revealed through their looks. This is fitting with other gothic horror novels, such as The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde, which suggests that the more someone engages in debauchery, the more their physical appearance will decline. He simultaneously mocks the idea of physiognomy through the pristine presentation of Jekyll.
• Hyde’s appearance is crucial to his character, symbolising the societal belief that physical abnormalities are divine and natural indication of an individual’s wickedness and immorality.
• The alliterative “d” sounds in “downright detestable” emphasises the magnitude of Hyde’s physical and moral inhumanity and depravity. This monstrous depiction is used to juxtapose the “smooth” unblemished facade of Dr Jekyll’s. Therefore, Jekyll’s polished exterior becomes a symbol of societal hypocrisy.
• This symbolises the potential for immorality to lurk beneath the polished surface of Victorian propriety. The unacknowledged desires and vices repressed within the Victorian society explodes in the form of Hyde, a monstrous embodiment of the darkness Victorians tried so desperately to suppress

Question 4

What themes does the quote “with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim” link with?

Answer 4

• Duality
• Repression
• Appearance vs reality
• Science vs religion
• Good vs evil

Question 5

Analyse “with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim”

Answer 5

• The animalistic simile of “ape-like fury” portrays Hyde’s regression to a primitive state, where instinctual desires are unchecked. This violent eruption exposes the futility of relentless repression. This ceaseless suppression only serves to exacerbate Hyde’s violent and amoral tendencies, prompting an evolution towards a more barbaric state
• The very core of what Victorian society deemed civilised, the control of base instincts, crumbles under the presentation of Hyde, he becomes a monstrous embodiment of their deepest anxieties
• The rise of Darwinism forces Victorians to confront the unsettling concept of man’s animalistic inheritance. In Hyde, they see their carefully constructed facade stripped bare, revealing the savage lurking just beneath the surface of even the most respectable gentleman.
• The repetition of the brutish and careless verb “trampling”, as echosed in chapter 1 where he “trampled calmly” over a little girl, illustrates the uncontrollable and inhumane manifestation of reckless violence and aggression. This enables the malevolent Hyde to reclaim the dominance relinquished by the virtuous Jekyll to his paternalistic society.

Question 6

What theme does the quote “that masked thing like a monkey jumped from among the chemicals” link with?

Answer 6

• repression
• science vs religion

Question 7

Analyse “that masked thing like a monkey jumped from among the chemicals”

Answer 7

• Stevenson’s use of zoomorphic simile in “like a monkey” suggests that Hyde possesses more animalistic and primitive than human-like qualities. This portrayal of Hyde aligns with the growing anxieties of Darwinism, which threatened Christian beliefs in divine creation. Poole’s account of Hyde, implies that he embodies an unrefined, primitive force, operating outside of human moral or social structures.
• The comparison signifies the Victorian struggle with repression where Hyde is the physical manifestation of all that Jekyll suppresses, revealing the dangers of ignoring one’s basic instincts. The description of Hyde jumping over “the chemicals” further the fact that his animal-like manifestation is a result of Jekyll’s chemical experiment in an attempt to compartmentalise his depraved instincts to maintain his facade of respectability, but has instead unleashed something heinous into the world that is devoid of human compassion.
• Hyde’s animalistic nature is emblematic of the Victorian fear of moral an volutionary regression. His depiction as a monkey encapsulates societal anxieties that indulging in unscrupulous behaviour would cause a lescent into savagery, leading to an regressive transmogrification of humanity to a more primitive, animalistic state of being