Jekyll and Hyde - Themes Flashcards
What did Victorian Society expect gentleman to have?
Victorian society expected gentleman to have a good reputation.
What is very important to gentlemen in the novel?
+Reputation is very important to gentlemen in the novel
+Immoral activities and uncontrolled emotions would damage a gentleman’s reputation.
+If this happened, they may no longer be seen as a gentleman at all, which would mean losing many social advantages.
+This means that the gentlemen in Jekyll and Hyde value their reputations above all else.
Who is wary of gossip?
+Utterson is wary of gossip, in case it reflects badly on him or his friends.
+He and Enfield agree never to talk about Hyde, and believe in not asking questions if something “looks like Queer Street”.
Who is more concerned about preserving Jekyll’s reputation?
+Utterson is more concerned about preserving Jekyll’s reputation than bringing Hyde to trial.
+After Carew’s murder, he says to Jekyll, “If it came to a trial, your name might appear.”
What is Stevenson’s message about reputation?
+Stevenson’s message is that reputations cannot be trusted because they are based on appearances.
+They are the version of person that he or she wants the world to see.
What happens when a society values reputation as highly as the Victorians did?
+When a society values reputation as highly as the Victorians did, it makes it difficult to know what people are really like.
+This is what causes Utterson problems - he cannot fully understand Jekyll’s situation because he only sees Jekyll’s repuation as important.
+This means that he holds onto the idea of blackmail until the very last moment - he finds it hard to look beyond his concern for reputation.
Who is more worried about his reputation than his sins?
Jekyll is more worried about his reputation than his sins
Who has to hide his sins to protect his reputation?
+Jekyll has to hide his sins to protect his reputation.
+He struggles with this, so he creates Hyde to rid himself of the “disgrace” of sin.
Give quotes which show Jekyll’s feelings about reputation.
- “a load of genial respectability” - Jekyll still wants a gentlemanly reputation.
- “like a schoolboy” - This simile makes Jekyll seem quite childish and irresponsible
- “spring headlong into the sea of liberty” - He associates Hyde with freedom.
- “the safety was complete” - Jekyll thinks his reputation is safe.
- “I did not even exist!” - He sees Hyde as a different person because it makes him feel better.
+This quote shows how concerned Jekyll is with his reputation - he thinks more about hiding his sins than dealing with them.
+He feels free as Hyde because he can conceal his sins perfectly.
Who gets a little carried away?
+“I had been safe of all men’s respect”
+Jekyll gets a little carried away with his ‘goodie by day, baddie by night’ arrangement.
+He can prowl around in the dark causing death and destruction, whilst his reputation remains intact.
+Ideal - Until he goes wrong
What does Jekyll believe?
Jekyll believes there are two sides to every individual
How does Jekyll feel before he creates Hyde?
+Before he creates Hyde, Jekyll feels that he is leading a double life:
- Jekyll is an established gentleman, with “the respect of the wise and good” in society.
- On the other hand, he is guilty of “irregularities” - sins and desires that he keeps hidden.
Who does Jekyll decide his duality applies to?
+Jekyll decides that this duality applies to all of humanity: “man is not truly one, but truly two.”
+Jekyll states this as a fact, because he’s so convinced he’s right.
+This leads him to risk everything.
Who is more self-aware than other characters?
+Jekyll is more self-aware than the other characters.
+He feels like the good and evil sides of his personality are struggling against one another, and decides to take action by separating them.
+However, he fails to fully separate his two sides because he is “radically both”.
How does Stevenson use the language of a battle to describe the struggle between Jekyll’s good and bad emotions?
+Writer’s Techniques - Language: Stevenson uses the language of a battle to describe the struggle.
+There’s a “war” within Jekyll, and the “two natures that contended in the field” of his mind sound like two forces meeting on a battlefield.
What does Jekyll underestimate?
+Jekyll underestimates how closely the good and bad sides of his personality are bound together.
+He also underestimates the power and attraction of his purely evil side - in the end, Hyde and the bad part of Jekyll outweigh the good part of Jekyll.
What can the two sides be seen as?
The two sides can be seen as sinful and virtuous
How does Jekyll live without Hyde?
+Without Hyde, Jekyll lives a virtuous life and is “distinguished for religion” and charity.
+But he is also an “ordinary secret sinner”.
+All people, including Jekyll, are a mixture of sin and virtue.
How is Hyde in contrast to Jekyll?
+In contrast, Hyde is the purely satanic side of Jekyll.
+He writes all over Jekyll’s religious text with “startling blasphemies”.
+Jekyll calls Hyde “My devil”, and Utterson thinks that “Satan’s signature” is written on Hyde’s face.
Why is Hyde created?
+Hyde is created because of Jekyll’s desire to rid himself of sin, rather than deal with it.
+Jekyll says that Hyde could have been created as “an angel instead of a fiend”, if only the experiment had been done with more “pious” intentions [ie. for God’s glory, not his own].
How does the novel show complex attitudes to sin?
+Although Stevenson shows the dangers of letting this sinful side take over, the novel also shows complex attitudes to sin:
- it’s tempting - Jekyll feels “younger, lighter, happier” as Hyde.
- it’s powerful - Hyde takes over in the end
- it’s unavoidable - as Hyde, Jekyll gives in to “original evil”
What branch of Christianity was around when the novel was written?
+Backgrund and Context - Religion: In this period, a branch of Christianity called Evangelicalism taught that all mankind are inevitably sinful, because Adam and Eve sinned.
+Stevenson frightens his readers by taking this further - the sinful side isn’t only inevitable, it can also be stronger.
What can be seen as civilised and uncivilised?
The two sides can be seen as civilised and uncivilised
Who isn’t just the sinful side of Jekyll?
+Hyde isn’t just the sinful side of Jekyll - he’s also the uncivilised side.
+He disrupts the ordered, civilised world that Jekyll and his friends live in.
What did some upper-class Victorians think about people who committed crimes?
+Some upper-class Victorians thought that people who committed crimes, or disrupted the social order, were less evolved.
+They tried to use Darwin’s theory of evolution to back this up.
What did Darwin argue?
+Darwin argued that humans shared a common ancestor with apes.
+Some upper-class Victorians accepted his theory of evolution, but interpreted it in a different way - they felt evolution would eventually lead to the creation of a ‘perfect’ creature [and on this basis, they saw themselves as more highly evolved than the rest of society].
What does Stevenson force his readers to consider?
+Stevenson forces his readers to consider the possibility that there’s a savage within all people, even if they seemed civilised.
+Hyde behaves “like a madman” and is “ape-like”, but he’s a part of Jekyll.
+This suggests that it is the civilised side of Jekyll’s personality the excercises restraint - without it, all that is left is the pure evil of Hyde.
+Character - Poole: This also applies to other characters to a certain extent - Poole is a loyal, “well-dressed” servant, but he shouts at another servant with “ferocity”.
What does Stevenson use man’s dual nature to comment on?
+Stevenson uses man’s dual nature to comment on society
What does Stevenson use the idea of duality to criticise?
+Stevenson uses the idea of duality to criticise respectable society.
+He suggests that the gap between appearance and reality in the people and places of Victorian London is hypocritical.
What is hypocrisy?
+Hypocrisy is the act of pretending to have standards or beliefs, but not actually living by them.
How does Jekyll appear?
+Jekyll appears respectable, until he puts on the “thick cloak” of Hyde.
+This is mirrored in Jekyll’s house - it “wore a great air of wealth and comfort” from the front, but it is secretly connected to the shabby door to the laboratory.
+Stevenson uses imagery of clothing to show how people and places can put forward a misleading appearance to the world.
Who are proud of their reputations?
+Characters are proud of their reputations, so they priortise the appearance of respectability over honesty.
+The gentlemanly characters look down on immoral activities in public, and then do them anyway [most obviously in Jekyll’s case].
+Stevenson shows that this behaviour can have terrible consequences - Jekyll’s fate is a warning about trying to hide who you are.
What moral values did Victorian society have?
+Background and Context: Victorian society had a particularly rigid set of moral values.
+To maintain a good reputation, gentlemen had to repress many of their true feelings and desires in public.
How is Hyde’s evil nature shown clearly in contrast?
+In contrast, Hyde’s evil nature is shown clearly in his “displeasing smile” and “extraordinary appearance”.
+He is the only one who doesn’t hide behind appearances - Stevenson may be suggesting that appearances can only conceal too much.
What does Jekyll struggle to reconcile?
+“I learned…the thorough and primitive duality of man”
+Jekyll struggles to reconcile the good and evil sides of himself, so he creates Hyde to get rid of the evil bit.
+Hyde’s kind of like that little voice in your head that says, “Eat the biscuits. Eat them. Eat them all.”
Who is interested in Science and Religion?
The characters are interested in science and religion
Who are scientists?
+Jekyll and Lanyon are scientists - their profession relies on rational methods and hard evidence.
What society do Lanyon and Jekyll live in?
+They live in a Christian society - Jekyll is fond of religious texts, and often calls on God to help him.
Who have very different approaches to science and religion?
+Lanyon and Jekyll have very different approaches to science and religion.
What is Lanyon’s approach to science and religion?
+Lanyon keeps science and religion separate
- Lanyon deals with the science of the material world.
- He cannot cope with Jekyll using scientific research to experiment with spiritual matters.
What is Jekyll’s approach to science and religion?
+Jekyll combines science and religion
- Jekyll’s scientific work leads “wholly towards the mystic and the transcendental”.
- He uses science to deal with “that hard law of life, which lies at the root of religion”.
- The “hard law” is the idea that all humans are sinful.
What was a source of conflict in Victorian society?
+The tension between science and religion was a source of conflict in Victorian society.
What did most people believe at the start of the nineteenth century?
+At the start of the nineteenth century most people believed the explanation from the Bible that the earth was created by God.
+However, throughout the nineteenth century, scientists began to disprove this theory - they believed that the world was created by a process of evolution.
+Many Victorians thought this view was dangerous because it suggested that science had the power to create life - it challenged their religious view of the world.
What was a social issue as well as a personal one?
Religion is a social issue as well as a personal one
What does Christianity teach?
+Christianity teaches that everyone is sinful - Hyde was created because Jekyll was so troubled by his sins, even though they weren’t actually that bad.
+When he was younger, he “regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame.”
What is another sign of respectability?
+Being seen to do good or charitable deeds, on the other hand, is another sign of respectability.
+After Hyde murders Carew, Jekyll becomes “distinguished for religion” for a few months - he’s known for doing good deeds.
What does Stevenson criticise regarding religion and sin?
+Stevenson criticises the act of being religious in public and sinful in private, by presenting Jekyll’s actions as hypocritical.
+Character - Jekyll: Jekyll finds it easy to put on a show of doing good deeds, but doesn’t deal with his guilty conscience [because he thinks it’s “Hyde alone, that was guilty”]. - This allows Hyde to gain in strength, and in the end Jekyll is destroyed.
+Writer’s Techniques - Language: Stevenson reminds the reader that Jekyll’s actions are sinful by using religious language - Eg. Jekyll is a “secret sinner” and Hyde is “the spirit of hell”.
What is sometimes portrayed as unsettling?
Science is sometimes portrayed as unsettling
How does Stevenson present Jekyll’s scientific work?
+Stevenson presents Jekyll’s scientific work as mysterious and disturbing.
Describe the transformation of Hyde to Jekyll?
+The transformation of Hyde to Jekyll is hideous.
+Lanyon finds it sickening, and Jekyll describes his first transformation as provoking “racking pangs”, “deadly nausea” and “a horror of the spirit”.
What is Jekyll’s cabinet full of?
+Jekyll’s cabinet is full of curious objects that Utterson and Poole don’t understand.
+There are “traces” of chemicals, “various” measures of “some white salt”, and they decide the cheval glass has seen “some strange things”.
+Stevenson uses this vague language to present science as mysterious.
What is shown to be powerful?
Science is shown to be powerful
What does Jekyll’s science cause?
+Jekyll’s science causes death and destruction - this shows how powerful science can be when it’s used to upset the conventional order of Victorian life.
What does Jekyll say about the details of his experiment?
+Jekyll says that the details of his experiment cannot be shared for two reasons:
- Jekyll says he won’t “deeply” describe his experiment because it caused his evil side to return with a “more awful pressure.”
- This acts as a warning about the power of science.
- His experiment was also “incomplete.” - Even Jekyll, a respected scientist, failed to achieve his aims, and he couldn’t control the power of the evil he unleashed.
What did Jekyll’s drugs do?
+Writer’s Techniques - Language: Jekyll’s drugs “shook the doors of the prisonhouse of [his] disposition”.
+This strong language shows that Jekyll feels the sinful side of his personality was trapped by the more respectable side.
Whose science goes against religious beliefs?
Jekyll’s science goes against religious beliefs.
What motivates Jekyll to create Hyde?
+It is the “temptation of a discovery so singular and profound” that motivates Jekyll to create Hyde.
+He tries to change human nature, which Christians see as God’s creation.
[Christianity was an important part of Victorian society]
What does Jekyll meddle with?
+Jekyll meddles with human nature for his own selfish reasons.
+He doesn’t have good intentions - this means that Jekyll creates an evil, rather than good, alter ego.
Who made a scientific breakthrough even though it was for selfish and evil reasons?
+Despite this, Jekyll has still made a scientific breakthrough - He repeats the phrase “I was the first…”, showing how proud he is of himself.
+He starts to think he is “beyond the reach of fate.”
+But this is not the case - By the end, Jekyll is the “chief of sufferers”, and experiences “torments” as Hyde grows in strength.
+Background and Context - Religion: The language of torment that Jekyll uses links to the Christian idea of Hell - a place in the afterlife of constant suffering.
Show that you understant that Jekyll’s experiment failed…
+Instead of one good and one evil side, Jekyll just creates an evil side, and he stays a mix of both.
+Don’t write ‘Jekyll = good, Hyde = evil’.
+Science is a powerful thing that even Jekyll can’t master.
Who are a pretty secretive bunch?
+The gentlemen in Jekyll and Hyde are a pretty secretive bunch, even though they’re supposed to be friends.
What is there lots of in the novel?
There are lots of secrets in the novel
What does the whole plot of Jekyll and Hyde revolve around?
+The whole plot of Jekyll and Hyde revolves around Jekyll’s secret alter ego, but other characters also have secrets:
- Utterson has done “many ill things” in his past, but he doesn’t say what these are - this makes his actions appear shameful, even though his past is “fairly blameless”.
- It’s never explained where Enfield was returning from at three o’clock in the morning - this makes the reader more likely to assume that he was somewhere scandalous.
What are left unsaid?
Many things are left unsaid
Who often decides not to speak?
+The gentlemen characters often decide not to speak about unpleasant things so they can pretend they’re not happening [Eg. Utterson and Enfield agree never to talk about Hyde again].
+Character - Jekyll: Jekyll can’t speak about Hyde, perhaps because he can’t admit to his origin as part of Jekyll.
+He asks Utterson to “respect” his silence, and says he “cannot share” what he knows.
How do the characters also downplay shocking events?
+They also downplay shocking events.
+For example, Enfield describes the trampled girl as “a bad story”, and when Lanyon says he regards Jekyll as dead, Utterson’s only reply is “Tut-tut”.
+This understatement shows that the gentlemen are determined to pretend that everything is normal.
Which two characters chooses to write about their experiences?
+Both Lanyon and Jekyll choose to write about their experiences, rather than speak about them.
+These letters are left unread until the end of the novel, which adds to the secrecy and suspense.
Who uses locked doors as symbols?
Stevenson uses locked doors as symbols
How many locked doors and windows are there in the novel?
+There are many closed doors and windows in the novel:
- The back door to Jekyll’s house has “neither bell nor knocker” and it’s associated with Hyde.
- Jekyll slams the window shut on Utterson and Enfield, and later locks himself in the cabinet.
- Important items, like letters and Jekyll’s ingredients, are kept securely locked in drawers and safes.
+These closed doors and windows represent people’s desire to hide their secrets, so smashing the cabinet door is a symbolic moment - It represents the breakdown of Jekyll’s walls of secrecy.
Write about the different ways that Stevenson creates secrecy…
+Show the examiner that you understand Stevenson’s techniques - he creates secrecy using gaps in the narrative, the gentlemen’s language, and the settings.
