secrecy and lies Flashcards
Background info
Back in the Victorian era, the gentlemen standard put a lot of pressure on men which led to lots of secrets and lies being kept.
“Showed no window”
This is referring to Dr. Jekyll’s lab which shows that he doesn’t want anyone looking inside and seeing what he’s doing, relates to secrecy
“If he shall be mr. Hyde, I shall be Mr. Seek.”
“Never heard of him” said by Lanyon.
The fact that nobody, not even Mr. Utterson or Dr. Lanyon ( Dr. Jekyll’s oldest friends ) know about Mr. Hyde shows that he’s keeping secrets.
“The large handsome face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale to the very lips and there came a blackness about his eyes”
Eyes represent a window to the soul, which suggests that there’s something grim that Dr. Jekyll wants to keep hidden, so he tries to lie
“The room bore every mark of having been recently and hurriedly ransacked”
This shows that since mr. Hyde has killed someone, he wants to get away and is taking somethings with him to keep it a secret
“Henry Jekyll forge for a murderer!”
Utterson thinks that Jekyll is helping out Mr. Hyde to help protect him after the murder
“They saw it but for a glimpse, for the window was instantly thrust down”
Jekyll has been locking himself in his room, which could represent that Jekyll is hiding his personality away from everyone and is getting distant from his friends. Everything is behind closed doors.
Mr Utterson and Enfield also saw Dr. Jekyll’s face turn into something horrible. The secrecy is linked as he’s hiding everything away
