Jekyll and Hyde - Themes

Jekyll and Hyde - Themes

1. Reputation

   • Immoral activities and uncontrolled emotions would damage a gentleman's reputation which would mean losing social advantages
   • Reputation was very important to gentlemen in the novel in Victorian society
   • Utterson is more concerned about preserving jekylls repuation than bring Hyde in.
   • Stevenson's message is that reputation can not be trusted as they are based on peoples appearances
   • The problem with reputation being so important is that you don't know what people are really like
     • This is what causes Utterson problems - he can't fully understand Jekyll's problem as he doesn't want to believe the worst as he fears for Jeykll's reputation
       • This is why he held on to the idea of blackmail as he found it hard to look beyond his concern for his reputation

2. Duality

   • Jekyll decides that his duality applies to all of humanity
     • He states is opinon as fact
   • Duality is the contrast between 2 concepts
   • Evil is personified in Hyde
   • Jekyll is a mix of good and evil
   • Stevenson uses the language of the battle to describe the struggle of the 2 different natures
     • There is a 'war' within Jekyll and the ' two natures that contend in the field'
       • Jekyll's mind sounds like 2 forces on a battle field
   • Jekyll undermines how closely the good and evil sides of his personality are tide together
     • Hyde (Evil side) out ways the good
   • Without Hyde, Jekyll lives a good life, but he is an 'ordinary secret sinner' showing that he is not completely good
     • In contrast Hyde is the purely evil side of Jekyll
       • Jekyll calls Hyde 'my devil'
       • Hyde is created because of Jekyll's the desire to get rid of his sinful thoughts rather than deal with them
   • Hyde is uncivilized and doesn't follow etiquette of victorian society
     • In victorian society people in the upper class believed that those who were uncivilised were less evolved
   • Stevenson forces his reader to consider the possibility that everyone has a dark side
   • Stevenson uses the idea of duality to criticise the victorian society
     • He suggests that the gap between appearance and reality in people/houses is hypocritical
       • This is shown in the description of Jekyll's house
         • The front : 'wore a great air of wealth and comfort'
         • The back: is connected to a shabby and worn down door

3. Appearance vs Reality

   • Jekyll is considered a respectable upstanding man, but feels he hides a dark evil side
   • Hyde appears to be normal but with deformities and is uncivilised but is actually a 'child of hell'
   • Jekyll looks as if he is being blackmailed although he is doing it himself
   • Lanyon's physical deterioration looks to Utterson like a physical illness but it is just from the shock of seeing Hyde's transformation

4. Secrecy

   • The whole plot of Jeykll and hyde revolves around Jeykll's secret alter ego
   • The gentleman characters often decide not to speak about the unpleasant things so they can pretend they don't happen
     • They also play down shocking events
       • Enfield describes the trampled girl as a 'bad story' this understatement shows that the gentleman are determined to show/ pretend that everything is normal
   • Throughout the novel, there are many closed doors and windows
     • The closed doors and window represent the people's desire to hide their secret
       • The smashing of the cabinet door symbolises the breakdown of Jekyll's walls of secrecy

5. Science and religion

   • There are 2 different views of sciences
     • Lanyon's
       • Practical and rational view point needing evidence to believe it
         • The difference in viewpoint is highlighted by different language used
           • Lanyon's account of the events is much clearer and includes more factual detail
           • Jekyll describes the events more abstract and poetic with less factual information
     • Jekyll's
       • More mystical and supernaturel view
   • In the 19th centry people believed that the earth was created by God
     • However scientists started disprove their belief - Darwin released his theory of evolution
       • Many victorians thought this view was dangerous as it suggested that science had power to create life which challenges their religious view of the world
   • Jekyll - 'shook the very fortress of identity'
   • Lanyon - 'unscientific balderdash'
   • Lanyon - 'scientific heresies'
   • Jekyll - ' transcendental'
   • Stevenson criticises victorian society by presenting Jekyll as religious in public, doing good things but then he was bad in private highlighting how society then was hypocritical