jekyll and hyde characters Flashcards
how is dr jekyll presented as a respectable victorian gentleman
in the first eight chapters, Stevenson withholds the truth and presents Dr Jekyll as a fairly
typical Victorian gentleman.
His title suggests a sensible, professional man, and his home implies wealth and
respectability. At the start of Chapter 3, different adjectives show his goodness by
describing his ‘pleasant dinners’ and the company he keeps as ‘all intelligent,
reputable men’.
Dr Jekyll has an honest, friendly appearance: ‘a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of
fifty’ who displays ‘every mark of capacity and kindness’.
how does stevenson establish mystery about dr jekyll
reader does not find out that Mr Hyde is Dr Jekyll’s violent alter ego until the final two
chapters. Instead, he is presented as Mr Hyde’s victim. Strange clues create mystery and the
reader is encouraged to wonder why he would associate with someone like Mr Hyde.
Dr Jekyll speaks ambiguously of him, saying ‘I do sincerely take a great, a very great
interest in that young man’ but also ‘The moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr Hyde’. After
Sir Danvers Carew’s murder, he claims Mr Hyde has gone away but adds, ‘I have grounds for
certainty that I cannot share with anyone’.
Dr Jekyll’s will implies that he expects his own ‘disappearance or unexplained absence’. Mr
Utterson considers Dr Jekyll’s ‘wild’ past and suspects his friend is being blackmailed, using
the metaphors ‘the ghost of some old sin, the cancer of some concealed disgrace’. Later, he
fears that Dr Jekyll has forged a letter to aid Mr Hyde’s escape.
His disagreement with Dr Lanyon - and therefore the true nature of his experiments - is
kept vague. Dr Lanyon only refers to ‘unscientific balderdash’, and his criticism of ‘scientific
heresies’ is repeated by an annoyed Dr Jekyll. This mystery increases when Dr Lanyon sends
Mr Utterson a document that is not to be read until Dr Jekyll’s ‘death or disappearance”.
how is dr jekyll presented as trouble
Dr Jekyll’s behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and suspicious. He is clearly disturbed
when Mr Utterson raises the subject of Mr Hyde in Chapter 3, and is later described as
‘feverish’ when he hears about Mr Hyde killing Sir Danvers Carew.
His self-imposed isolation in Chapter 6 suggests something is wrong, as does his sudden
‘expression of such abject terror and despair’ in the next chapter. When he vanishes in
Chapter 8, it is presumed by Mr Utterson and Poole that he has been murdered
by Mr Hyde.
how is dr jekyll presented as a respectable victorian
In the first eight chapters, Stevenson withholds the truth and presents Dr Jekyll as a fairly
typical Victorian gentleman.
His title suggests a sensible, professional man, and his home implies wealth and
respectability. At the start of Chapter 3, different adjectives show his goodness by
describing his ‘pleasant dinners’ and the company he keeps as ‘all intelligent,
reputable men’.
Dr Jekyll has an honest, friendly appearance: ‘a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of
fifty’ who displays ‘every mark of capacity and kindness’.
how does stevenson establish mystery about dr jekyll
The reader does not find out that Mr Hyde is Dr Jekyll’s violent alter ego until the final two
chapters. Instead, he is presented as Mr Hyde’s victim. Strange clues create mystery and the
reader is encouraged to wonder why he would associate with someone like Mr Hyde.
Dr Jekyll speaks ambiguously of him, saying ‘I do sincerely take a great, a very great
interest in that young man’ but also ‘The moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr Hyde’. After
Sir Danvers Carew’s murder, he claims Mr Hyde has gone away but adds, ‘I have grounds for
certainty that I cannot share with anyone’.
Dr Jekyll’s will implies that he expects his own ‘disappearance or unexplained absence’. Mr
Utterson considers Dr Jekyll’s ‘wild’ past and suspects his friend is being blackmailed, using
the metaphors ‘the ghost of some old sin, the cancer of some concealed disgrace’. Later, he
fears that Dr Jekyll has forged a letter to aid Mr Hyde’s escape.
His disagreement with Dr Lanyon - and therefore the true nature of his experiments - is
kept vague. Dr Lanyon only refers to ‘unscientific balderdash’, and his criticism of ‘scientific
heresies’ is repeated by an annoyed Dr Jekyll. This mystery increases when Dr Lanyon sends
Mr Utterson a document that is not to be read until Dr Jekyll’s ‘death or disappearance’.
how is dr jekyll presented as trouble
Dr Jekyll’s behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and suspicious. He is clearly disturbed
when Mr Utterson raises the subject of Mr Hyde in Chapter 3, and is later described as
“feverish’ when he hears about Mr Hyde killing Sir Danvers Carew.
His self-imposed isolation in Chapter 6 suggests something is wrong, as does his sudden
“expression of such abject terror and despair’ in the next chapter. When he vanishes in
Chapter 8, it is presumed by Mr Utterson and Poole that he has been murdered
by Mr Hyde.
how does dr lanyons narrative develop the readers understanding of dr jekyll
Chapter 9 develops the image of Dr Jekyll as a mad scientist. After reading his letter, Dr
Lanyon believes his old friend to be ‘insane’ and suffering from ‘cerebral disease’
When Dr Lanyon collects Dr Jekyll’s chemicals, Stevenson includes lots of scientific language
(such as phial, phosphorus and ether) alongside dramatic adjectives (for example, blood.
red and volatile) to suggest strange and dangerous experiments.
The end of the chapter features Stevenson’s narrative reveal, with Mr Hyde transforming
back into Dr Jekyll.
Dr Lanyon refers to Dr Jekyll’s ‘moral turpitude’ and his ‘tears of penitence’, reminding the
reader of the murder of Sir Danvers Carew, and describes how his own ‘soul sickened’. This
presents Dr Jekyll not as the Victorian gentleman previously established but as a disturbed
man full of sin and regret.
how does the final chapter explain dr jekylls character
Stevenson makes the final chapter a first-person narrative written by Dr Jekyll in order to
explain the mysteries that he has established and to develop his exploration of
Victorian society.
Jekyll is presented as a man with conflicting desires: the wish to be respected (‘carry my
head high) and the wish to enjoy himself (‘a certain impatient gaiety of disposition*). This
conflict leads him to hide one half of his nature: ‘I concealed my pleasures’ and ‘hid them
with an almost morbid sense of shame’. The contrasting abstract nouns (pleasures/shame)
emphasise his internal conflict while the verbs show his repression.
Dr Jekyll begins to explore the ‘primitive duality of man’ and Stevenson does this to
comment on what he saw as the duplicitous and hypocritical nature of Victorian society.
Because of censorship at the time the novel was written, and in order to create more
mystery, Stevenson is vague about Dr Jekyll specific pleasures but the novel contains subtle
references to alcohol, violence, drug abuse and sex with prostitutes.
Metaphor is used to show the happy feelings of freedom that he gains from transforming
into Mr Hyde: “shook the doors of the prison house of my disposition’ and ‘spring headlong
into a sea of liberty’.
He is ‘aghast’ at what he is capable of, using metaphor to describe being ‘plunged into a
kind of wonder at my vicarious depravity. However, although he feels guilt, he continually
disassociates himself from this behaviour by attributing it to Mr Hyde.
what does stevenson use mr hyde to represent
As the homophone suggests, Mr Hyde represents the dark side of human nature that
people hide away. In particular, Stevenson uses him to reveal the reality behind the veneer
of Victorian respectability.
Stevenson does not celebrate the bad parts of our identity but he asserts that not
admitting they exist is untruthful and hypocritical.
what is significant about mr hydes appearance
the popular pseudoscience of physiognomy, Stevenson makes Mr Hyde look small.
pale and unusual, implying that he is morally inferior.
Descriptions often focus on how Mr Hyde makes others feel rather than on specifically
how he looks. Dr Lanyon describes ‘something seizing, surprising, and revolting’, using a
pattern of three adjectives to convey his own negative reaction while the sibilance and the
ambiguity in ‘something’ suggest - but do not pinpoint - how sinister Mr Hyde seems.
He is described as having ‘a strong feeling of deformity’, despite not actually being
deformed. This is to suggest that Mr Hyde’s true monstrosity is on the inside and, in
Chapter 2, Mr Utterson reflects on this through the metaphor of the ‘radiance of a foul soul’
Drawing on Darwin’s theory of evolution, Stevenson presents Mr Hyde as subhuman
through simian references such as the simile, ‘masked thing like a monkey’. He also links
him to Hell, with Mr Utterson metaphorically seeing ‘Satan’s signature’ on his face.
In Chapter 10, Stevenson describes Mr Hyde’s hand as ‘dusky’ and ‘swarthy’, drawing on the
typical Victorian prejudice against foreignness to suggest degeneracy.
how does mr hyde behave
Mr Hyde is described as having ‘a black sneering coolness’; this phrase uses traditional
color symbolism to present him as evil whilst also implying a sense of status and
superiority (to hint at his true identity as a wealthy and respectable Victorian gentleman).
Mr Hyde diverges from expected Victorian behaviour through his sometimes uncontrolled
you got it?” he cried. “Have you got it?”’
speech. For example, “He never told you”, cried Mr Hyde with a flush of anger’ and ““Have
He is aggressive and is depicted using powerful verbs, such as ‘snarled aloud into a savage
laugh’ and ‘clubbed him to the earth’. The words ‘savage’ and ‘clubbed’ also suggest
de-evolution by linking to Stone Age man.
The killing of Sir Danvers shows Hyde at his most violent; the metaphor ‘a storm of blows,
under which the bones were audibly shattered’ captures his uncontrollable rage.
how do dr jekylls feelings about mr hyde begin to change
In Chapter 10, Stevenson uses a pattern of three comparative adjectives to show Dr Jekylls
pleasure at first transforming into Mr Hyde: ‘I felt younger, lighter, happier’. His new body
is ‘less robust and less developed than the good which I had just deposed’, suggesting his
good side has always dominated. The verb ‘deposed’ suggests he has cast off his moral side
as well as foreshadowing the later fight for control.
He describes his pleasures becoming more immoral, ‘they soon began to turn towards the
monstrous’, suggesting increasing self-disgust.
how does stevenson show mr hyde getting stronger
Dr Jekyll’s first-person narrative refers to ‘Edward Hyde’ in the third person to suggest he is
a separate entity. He also refers a few times to ‘Henry Jekyll’ to show their separation but.
by the end of Chapter 10, he does this much more (regularly using the pronoun ‘he’ instead
of ‘I’ when referring to Jekyll) to show Hyde’s dominance.
When Jekyll involuntarily transforms into Mr Hyde, he reasons that his evil side has ‘been
much exercised and nourished’, using verbs to suggest greater strength.
After resisting Hyde for two months, Jekyll gives in to temptation. Stevenson uses the
metaphor, ‘My devil had been long caged, he came out roaring’, to convey Hyde’s increased
strength, and emphasises this by repeating similar images of damnation and anger.
The transformations become more involuntary, each time being more difficult to change
back. By the end of Chapter 10, ‘The powers of Hyde seemed to have grown with the
sickliness of Jekyll’, and Stevenson describes, ‘The hatred of Hyde for Jekyll’.
It becomes less of a battle between the two, more of a continual persecution by Hyde,
‘scrawling in my own hand blasphemies on the pages of my books, burning the letters, and
destroying the portrait of my father’, presenting an assault on Jekyll’s identity and values
that are summarised as Hyde’s ‘apelike spite’.
how does stevenson make the transformation frightening
The transformation in Chapter 9 is described as painful and violent to mirror the battle
taking place between the two sides of Dr Jekyll’s identity.
The pattern of three verbs, ‘reeled, staggered, clutched’ suggest pain, and the simile
‘groping before him with his hands, like a man restored from death’ implies that the
transformation is a fight for survival.
Traditional colour symbolism is also used in ‘his face became suddenly black’ to create a
nightmarish image that links to sin.
how might readers view dr jekyll sympathetically
Dr Jekyll is presented as a man with deeply conflicting attitudes. Hardworking and wishing
to be respected, he also hides various unnamed, immoral pleasures and this leads to a
feeling of shame. His experiments show a desire to understand humankind more, as well as
a desperation to escape the ‘seemingly so solid body in which we walk attired’.
Dr Jekvll is often shocked by Mr Hyde’s behaviour. After changing back, he says he would
“even make haste, where it was possible, to undo the evil done by Hyde’.
After the murder of Sir Danvers Carew, Jekyll tries to ‘redeem the past’ and this verb
indicates a religious attitude. Despite battling with his conscience, he cannot resist the
life that Mr Hyde allows him and uses personification to describe how he ‘fell before the
assaults of temptation’.
He brings about his own downfall and eventually regrets his actions, using the metaphor
‘sea of abhorrence’ to show his self-disgust. His goodness can be seen in his attitude
towards Mr Hyde, ‘I find it in my heart to pity him’. Before he loses himself to Mr Hyde’s
control, he signs his ‘confession’, which emphasises the guilt he feels.
