jekyll and hyde

Question 1

chapter 1 - “I incline to Cain’s heresy”

Answer 1

• biblical allusion
• Utterson means that his “sin” is that he doesn’t get involved in the personal affairs of others
• blasphemous language
• Victorian reader would not like such language as it goes against their ethos

Question 2

chapter 1 - “drank gin when he was alone”

Answer 2

• shows how Victorian society will go against anything considered sinful by society
• he is alone as he is scared of being ostracised by society

Question 3

chapter 2 - “the other”

Answer 3

• displays the gothic theme
• represents Jekyll’s alter ego
• foreshadowing that Jekyll is actually Hyde

Question 4

chapter 2 - “something troglodytic”

Answer 4

• suggests Hyde is a caveman
• correlates to the theory of evolution
• shows Robert Stevenson’s radical beliefs

Question 5

chapter 2 - “snarled… savage”

Answer 5

• shows how Hyde is ape-like
• animalistic language

Question 6

chapter 1 - “street after street”

Answer 6

• creates a sense of insanity through repetition
• sets the gothic tone

Question 7

chapter 2 - “great field of lamps of a nocturnal city”

Answer 7

• great field of lamps suggest the primitive instinct of light representing safety
• “nocturnal” represents darkness and that Hyde will reveal himself when no one is looking

Question 8

chapter 2 - “human juggernaut trod the child down and passed on regardless of her screams”

Answer 8

• repetition of juggernaut suggests the image is constantly being replayed in mr enfield’s head
• shows Hyde’s psychopathic nature, “regardless of her screams”

Question 9

chapter 3 - “cronies…intelligent, reputable men…judges of good wine”

Answer 9

• shows his compassion and frendlienss through complements
• “judges of good wine” suggests jekyll’s friends are wealthy
• victorian audience would be pleased by this through the correlation of wealthiness to goodness

Question 10

chapter 3 - “good fellow… excellent fellow…. hide bound pedant”

Answer 10

• disingenuous language
• shows his egotism as he gets angry if someone disagrees with him
• ironic language as jekyll is bound to hyde later on in the book

Question 11

chapter 3 - “smooth faced… slyish cast… marks”

Answer 11

• lexical field of appearance and reality
• shows how fake his appearance truly is

Question 12

chapter 4 - “fog..full moon”

Answer 12

• sinister setting
• the scene was once covered with fog, but is now clear with a full moon
• foreshadows that things will be exposed
• symbol for a werewolf
• symbolises the unnatural and the duality of Jekyll and Hyde

Question 13

chapter 4 - “nearly a year later”

Answer 13

• it has been a while since hyde has shown himself
• represents the suppression and sudden release of emotion

Question 14

chapter 4 “streaming with tears”

Answer 14

• emphasises gothic setting
• female stereotypical emotions
• damsel in distress

Question 15

chapter 4 - “not far from the river”

Answer 15

• suggests the maid lives in poverty

Question 16

chapter 4 - “the maid fainted”

Answer 16

• simple language
• shows the maids limited perspective
• follows the victorian belief that her being in a lower class means that she has a limited viewpoint

Question 17

chapter 4 - “aged white hair… older”

Answer 17

• suggests the old man is not a threat
• victorian ageist society

Question 18

Marxist interpretation in chapter 4:

Answer 18

• suggests that the lower class has to see the upper class as respectable and more moral, hence the description of the upper class older gentleman
• Robert Stevenson uses this interpretation in this text to explain that this is not true

Question 19

Queer theory chapter 4:
“beautiful gentleman… pretty manner…innocent”

Answer 19

• feminine language
• women are usually portrayed as innocent

Question 20

chapter 4 - “ape-like fury”

Answer 20

• primitive behaviour
• juxtaposes the civilised gentleman

Question 21

chapter 4 - “storm of blows”

Answer 21

• graphic description
• sense of horror
• shows that evil will prevail over good
• reference to nature, shows how nature is a natural occurrence

Question 22

chapter 5 - “I swear to God”

Answer 22

• repetition, attempting to reassure utterson that he is trustworthy
• irony

Question 23

chapter 5 - “he is safe, he is quite safe”

Answer 23

• “safe”, implies that Jekyll he is protecting Hyde
• repetition of “safe”, implies he must be reassured that Hyde is “safe”, Jekyll is unable to know if he can contain Hyde again

Question 24

chapter 6 - “callous and violent”

Answer 24

• indicative language of a barbaric person
• deliberately juxtaposes Jekyll’s positivity, “he came out of his seclusions”
• serves as an extent to throw the reader from one extreme to the next

Question 25

chapter 6 - “the rosy man had grown pale; his flesh had fallen away”

Answer 25

• imagery of death, “pale”, “flesh had fallen away”
• gruesome description to emphasise the horror that Lanyon had witness after seeing Jekyll transform into Hyde

Question 26

chapter 6 - “I have brought on myself a punishment and a danger that I cannot name”

Answer 26

• jekyll feels remorse for his actions, “myself”, he is responsible for his actions
• “cannot name”, implies he has created a monster in an attempt to play god

Question 27

chapter 7 - “premature twilight”

Answer 27

• represents the liminal and representing transformation
• foreshadowing we will see Jekyll transform into Hyde again

Question 28

chapter 7 - “before the smile was struck out”

Answer 28

• “before the smile”, before Utterson was able to smile before he saw Jekyll transform into Hyde, shows how uncontrolled Hyde is
• “struck”, violent language, it is at this point that Jekyll had transformed into Hyde

Question 29

chapter 8 - “lying on her back as though the wind has tilted her”

Answer 29

• sexual innuendo, hinting towards Hyde’s crimes
• reference to wind, represents natural forces, alluding to his natural impulses

Question 30

chapter 8 - “huddled together like a flock of sheep”

Answer 30

• simile, shows how weak and vulnerable they are
• biblical allusion, Utterson is seen as a saviour, conforms to the idea of social class

Question 31

chapter 9 - “you are one of my oldest friends”

Answer 31

• Jekyll is deliberately using a persuasive technique
• he is attempting to soften Lanyon up

Question 32

chapter 9 - “I beg of you “

Answer 32

• Jekyll is attempting to get sympathy out of Lanyon
• shows how sycophantic he is

Question 33

chapter 10 - “leap of welcome, it seemed natural and human”

Answer 33

• Jekyll enjoyed transforming from Jekyll to Hyde at first
• natural, ironic as nature is used positively in the context of Hyde compared to how it is usually portrayed

Question 34

chapter 10 - “I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck”

Answer 34

• Jekyll realises the consequences of his actions
• shipwreck metaphor amplifies Jekyll’s guilt