Jekyll and Hyde (English) Flashcards
Name of Chapter 1
The Story of the Door
Name of Chapter 2
Search for Hyde
Name of Chapter 3
Dr Jekyll was Quite at Ease
Name of Chapter 4
The Carew Murder Case
Name of Chapter 5
Incident of the Letter
Name of Chapter 6
Remarkable Incident of Dr Lanyon
Name of Chapter 7
Incident at the Window
Name of Chapter 8
The Last Night
Name of Chapter 9
Dr Lanyon’s Narrative
Name of Chapter 10
Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case
What happens in Chapter 1
Utterson and Endfield are on a walk when they come across a door. This door (We find out later that this door is Jekyll’s Laboratory) reminds Endfield of when Hyde tramples a girl .
Quotations in Chapter 1
Mr Utterson was “austere with himself”
Soho’s lights shine “like a fire in a forest”
Hyde is “like some damned Juggernaut”
Hyde “trampled calmly over the child’s body”
Language of Chapter 1
Hedonism: pleasure is the main aim in life.
Façade: a false appearance.
What happens in Chapter 2
Utterson goes back to the door in Soho, where he meets Hyde. Utterson then goes to warn Jekyll. Jekyll isn’t in. Utterson is drawn to investigate the mystery of Jekyll and Hyde.
Symbols in Chapter 2
The safe: Utterson’s subconscious mind where he hides unwanted thoughts.
Church bells: remind us of Utterson’s pious nature.
Jekyll’s front door: this should symbolise his respectability, but the description actually hints at a darker side to Jekyll’s character.
Quotations in Chapter 2
“Such unscientific balderdash…would have estranged Damon and Pythias.”
6. “a singularly strong, almost an inordinate, curiosity to behold the features of the real Mr. Hyde”
7. Hyde “shrank back with a hissing intake of breath”
8. Hyde is “hardly human, something troglodytic”
Vocabulary in Chapter 2
Bestial: acting like a violent, uncontrolled and immoral animal
What happens in Chapter 3
Utterson goes to a dinner party at Jekyll’s house and tells him about his concerns. Jekyll laughs off his worries.
Quotations in Chapter 3
“there came a blackness about his [Jekyll’s] eyes”
“The moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr Hyde”
What happens in Chapter 4
A year later, Hyde murders an MP. Utterson recognises the murder weapon as Jekyll’s broken walking cane. At Hyde’s flat, the police find the other half of the cane.
Symbolism in Chapter 3
The Broken Cane: Utterson gave the cane to Jekyll as a gift; it symbolises the breaking of friendship. Also the breaking of Jekyll’s façade of respectability.
Fog: blindness to truth; unstoppable spread of evil; naturalness of evil.
Quotations in Chapter 3
A “great flame of anger”
“With ape-like fury he was trampling his victim underfoot”
“A great chocolate-covered pall lowered over heaven.”
London is “like some district of a city in a nightmare”.
What happens in Chapter 5
Utterson visits Jekyll, who looks ill. Jekyll shows him a letter that says Hyde won’t be back. Utterson believes the letter has been forged by Jekyll to cover for Hyde
Symbols in Chapter 5
The chaotic lab: symbolises how Jekyll’s focus is no longer on medical research focussed on helping others. Also shows the chaos caused by Hyde.
Quotations in Chapter 5
Dr Jekyll looks “deathly sick”.
“The fog slept on the wing above the drowned city.”
What happens in Chapter 6
Jekyll is more sociable until a sudden depression; he isolates himself. Utterson visits Lanyon on his death-bed, who hints that he is ill because of Jekyll. Lanyon dies leaving a note for Utterson to open after Jekyll’s death or disappearance.
Quotations in Chapter 6
Lanyon was affected by “some deep-seated terror of the mind”
Jekyll: “If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also”
What happens in Chapter 7
Plot and character development
Utterson and Enfield pass Jekyll’s window, where they see him confined like a prison. Utterson calls out and Jekyll’s face as a look of ‘abject terror and despair’. Shocked, Utterson and Enfield leave.
Symbols in Chapter 7
Twilight: the arrival of darkness and night indicates the arrival of evil. As night-fall is natural, Stevenson presents this as an inevitable process.
Quotations in Chapter 7
Jekyll looked “like some disconsolate prisoner”
Jekyll had “an expression of such abject terror and despair”
Utterson and Enfield “walked on once more in silence.”
What happens in Chapter 8
Poole visits Utterson to ask for help. Jekyll’s lab door is locked and the voice inside sounds like Hyde. Poole says Hyde has been asking for a chemical, but has rejected it each time as it is impure. They break down the door and find Hyde’s body: suicide. They find documents, among which is a will leaving everything to Utterson.
Symbols in Chapter 8
Darkness: blindness to truth; immorality; evil.
Letters: These give physical proof of irrational, supernatural occurrences that might otherwise be unbelievable.
Quotations in Chapter 8
“A dismal screech, of mere animal terror, rang out from the cabinet”
What happens in Chapter 9
Lanyon’s letter tells how he received a letter from Jekyll asking him to collect chemicals, a vial and notebook from Jekyll’s lab and give it to a man who would call at midnight. A grotesque man arrived and drank the potion which transformed him into Jekyll. The sight of this transformation caused Lanyon to fall ill and die.
Symbols in Chapter 9
Jekyll’s clothes: Symbolise his upper-class position in society. When Hyde is wearing them he looks out of place; this indicates how he doesn’t fit in with the ideal of the Victorian gentleman.
Quotations in Chapter 9
Dr Lanyon’s “life is shaken to its roots”
What happens in Chapter 10
This chapter is Jekyll’s confession, written in the first person. He explains that he was trying to investigate the duality of human nature. When Jekyll discovered that he had a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ side to his personality, he tried to separate the two and destroy ‘darker self’. But instead he unleashed this darker side, taking the potion to transform himself into Hyde. This allowed him to commit base acts without risk of detection. Then he could return home and transform back into Jekyll. Eventually he became addicted to being Hyde, who increasingly took over and destroyed him.
Symbols in Chapter 10
The potion: The novel could be interpreted as an allegory for addiction to drugs. The potion represents Jekyll’s destruction.
Regent’s Park: This is the public, daytime space where Jekyll transforms unexpectedly into Hyde. It symbolises how Jekyll completely lacks control of Hyde – or his base desires.
Quotations in Chapter 10
“I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life.”
“I am doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.”
“I felt younger, lighter, happier in body.”
“I mauled the unresisting body, tasting delight from every blow.”
“My devil had long been caged; he came out roaring.”
Historical Context
There were strict morals and social conventions – shown by the stereotype of the Victorian gentleman. But in reality, some areas of Victorian London (such as Soho) were far from moral: they were hot-beds of prostitution, gambling, alcoholism and drug-taking. But Victorian gentlemen could only visit these locations under cover of darkness; during the day-time they were models of respectable behaviour.
