Jekyll and Hyde - Stevenson's Techniques Flashcards
Why is it important to write about structure?
+It’s really important to write about structure, because Steveson uses it to build tension.
+Get a few technical terms from these pages under your belt - like ‘embedded narrative’. - Fancy.
What does the Structure of the narrative build?
The structure of the narrative builds suspense
How is most of the story written in?
+Most of the story is written in a third-person narrative, which follows Utterson.
+The narrative is limited - Utterson finds things out gradually and only learns the truth at the very end.
+This distances the reader from the truth, creating tension and intrigue.
What is first person narrative?
+First-person narrative uses ‘I’.
+Third-person narrative uses ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘they’.
What does Utterson have for others?
+Character - Utterson: Utterson has an “approved tolerance for others”, which suggests that he won’t be judgemental about other characters.
+This encourages the reader to rely on interpretations, because he has a rational, unbiased attitude.
+However, there are many things he doesn’t know.
What does the main narrative follow?
+The main narrative follows Utterson’s experiences in chronological order.
+This gives a sense of time passing, increasing tension as time goes on.
What do the last two chapters follow?
+The last two chapters do not follow a linear structure.
+Instead, they return to explain previous events.
+By leaving these key explanations until the very end of the novel, Stevenson keeps the reader in suspense throughout.
What makes the story more authentic?
Embedded narratives make the story more authentic
What does Stevenson use several of in the novel?
What is an embedded narrative?
+An embedded narrative is a story within the main narrative.
Why is Enfield’s story about the door important?
+Enfield’s story about the door is important because it’s the first hint of a mystery.
+Enfield says it’s “a very odd story” before he tells it, which grips the reader’s interest in it from the start.
How is the Carew murder explained?
+The Carew murder is explained through a maid’s account.
+She is “romantically given” and faints after witnessing the murder, which shows she is emotional.
+This makes her account quite limited - we feel removed from the events and don’t know how much we can trust her narrative.
How is Lanyon’s first-person narrative mostly written in?
+Lanyon’s first-person narrative is mostly written in formal, measured language, which makes it seem more credible.
+This is important, because it’s the first account the reader gets of Jekyll transforming.
+This narrative also has limitations, because Lanyon refuses to write down some of what he’s heard.
What are pieces of evidence in the case?
+These narratives are pieces of evidence in the case.
+By including them, Stevenson makes the story more realistic [even if parts of it seem impossible], which in turn makes it more frightening.
What is the novel’s full title?
+The novel’s full title is ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ and the chapter titles refer to incidents and statements.
+This gives the sense of a real investigation, which contrasts with the fantastical nature of Hyde.
Who does the reader never get a first person account from?
+Character - Hyde: The reader never gets a first person account from Hyde.
+He is excluded from the narrative, as he is from society.
+This makes him seem more mysterious.
What are the embedded narratives also there for?
+The embedded narratives are also a device to add to the reader’s curiouusity.
+Like a jigsaw, all of the pieces are needed to work out Jekyll’s secret.
What do documents provide?
Documents provide information but also add intrigue
What do written documents reveal?
+Written documents reveal information to certain characters, but Stevenson carefully controls how much.
Give examples of written documents?
- Jekyll’s will
- Carew’s letter to Utterson
- Hyde’s letter to to Jekyll
What does Jekyll’s will reveal?
+This is a starting point in Utterson’s hunt for Mr Hyde.
+As a legal document, it’s authentic evidence of Jekyll’s link to Hyde.
+However, it also poses questions - Enfield’s story has already suggested that Hyde is a shady character, so it seems strange that Jekyll, a respected gentleman, would leave him everything.
What does Carew’s letter to Utterson reveal?
+This is the letter found on Carew’s body.
+The reader never finds out what was written in it.
+Stevenson leaves these gaps in the narrative to add to the reader’s suspicions.
What does Hyde’s letter to Jekyll reveal?
+This is the letter Jekyll gives Utterson after Carew’s murder.
+Utterson is initially reassured by it, because it implies that Hyde isn’t blackmailing Jekyll, but he has his “fears renewed” when Poole insists that it wasn’t delivered.
+This adds intrigue - When Guest examines the handwriting, Utterson assumes that Jekyll is forging for Hyde.
+This letter is misleading, because Hyde and Jekyll are the same person.
What do written documents make the story seem like?
+Written documents make the story seem more realistic, because different people reveal different parts of the story.
+They also add suspense, because the information is revealed gradually.
+The narrative is made more fragmented by these written documents - they offer small hints but not the whole story.
What does Stevenson suggest about reliability?
+Stevenson also suggests that the reader should question the reliability of written documents, by hinting at their authors’ secretive behaviour.
What does Jekyll’s final confession fill?
Jekyll’s final confession fills the gaps in the story
What does Jekyll’s statement recap?
+Jekyll’s statement recaps everything that’s already happened in the novel.
+It does this in chronological order, going back before Utterson’s narrative began, and continuing until shortly before Hyde’s death.
+It’s the first time that the previous events have been fully explained.
What does Stevenson use for Jekyll’s statement?
+Stevenson uses a first-person narrative for Jekyll’s statement, because Jekyll is the only character who knows the whole truth.
+This gives the reader direct access to his thoughts and feelings.
What does the word ‘statement’ suggest?
+The word ‘statement’ suggests an unbiased report.
+But it could be difficult for the reader to completely trust what Jekyll writes, because he’s already shown that he’s capable of deceiving people - even his closest friends.
+He also leaves some things unexplained, such as the contents of his potion.
What do many modern reader’s already know?
+“‘This is a strange note,’ said Mr Utterson.”
+Many modern readers already know Jekyll’s secret, but that wasn’t the case for the Victorians, who would’ve been on tenterhooks until the very end [thanks to Utterson’s striking ability to jump to wrong conclusions].
What are the settings in Jekyll and Hyde often used for?
+The settings in Jekyll and Hyde are often used for symbolic effect - it’s all about reading between the lines.
What are mostly dark and foggy?
The novel’s settings are mostly dark and foggy.
What does Stevenson emphasise in the novel?
+Stevenson emphasises the darkness [or partial darkness] in the novel.
+The less respectable parts of London are especially associated with darkness.
+Eg. in Soho, the light is always changing - Utterson sees “degrees and hues of twilight”, a “haggard shaft of daylight” and “changing glimpses” of streets.
+This symbolises the narrative as a whole - only parts of the truth can be seen at any one time.
Who also repeatedly mentions fog?
+Stevenson also repeatedly mentions the fog.
+It’s so dense that it covers whole streets, making them places of secrecy.
+The fog actively works against the characters at times - When Utterson visits Soho, it “cut him off” from his surroundings.
+Stevenson uses the fog to isolate characters and restrict their view of events.
What does fog also symbolise?
+Fog also symbolises mystery - Eg. the lecture theatre at Jekyll’s house is described as “foggy”.
+The fact that the fog seems to have come indoors represents how deeply Jekyll has hidden his secret.
What does Stevenson use the moon to highlight?
+Stevenson uses the moon to highlight parts of settings.
+Carew’s murder is “brilliantly lit by the full moon”, which makes it more dramatic, as if it’s under a spotlight.
+The moon is also used to add to the spooky atmosphere - in ‘The Last Night’, the moon is described as “lying on her back”.
+The personification makes it seem as if the whole world has been turned upside down by Jekyll’s secret.
What was known for its smoke?
+Background and Context - Victorian London: Victorian London was known for its smoke.
+It was so dense that people sometimes fell into the Thames.
Who presents London’s streets as threatening places?
Stevenson presents London’s streets as threatening places.
What are the streets of London presented as?
+The streets of London are presented as dangerous - both of Hyde’s attacks take place there.
What does Stevenson carefully build?
+Stevenson carefully builds a nightmarish version of London that’s half-way between reality and fiction:
- He uses vague descriptions of familiar settings - Eg. Jekyll lives on “some square or other.”
- He includes specific details about locations - Jekyll’s house is two doors in from the end of the street.
- He mentions place names which didn’t exist in London at the time, like Gaunt street.
+This makes the setting more frightening for Victorian readers, because it’s familiar.
What are the streets often linked to?
+The streets are often linked to horror and nightmares.
+Utterson has an actual nightmare in which he imagines a terrifying city of “labyrinths”.
+Soho is described as “a district of some city in a nightmare”, as if Utterson’s visions have become real.
What are often empty?
+The streets are often empty - When Poole fetches Utterson to Jekyll’s house, Utterson feels “he had never seen that part of London so deserted.”
+This is a bustling part of the city, so its emptiness is strange - it’s as if the characters are isolated from the busy city in a bubble of silence and mystery.
+This contributes to Utterson and Poole’s anxiety.
Who is often associated with darkness?
+Character - Hyde: Hyde is often associated with darkness, which makes him even more mysterious.
What does Jekyll’s house symbolise?
Jekyll’s house symbolises his character
What does Jekyll’s house have like himself?
+Like Jekyll himself, Jekyll’s house has two sides which are connected:
- The respectable main house is at the front and has an “air of wealth”.
- But through a yard at the back there’s a laboratory, with a back door that’s “blistered and distained.”
- This symbolises Jekyll’s personality - he’s outwardly respectable, but inwardly sinful.
- The Hyde side of Jekyll’s personality is connected to him, but he keeps it hidden away.
What does Hyde do after his brief meeting with Utterson?
+After his brief meeting with Utterson, Hyde escapes into the house “with extraordinary quickness” and shuts the door behind him.
+This suggests that he uses the building to conceal himself.
Who doesn’t usually invite friends into his laboratory?
+Jekyll doesn’t usually invite friends, like Utterson, into his laboratory, but hosts lively dinner parties in the main house.
+The laboratory is described as a “dingy windowless structure” - perfect for stopping other people from looking inside.
+Character - Jekyll: The laboratory also symbolises Jekyll’s shame - he transforms it from a place of ordinary science into one of dark experiments.
+At the end of the novel, he locks himself in the laboratory and dies there, as if he cannot face the world’s judgement.
Who does Utterson visit after Carew’s murder?
+After Carew’s murder, Utterson visits Jekyll in his laboratory.
+As he passes through his lecture theatre, he feels a “sense of strangeness”.
+This adds to the mystery associated with this part of the building.
What happens to Jekyll’s house as Hyde becomes more powerful?
+Jekyll’s house becomes more sinister as Hyde becomes more powerful.
+It becomes a “house of voluntary bondage”
+This suggests that Jekyll has chosen to lock himself in the house, just as he tried to lock Hyde away within himself.
+He sees the house as protection, where he can hide his secrets.
What can some objects have?
Some objects also have symbolic meaning
Who does the possessions in Hyde’s house belong to?
+The possessions in Hyde’s house belong to Jekyll.
+These expensive objects are a symbol of the respectable gentleman in the rougher part of the city.
Who was the cane a gift from?
+The cane that Hyde uses to murder Carew was a gift from Utterson.
+It’s a symbol of the Victorian gentleman, but it also demonstrates Stevenson’s point that civilised people are capable of violent crimes.
What does Jekyll’s cheque book initially get him out of?
+Jekyll’s cheque book initially gets him out of difficulty - he pays off the family of the girl he trampled as Hyde.
+However, after murdering Carew, he burns the cheque book.
+This shows that money can’t help him to deal with a scandal of this scale.
What is the mirror also?
+The mirror is also a symbolic object.
+Jekyll’s reflection as Hyde emphasises the fact that Hyde is his double.
Write about the effect of settings on the reader…
+Hyde’s not the kind of chap you want to meet in a dark alley, but Stevenson’s descriptions make it sound like he could be in any dark alley.
+And with a dense fog closing in, you wouldn’t even hear him coming…
What does the gentlemen’s dialogue reflect?
The gentlemen’s dialogue reflects their anxieties
What do the gentlemanly characters in Jekyll and Hyde often hide?
+The gentlemanly characters in Jekyll and Hyde often hide their anxieties behind polite dialogue?
How does Utterson hide his anxiety behind polite dialogue?
+Utterson’s dialogue is mostly rational and formal - He’s keen to avoid discussing a scandal, so he uses vague phrases like “Tut-tut” rather than give an actual opinion.
+Utterson can be forceful when he needs to be, such as when he pushes Jekyll for “one word more” about his will.
+His language can also be humourous, for example when he says, “If he be Mr Hyde… I shall be Mr Seek.”
How does Jekyll hide his anxiety behind polite dialogue?
+Jekyll’s dialogue is very guarded - he’s always trying to avoid questions.
+He often chooses silence over speaking, eg. when Utterson asks him about his will, he shuts his mouth tight and nods.
+When Hyde becomes more powerful than Jekyll, his formal, guarded language breaks down - He has a “feverish” manner, speaks in a “changed voice”, and stutters, “I have - I have.”
How does Lanyon hide his anxiety behind polite dialogue?
+To begin with, Lanyon’s dialogue is jolly and “theatrical” - He makes a joke about being one of Jekyll’s oldest friends, and “chuckled”.
+He also voices opinions and criticisms, accusing Jekyll of “unscientific balderdash” with a “little spirit of temper”.
+Later, Lanyon’s language becomes vague - “I saw what I saw, I heard what I heard” - He’s so disturbed by what he’s seen that he refuses to write it down.
What does Poole’s dialogue reflect?
Poole’s dialogue reflects his social class
What does Poole always refer to Mr Utterson as?
+Poole always refers to Utterson as “Mr Utterson” or “sir”, and to Jekyll as “master” - this demonstrates his role as a servant.
+In contrast, Utterson sometimes refers to Jekyll as “Harry” [a common nickname for ‘Henry’].
+This shows that the two men are good friends and of the same class.
What is Poole’s dialogue often?
+Poole’s dialogue is often colloquial - When Utterson asks if Jekyll trusts Hyde, Poole replies, “Yes, sir, he do indeed.”
+This non-standard grammar stands out sharply from the rest of Utterson’s narrative, and suggests that he’s less educated.
What doesn’t Poole conceal?
+Poole doesn’t conceal his emotions in the same way as gentlemen do.
+His speech is anxious when he speaks to Utterson about his suspicions, and he shouts at the other servants with “ferocity”.
Who’s dialogue is uncivilised?
Hyde’s dialogue is uncivilised, like him.
Whose speech is angry when he first meets Utterson?
+Hyde’s speech is angry - when he first meets Utterson, he speaks “with a flush of anger.”
+Utterson scolds him for not using “fitting language.”
+Utterson is alarmed by Hyde’s open emotions.
Whose dialogue is less polite?
+Hyde’s dialogue is less polite - His sentences are short and direct, and he uses blunt questions, such as “What do want?”
+Utterson finds this rude, because it’s not how gentlemen talk.
What voice does Hyde have?
+Hyde has a “whispering and somewhat broken voice” - this associates him with secrecy.
+He also makes inhuman noises, like “hissing”, and screams in an “animal terror”.
+This suggests that he’s not fully human.
What is the language in the main narrative mostly?
The language in the main narrative is mostly formal.
Who writes most of the novel from Utterson’s perspective?
+Stevenson writes most of the novel from Utterson’s perspective.
+This narrative is mostly written in formal, controlled language - this reflects Utterson’s personality.
How are the plot details presented?
+The plot details are presented in an orderly fashion.
+When searching Jekyll’s cabinet, the sentences are organised with conjunctions and prepositions such as “next”, “on” and “at”.
+The language of the narrative is as organised as Utterson himself.
What are prepositions?
+Prepositions are words that tell you when or where something is in relation to something else.
What does the resrained language make the content of the novel more?
+The restrained language makes the content of the novel more shocking in contrast - it makes the moments of violence stand out.
+Eg. when Poole breaks down the door to the cabinet, there’s a sense of sudden noise and exclamations.
What is the language in the main narrative also very?
The language in the main narrative is also very descriptive
What does Stevenson use in the main narrative although the language in the main narrative is mostly formal and controlled?
+Although the language in the main narrative is mostly formal and controlled, Stevenson uses passages of description to paint a vivid picture and bring events alive for the reader.
How does Stevenson use similes for description to paint a vivid picture and bring events alive for the reader?
+Hyde is constantly described using similies.
+He is “like a madman”, “like a rat” and “like Satan”.
+Characters can only compare Hyde to other things - they can’t actually describe him.
+This presents him a mysterious and threatening.
How does Stevenson use metaphors for description to paint a vivid picture and bring events alive for the reader?
+London is decribed as a “drowned city” - this gives the impression that it’s smothered by the dense fog.
+The streets are also described as “arteries”, which makes the city seem like a living body.
How does Stevenson use personification for description to paint a vivid picture and bring events alive for the reader?
+The back of Jekyll’s laboratory is personified.
+It “thrust forward” onto the pleasant street around it, and has “a blind forehead”.
+This makes the building seem like a rude and secretive person, which represents Hyde, the person Jekyll has created there.
What does Stevenson use double meanings to create?
Stevenson uses double meanings to create secrecy.
How does Stevenson emphasise the theme of duality?
+Stevenson emphasises the theme of duality by using words that can have more than one meaning.
+This adds to the atmosphere of uncertainty, and the tension between what is and isn’t real.
+Eg. when Hyde disappears after Carew’s murder, it’s “as if he never existed” - on the surface, this means Utterson is puzzled by Hyde’s disappearance.
+If you read more closely, it’s actually true - Hyde has never existed, because he’s part of Jekyll - it’s a hidden clue for the reader.
What do Jekyll’s friends not realise?
+Theme - Secrecy: Jekyll’s friends don’t realise there’s a deeper meaning to what he says, which helps to hide his secret.
+Eg. when Jekyll says he will never set eyes on Hyde again, Utterson doesn’t realise he’s talking about looking in a mirror.
Write about the language of a variety of characters…
+Don’t get me wrong, the gentlemen’s language is really important.
+But sticking in a bit about the language of other characters, like Poole and Hyde, will show the examiner that you know the novel really well.
What is the Gothic novel?
+The Gothic novel is a specific type of fiction which contains elements of horror and mystery.
+Gothic novels include Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.
What does ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ have many features of?
+‘Jekyll and Hyde’ has many features of a Gothic novel
What do Gothic novels often deal with?
+Gothic novels often deal with human emotion, mystery and supernatural things going on, Eg:
- Mysterious settings
- Disturbing secrets
- Dreams and visions
- The supernatural
- The double
How does ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ incorporate mysterious settings?
+Stevenson’s descriptions of the dark, deserted London streets, the “fogged city moon” and the objects in Jekyll’s laboratory are all mysterious.
How does ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ incorporate disturbing secrets?
+Jekyll’s alter ego is disturbing - Hyde commits horrific crimes, and inspires terror in everyone who meets him.
How does ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ incorporate dreams and visions?
+Utterson has a terrifying vision in which he is “haunted” by a faceless figure.
+It’s a frightening mixture of Enfield’s story and Utterson’s own fears.
How does ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ incorporate the supernatural?
+Jekyll’s scientific experiments are “mystic and the transcendental”.
+Lanyon describes Hyde’s transformation in a way that seems impossible - his features “seemed to melt and alter”.
+This suggests that Hyde isn’t part of this world.
How does ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ incorporate the double?
+The novel rests on the idea of man’s double nature.
+As well as Jekyll’s obvious duality, other characters and settings have two sides.
+In Gothic novels, a double is a pair of characters - sometimes these are two separate people, such as Victor Frankenstein and his creature in Frankenstein.
+In other books, they’re two sides of the same person, such as Jekyll and Hyde.
When was the gothic novel popular?
The gothic novel was popular in the late Victorian period
Where were gothic novels traditionally set?
What did Gothic novels usually feature?
+Gothic novels usually featured an evil character or villan.
+In Jekyll and Hyde, the wicked character is actually a part of a respectable man.
What did the changes to gothic novels in the late Victorian period make sure?
+These changes made sure that Gothic novels were still frightening for Victorian readers.
+Stories about openly evil people in faraway places were easier to dismiss.
+The plot of Jekyll and Hyde is still to strange to be believed, but horrible deeds committed by apparently civilised people in normal places were more terrifying.
What happens if a scary story is set in some old castle half way up a French mountain?
+“The figure…haunted the lawyer all night”
+If a scary story is set in some old castle half way up a French mountain, it’s not as worrying for the Victorian gentleman reading by the fire.
+But if it’s set in London, and the villain is a gentleman just like him - well…
