J + H - shock and horror / fear/ Hyde Flashcards
(chapter 1 pg 5)
The fact that Enfield describe Hyde like** ‘some damned juggernaut’ / ‘Satan’** emphasises how he is presented to the reader as a scary and frightening character, which would alarm a Victorian, Christian god-fearing audience. This would have been very significant to Victorian readers who would have been familiar with similar images and ideas of pure evil.
(chapter 2 pg 12)
Mr Hyde is described as ‘pale and dwarfish’ .
Victorian readers, who were familiar with the pseudo-science of physiognomy, would associate such physical features with criminal intent. Mr Hyde’s ‘dwarfish’ stature gives the impression that he is more ape than man. His diminutive form contradicts Victorian ideal of what a healthy gentleman should look like. This would instil fear in those around him because Victorian readers may view Mr Hyde as a primitive human due to the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin.
(chapter 2 pg 11)
- ‘flush of anger’ shows Impulsive response to mentioning of Jekyll – emphasises internal conflict between Jekyll and Hyde. Hyde’s accusatory tone makes him come across as abrupt and intimidating emphasising his lack of awareness of the gentleman’s code of conduct.
- ‘extra-ordinary quickness’ with which he disappears into the house further exposes his animal like movements. Similarly, it reveals to us how adept he is at vanishing and hiding - as his name suggests
- Mr Hyde is presented as animalistic in nature. He ‘snarls aloud into a savage laugh’ when Utterson refers to their mutual friends. These zoomorphic images illuminate on the danger he poses, both physically and morally, to those in his vicinity.
- sibilance makes Hyde seem more serpent-like, strengthening his ties to evil. This atavistic behaviour alludes to the story of how Satan, in the shape of the serpent, tempted Eve and led to the fall of man.
(chapter 4 pg 16)
Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth. And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot
Stevenson shows Mr Hyde’s lack of remorse and compassion in Chapter 4 (The Murder of Carew) as he impulsively ‘broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth’.
* This highlights his unrepressed sadistic intent through the visceral description of his superhuman strength. The powerful plosive language in ‘broke’ / ‘bounds’ / ‘clubbed’ accentuates the spontaneity and the unprovoked nature of assault which depicts Mr Hyde as an atavistic pre-evolved human / ape. This would instil fear in a Victorian audience as it implies that Darwin’s theory of evolution is true which a religious Victorian wouldn’t want to believe.
* This is further shown as Stevenson further describes Hyde as having ‘ape like fury’. This simile further highlights the feral impulsive nature of Hyde.
* Mr Hyde is described as having ‘trampled his victim under foot’. Stevenson uses this Act to emphasise Hyde’s power as he is physically above Carew (an upper-class MP). This further emphasises how Hyde is indiscriminate in his attacks as he attacks both an upper-class old man and a working-class child implying his lack of morality further suggesting that no-one is safe from him.
(chapter 8 pg 33) - 1
sorely contorted and still twitching
* contorted highlights the uncomfortable nature of his agonising death
* ‘still twitching’ – animalistic and it somewhat implies that he is still alive as his body twitches – suggests that the effects of his actions live on
(chapter 8 pg 33) - 2
self-destroyer
presents Hyde as an anti-religious force as suicide is an immoral thing to do. His intentional suicide highlights his fears of the Gallows – the fact that this drives him to suicide presents him as satanic.
(chapter 10 pg 45)
all human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil
* the metaphor emphasises how he is presented to the reader as a scary and frightening character, which would alarm a Victorian, Christian god-fearing audience. This would have been very significant to Victorian readers who would have been familiar with similar images and ideas of ‘pure’ evil.
essay plan
P1: Extract
P2: religion - fear - physiognomy
* (chapter 1 pg 5) ‘some damned juggernaut’ / ‘Satan’
* (chapter 2 pg 12) ‘pale and dwarfish’
P3: consequences of the repression of desires - atavism - Darwin - evolution
* (chapter 2 pg 11) ‘flush of anger’ / ‘snarls aloud into a savage laugh’ / ‘extra-ordinary quickness’
* (chapter 4 pg 16) ‘Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth. And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot’
P4: End – suicide - unreligious
* (chapter 8 pg 33) sorely contorted and still twitching / self-destroyer
* (chapter 10 pg 45) all human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil
