Science and Religion

Question 1

Give two characters from the novella who are doctors.

Answer 1

Jekyll and Lanyon are both doctors. Another example of a doctor is the “Sawbones” who treats the child that Hyde tramples

Question 2

Why were religious acts of charity important for Victorian gentlemen?

Answer 2

For a Victorian gentleman, it was important to be seen as respectable. Being involved in religion and charity was a good way to show you were a moral person.

Question 3

Why were religious Victorian people worried about new ideas about evolution?

Answer 3

Religious Victorians were worried about evolution because it seemed to contradict Christian teachings. Christianity teaches that mankind’s nature is different to other animals’ because mankind was created in God’s image — Darwin’s theory of evolution suggested that animals and humans were the same.

Question 3

Lanyon describes Jekyll’s experiments as “scientific heresies”.
What does this suggest about their different views on science and religion?

Answer 3

The word “heresies” (sins against God) suggests that Jekyll is willing to use science to explore topics usually dealt with by religion, such as the nature of mankind. Lanyon disagrees with Jekyll — he thinks Jekyll’s work is wrong to combine scientific and spiritual questions, which is why he describes the experiments in a negative way as “heresies”

Question 4

Evangelicalism was an influential branch of Christianity in Victorian England. It taught that all people are naturally sinful. How is this idea reflected in Jekyll and Hyde?
Give examples in your answer.

Answer 4

The idea that mankind is naturally sinful is a key part of the novella. Jekyll believes in “man’s dual nature”— that people are split into a good side and a bad side. Other characters also show a side that is somewhat sinful — Enfield and Carew, for example, are both out late at night, which suggests they’ve been up to something disrespectable.

Question 5

Why does Jekyll wish he’d done his initial experiment in a more “noble spirit”?

Answer 5

Jekyll thinks that the effects of the potion depend on the drinker’s motivation. If he’d had a more “noble spirit”, he would’ve made an “angel”, but because he was motivated by “evil”, he created Hyde instead.

Question 6

Give an example from the text that portrays science as mysterious.

Answer 6

Jekyll says his drug meant the “powers” of his “spirit” could be “dethroned from their supremacy.” He doesn’t explain the scientific process — instead, words like “powers” and “dethroned” give it fantastical feel, which makes his science sound mysterious.

Question 7

What scientific explanation does Utterson give for Jekyll’s confinement in the ‘The Last Night’?

Answer 7

Utterson thinks that Jekyll is ill with “one of those maladies that both torture and deform”.

Question 8

What evidence is there in the novella that Hyde is less evolved than Jekyll?

Answer 8

The novella suggests Hyde is less evolved by presenting him as the “animal within” Jekyll. He is said to be “like a monkey” and behaves in an “ape-like” way. He is described as shorter than Jekyll, which could suggest that Hyde is less evolved and more primitive.

Question 9

Could any of the vents of Jekyll and Hyde be described as supernatural?
Explain your answer.

Answer 9

• Jekyll’s transformation into Hyde
  could potentially be described as
  supernatural because it goes beyond
  the possibilities of the science in the
  real world.
• However, the supernatural events of
  the novella, such as the creation of
  Hyde, are always presented as
  scientific, so in that sense the novella
  isn’t supernatural at all.

Question 10

Give an example of hellish imagery used to describe Hyde.

Answer 10

Jekyll refers describes Hyde as a “devil”, a “spirit of hell” and a “child of Hell”. Jekyll’s use of language connected to hell shows that Jekyll considers Hyde to be pure evil.

Question 11

After Hyde dies, Utterson finds a religious text with “startling blasphemies” written on it. What are “blasphemies”?

Answer 11

The noun “blasphemies” refers to things that are disrespectful towards anyone’s religion or god.

Question 12

Give an example of a risk Jekyll takes in his experiments.

Answer 12

Jekyll describes needing to take a “double” and even “treble” dose of his potion before he turns into Hyde, which he says has an “infinite risk of death”.

Question 13

Why does Hyde write “blasphemies” in Jekyll’s book?

Answer 13

Hyde writes “blasphemies” in Jekyll’s books because he hates that Jekyll is miserable and resents Jekyll’s feelings of fear and disgust for him. Victorian society was very religious, so this would have been quite shocking to most readers at the time.

Question 14

Do you think a modern reader would respond to the ideas about science and religion in the novella in the same way as a Victorian reader?
Explain your answer.

Answer 14

Most modern readers would respond to the novella’s ideas about science and religion in a different way to Victorian readers. Victorian society was more strongly Christian than modern society, so Hyde’s links to the devil may have been more shocking to a Victorian reader. More of the population also have a scientific education now, whereas many Victorian readers would have known very little about science. This means that Jekyll’s transformation might seem more unrealistic or unlikely to a modern reader.