Supernatural Flashcards
Existence of Hyde - Supernatural
H is, at the same time, both human and supernatural. This grounds him in reality for the reader whilst also making him appear more scary - creating horror in the reader. Charles darwin common ancestor - “troglodytic” - something that shouldnt exist in the victorian age
H’s appearance “froze the very blood of the two gentlemen” - there has to be something supernatural about him due to his appearance not being able to be described out of pure fear or terror - this is not a natural way of being.
“it was not a man” - it dehumanises H
Violence - Supernatural
against human nature - darwin’s theory of evolution
“a girl of maybe eight or ten”
“the man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground” - remorseless
“clubbed him to the earth” - vivid, graphic descriptions of violence unnerve the audience.
Unprovoked acts of extreme violence/disproportionate reactions paint H as an irredeemable and unreasonable being devoid of any human emotion.
Deterioration of Lanyon - Supernatural
so quick and rapid it seems like it has to be caused by an inconceivable force.
Audience unnerved by “deep-seated terror of the mind” description
Vast departure from his “happy, hearty” self - now “the rosy man had grown pale” - unimaginable horror
Lanyon’s death is a moral point about the wrongness of Jekyll’s actions - against nature
“you may perhaps come to learn the right and wrong of this” - not only to utterson but also to the readers
rapid decline “something less than a fortnight he was dead”
Settings - Supernatural
carew murder case where a “fog rolled over the city” - associated with concealing secrets and deception - ie H as he is J’s repressed secret. H is shameful. A higher force has had to conceal this evil force to protect people.
However, when he was revealing his true nature, “the night was cloudlesss”, letting everyone see the truth about H even though the full truth is yet it be revealed - his revelation to J
Struggle between Jekyll and Hyde - Supernatural
J has inflicted this on himself - these longings that can only be based in an unnatural part of ourselves that most dont have access to
His death is an act of nature restoring itself
“tortured with the throes of longing” - almost a higher force that has ruined his life - H’s impact on him has caused him to end his life - an evil, supernatural source of power has corrupted a good man
