Jekyll and Hyde - secrecy and reputation

Question 1

points of secrecy

Answer 1

• unreliable narration
• Hyde
• Uttersons curiosity
• house setting
• letters

Question 2

intro

Answer 2

Stevensons narrative explores the uncovering of Jekylls secret and the mystery of Hyde actions + identity
Other characters also display hints of secretive behaviour and lengths they will go to in order to preserve and protect their reputation and others

Question 3

door is described as ‘sinister’ ‘blistered’ and ‘distained’ and juxtaposed against a very pleasant street

Answer 3

• implies door is threatening and mysterious to the reader as they don’t know the stained door is Jekylls home, they are left to wonder why it looks like this, especially compared to a street of ‘smiling saleswomen’

Question 4

‘smiling saleswomen’

Answer 4

alliteration suggests the street is welcoming and inviting, a complete contrast to the door
this evokes questions for the reader as they try to work out the mystery behind the door

Question 5

‘coming home from some place..

Answer 5

about three o’clock of a black winter morning’

Question 6

‘coming home from some place.. about three o’clock of a black winter morning’

Answer 6

vagueness adds sense of secrecy as characters are seen going out late at night or early morning during ‘small hours’ but unquestioned
- links to idea of double life that’s kept secret
context: people had secrets that were kept hidden to become a good victorian gentlemen

Question 7

‘fog rolled over

Answer 7

the city in the small hours’

Question 8

‘fog rolled over the city in the small hours’

Answer 8

suggests secrecy as fog seems to cover up the crimes below, creates uncertainty and eerie atmosphere -> concealment
pathetic fallacy reflects dark nature of Hyde and foreshadows upcoming events

Question 9

‘if he be Mr Hyde

Answer 9

I shall be Mr Seek’

Question 10

‘if he be Mr Hyde, I shall be Mr Seek’

Answer 10

Hyde is homophone for hide, secrecy
Suggests Hyde himself is a symbol of secret as he’s Jekylls hidden persona

Question 11

‘must have secrets of his own; black secrets, by the look of him;

Answer 11

secrets compared to which poor Jekylls worst would be like sunshine’

Question 12

‘must have secrets of his own; black secrets, by the look of him; secrets compared to which poor Jekylls worst would be like sunshine’

Answer 12

• light and dark imagery symbolises good and evil
• pathetic fallacy of sunshine represents the good nature of Jekyll that Utterson believes in at this stage in the middle of novella

context: people were expected to behave civilised in societal situations, this led to people living double lives in secret; the one society expected them to live
Victorian morality whilst avoiding gossip but is hypocritical to a modern reader

Question 13

how do the letters create secrecy in the novel

Answer 13

• many letters, some cannot be opened till a certain time, creates mystery
• letters exchanged by Utterson and Lanyon contain clues about Jekylls mysterious behaviour and Hydes true nature
• the act of writing a letter suggests a form of private communication, implying characters are concealing info from each other

Question 14

Jekylls lab has ‘dingy

Answer 14

windowless structure’

Question 15

‘dingy windowless structure’

Answer 15

• windows represent hiding secrets
  ‘dingy’ adjective reflects what’s going on inside, makes it seem unclean and unkept and isolated
  ‘windowless’ adds secrecy and describes it as a confined area

Question 16

‘on the hearth there lay a pile of grey ashes

Answer 16

as though many papers had been burned’

Question 17

‘on the hearth there lay a pile of grey ashes, as though many papers had been burned’

Answer 17

Mr Hyde has destroyed evidence, showing the extremity he will go to to hide secrets

Question 18

‘windows barred

Answer 18

with iron’

Question 19

‘windows barred with iron’

Answer 19

• Jekyll wants people to stay away from him
• described like a jail cell, implies he’s committed crimes and is atoning for them
  ‘window’ - opening of ones soul, barred with iron shows extremity to hide secrets and his inner emotions -> not much as a gentleman he presents himself to be

Question 20

‘I sometimes think if we knew all

Answer 20

we should be more glad to get away’

Question 21

‘I sometimes think if we knew all, we should be more glad to get away’

Answer 21

• unreliable narration
• Dr Lanyon creates tension as we deliberately aren’t told what he find out
• victorians held onto religion as it was the only thing they knew at the time and science was not popular -> would shock a victorian reader

Question 22

semantic field of fear used at the end of the novella to describe Jekylls behaviour

Answer 22

‘pale’ - both men feel physically unwell or shell-shocked by what they glimpse - which is not revealed to reader
‘horror’
‘silence’ - speechless with fear

Question 23

‘God forgive us, God forgive us’

Answer 23

Utterson breaks the silence with his repetitive cry which implies to Victorian reader that whatever he’s seen is scarily unforgettable and a sin
Religion was a heavy influence, Utterson asks for forgiveness implies its unlawful and unnatural

Question 24

‘they saw it

Answer 24

for a glimpse’

Question 25

‘they saw it for a glimpse’

Answer 25

highlights secret as we don’t get to see what they saw

Question 26

‘doggedly

Answer 26

disregarding the question’

Question 27

‘doggedly disregarding the question’

Answer 27

• secrecy of why Poole is so terrified to go behind the door
• he also shouldn’t be afraid as he’s known him for years
• he also doesn’t believe the ‘thing’ is his master

Question 28

‘red baize door

Answer 28

leaped against the lock and hinges’

Question 29

‘red baize door leaped against the lock and hinges’

Answer 29

‘baize door’ used to deaden noise
‘leaped up’ personification, symbolic of the breakdown of Jekyll as the ‘lock bursts’
- locks and hinges symbolise secrecy

Question 30

‘concealed

Answer 30

my pleasures’

Question 31

‘concealed my pleasures’

Answer 31

implies Utterson has always been a bad man secretly. Strict Victorian codes meant the indulgence of ‘pleasures’ was forbidden, if you wanted to indulge in pleasures u had to do it in secret and keep them hidden

Question 32

Stevensons intention

Answer 32

he conveys how reputation is merely based on ones appearance to society rather than ones actual conduct
- demonstrates the extent which characters place reputation + respectability over responsibility

Question 33

‘the door was very strong,

Answer 33

the lock was excellent’

Question 34

‘the door was very strong, the lock was excellent’

Answer 34

chapter one - underscores how deeply hidden and protected Jekylls secret is at the start
lock - prevents true nature of a person being revealed -> emphasises sense of mystery

Question 35

‘I am ashamed of

Answer 35

my long tongue’

Question 36

‘I am ashamed of my long tounge’

Answer 36

enfield - suggests he’s good friends with Mr Utterson as they use informal language
seen as hypocrite as he previously says he doesn’t gossip