Science vs Religion Flashcards
How is science vs religion explored?
-Conflict between Jekyll and Lanyon to present innere conflict between rationalism and faith.
-Science presented as Jekyll’s hubris and challenges divine authority
-Horror of Hyde and the transformation exploits Victorian fear of transcendental science
Stevenson explores the conflict between religion and science by contrasting Lanyon’s traditional, morally grounded and empiracle science with Jekyll’s dangerous and “transcendental” experimentation. This reflects Victorian fears that scientific advancement could undermine Christian values, especially as Jekyll’s work symbolises a desire to play God. Stevenson uses this clash to mirror his own journey from religious faith to atheism in 1871, making the novella a wider metaphor for the moral and spiritual uncertainty of his time.
majority christian, darwin made question literay meaning of genisis
-“Unscientific balderdash” Lanyon chpt 2
-“ My soul sicked at it”- Chpt 9/ Lanyon
-“I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man” chpt 10
Sentence type, Zoom.
-“Unscientific balderdash” Lanyon chpt 2
Lanyon vs Jekyll
-Short phrase:
- Blunt + dismissive
- Punchy + authoritative
-Complete rejection of Jekyll’s scientific endevours
-“Balderdash”
- Colloquial language- informal
- Dysphemism- derogitary language rather than neutral
-Moral disgust + mockery of Jekyll’s science
-Implies nonsense or foolishness—> Lanyon’s reliance on logic and prevelant victorian belief’s
Clash of relgious and new beliefs
Zoom, Technique x 2, Zoom
-“My soul sicked at it”- Chpt 9/ Lanyon
First first person narrative from dead man
-Sibilance—-> hissing + sinister
-Methapor —->
-“My” —> deeply personal + emotional, evokes pathas
-“Soul” —> Biblical reference, religious + ethical horror
-End of narratve = climactive reaction
Sentence type, Zoom
-“I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man” chpt 10
-Complex sentence:
- Usually express emotions rather he uses a formal tone
- Seems outwardly sane—> thus reliable narrator and thus we believe him
- Pseudo-scientific quality
- Contrasts lanyon’s ealier hate + berating outbreak
- Jekyll seems more reliable than Lanyon, and thus science overcomes religion —> stevenson’s beliefe
-“Primitive”
-Ancient, savage, and pre-civilised— Power and thus fear.
-Reversion + animal instincts
-“Duality”
- inherent human conflict, splits human nature —-> blasphemous + plays God
Stevenson presents science as a vehicle for Jekyll’s hubris ,as he seeks to transcend moral limits and challenge divine authority. Jekyll’s attempt to separate good and evil through science mirrors the blasphemous ambition to “play God,” undermining the religious belief in the soul’s unity and sanctity. This reflects Victorian fears that scientific progress, unbound by faith, could lead to spiritual corruption and societal collapse.
science challanges religion
- “The temptation of a discovery so singular and profound” chpt 10
- “I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end.” chpt 10 last line
Zoom x2
‘The temptation of a discovery so singular and profound”
“Temptation”
-Bicblical references, echoes temptation of Adam and Eve for knowledge/ Lucifer’s fall
-Suggests Jekylls science goes against the will of god
-Not only curious but seduced by knowledge
-“Singular”
- Unique or unprecedented
- Jekyll’s pride and selfishness —-> Sinful
-Retrospective confession, recognises too late his mistakes + moral error
Zoom, technique, Zoom, Zoom
“I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end.” chpt 10 last line
ultimate surrender + downfall due to hubris (curiosity)
- Simple + declaritive sentance—> chilling
- No escape, no explanation, mirrors inevitability of death (religion wins)
“I bring”- Personal, takes responsibility for his dow
-Lacks emphatic technque or emotion —-> acts as both a victim and executioner (self destruction)
-“Henry Jekyll” —> sudden contrast to third person
- Detached + cold
- This is his legacy, still important to be remembered —> ego + pride even in death
-“Unhappy”
-Simple yet effective, stripped of his sophistication
-Extreme pathos
Suicide= sin, condemned soul
Stevenson uses the phsycotic and sadistic qualities of Hyde to exploit Victorian fears of transcendental science — a type of unorthodox experimentation that challenged both religious beliefs and moral boundaries. By depicting Hyde as the horrifying product of Jekyll’s ambition, Stevenson reflects societal anxiety that science, when divorced from faith, could unleash the primitive, sinful self repressed by Christian values and the ultimate fear of reversion.
-“Trampled calmly” chpt 1
-“Bones audibly shattered” chpt 4
-“Lusting to inflict pain” chpt 10
-“Trampled calmly”
- Juxtaposition: inner conflict
- Animalistic (Nature)
- Peaceful (mental)
- Inhumane
- Psychopathy, no regard for human pain
Imagery, Zoom, Zoom
-“Bones audibly shattered” chpt 4
-Sound imagery
- Phycological response of adrenalin in the reader—-> instinct
- Reminds the reader of thier own animalistic internal eid.
“Shattered”
- Delicate
- Voilence
- Juxtaposition, fraglity of human body, but its inner violence
-“Bones”
- Graphic and alludes to death
-“Lusting to inflict pain” chpt 10
Atavistic+ serial killer jack the Ripper = sadist
-“lusting”
- abstract noun connotated to extreme sexual and sinful desire
- Used as a metaphor for Hyde’s temptation to perform visceral acts
-“Inflict Pain”
- Plosive- sharp + cruel + bloodthirsty
- Cold and caluclated, purposefully done
-Sadism—> Evokes pleasure from others pain, sinful, satanic.
-Mix of sadism + Phsycopathy
-Phrase isolated from rest of sentence—> urge dominates Hyde’s consciousness.
victorian repressed sexual urges, seen as sinful, not talked abt
