Jekyll and Hyde themes

DUALITY

• Stevenson uses images of duality and doubles throughout the novel.
• These images are used to foreshadow the revelation of Hyde
• These images are also used by Stevenson to explore his own beliefs that elements of Victorian society was hypocritical as people would hide their own misdemeanours but condemn those same flaws when expressed by others
• Duality is such a dominant motif that it is a factor in each character, theme and scene.
• DUALITY BETWEEN J&H
• Jekylls hands are ‘large, firm white and comely’. ‘White’ was a reflection of wealth and respectability in the Victorian era and ‘large’ and ‘firm’ connected a stable, reliable persona, evoking friendly connotations of the doctor
• Contrastingly Hyde’s hands are describes as ‘corded, knuckly, of a dusky pallor and thickly shaded’. Dusky pallor is almost a pathetic fallacy of Hyde’s evil demeanour. ‘Thickly shaded’ is a contrast to Jekyll’s ‘white’ hands which would have impressed on the Victorian readers as it was not seen to be favourable to have dark skin.
• Hands are traditionally seen to be a representation of a person’s personality and one of the first things people notice upon first encounter
• Like his door, Jekyll is a ''well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a stylish cast'' and ''every mark of capacity and kindness.''
• In contrast to Jekyll, Hyde, like his door, inspires revulsion in everyone he meets. He is ''pale and dwarfish'' and ''troglodytic'' (caveman-like). He also gives a strange ''impression of deformity without any nameable malformation'' and has a ''displeasing smile.''
• There is duality in the symbolic way of which Jekyll’s house is described:
• The front entrance that Jekyll uses is said that it ‘wears a great air of wealth and comfort’. These are values that had high regard by the Victorian society emphasising Jekyll’s respectability and classiness.
• Contrastingly Hyde’s door (the back entrance) was described to show ''the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence.'' Its door is ''blistered and distained,'' a shelter for tramps and street urchins.
• Key quotations: ‘two natures that contended in the field of my conscience’ (chapter 10) - ‘contended’ offer connotations of fight which highlights the conflict and struggle between Jekyll and Hyde’s conflicting personas. ‘Field’ indicates the broadness of Jekyll’s conscience and why Jekyll cannot be confined by the narrowness of Victorian societal expectations.

DILEMMAS AND CONSEQUENCES

• Dilemmas:
• 1)In chapter 10 Dr Jekyll describes the initial dilemma of whether to take the drug he has created. Abstract nouns are used to prevent the pros, e.g. ‘discovery’ and the cons, e.g. death to indicate to the reader Jekyll’s delusion. It shows how Jekyll’s mind has been taken over by the chemicals in his brain inducing addiction to the extent that Jekyll has now lost control.
• His dilemma is solved as he gives into temptation.
• 2)after the first involuntary transformation into Hyde, Jekyll faced the dilemma as to whether he should totally give up the drug. Steven uses the image of ‘scales’ to show Jekyll weigh up his choices and impress on the ready how burdening and challenging the decision is for Jekyll.
• Jekyll realises that this is a choice between good and evil and vows not to take the drug again. -After breaking this vow Jekyll refers to it as a ‘moral weakness’.
• 3) in chapter 5 Mr Utterson also faces a moral dilemma about whether to hand Mr Hyde’s letterbox the police(as it could incriminate Jekyll). The metaphor of ‘struggled with himself’ conveys his reluctance to know the truth about his friend which links in with the theme of repression and societal expectations. Utterson struggles between social comfort and following the right moral pathway.
• When Utterson locks the letter away in his safe Stevenson uses a metaphor that ‘his blood ran cold in his veins’. Not only does this indicate to the reader the horror that Utterson feels towards Hyde’s malevolent doings but also at himself for giving into societal pressure and hiding the truth- there potentially abetting Hyde.
• Consequences :
• 1)dr Jekyll faces the loss of his life as a consequence of his actions. At first this is described as‘ the terrors of scaffold’. This is figurative of the fact that if caught Mr Hyde would be hanged for murder.
• 2)Stevenson later presents the loss of Jekyll’s life more metaphorically as mr Hyde takes control. The Victorian gentlemen’s cannot stop his own de-evolution and faces life as a sinful, hunted criminal.
• 3)as well as describing the ‘torments’ that he receives from his own creation, Jekyll says how running out of the required drug ‘finally severed me from my own face and nature’. Violent imagery of ‘severs’ emphasises the extent of his internal conflict which links into the theme of duality and repression.
• 4)the horror and desperation his involuntary transformations causes him can be seen when Hyde goes to see Lanyon, for help and is described as ‘being on fire with somber excitement’. The fire metaphor reflects Hyde’s agitation and suffering as well as adding a moral element to be linked with hell and damnation.
• KEY QUOTATIONS:
• ‘The doom that is closing on us both’ chapter 10 (Jekyll)
• ‘My punishment might have gone on for years, but for the last calamity which has now fallen’. (Chapter 10 Jekyll)

SCIENCE AND DISCOVERY

• How are Jekyll’s experiments presented mysteriously ?
• Stevenson uses different senses when describing ‘the blood-red liquor’ to be ‘highly pungent’. ‘Blood-red’ has connotations which link in with the theme of gothic horror creating an eerie atmosphere and ‘liquor’ links into the theme of addiction, subtly hinting at us early on that Jekyll is not in control. While Stevenson uses these different senses he gives the potion no actual identity to maintain the sense of mystery thus evoking a feeling of wariness.
• Dr Jekyll’s experiments diary is very obscure ending ‘quite abruptly’ with unusual notes such as ‘total failure’. This suggests Hyde’s mental instability to the reader and furthers the air of mystery.
• Stevenson engages the reader by only hinting at the unusual nature of his diary and uses Lanyon as an narrative device to do so -‘all this, though it whetted my curiosity told me little was definite’.
• How is discovery presented as dangerous ?
• In the final chapter Jekyll confesses the power that the drug has over him, saying ‘I knew well I risked death’ which again ties in with the theme of addiction as we see that Jekyll’s loss of control is now threatening his life.
• Stevenson uses a metaphor to describe the power of his drugs ‘shook the very fortress of my identity’. ‘Fortress’ has connotations of a castle communicating to the reader that Jekyll feels the outside world to be separated from him by thick walls and inside the only thing he can take comfort in is this drug. This really depicts to the reader the heavy reliance that Jekyll has on the drug as a way of escape, linking into he themes of repression and addiction.
• Lanyon describes the transformation in a frightening way, ‘staring with injected eyes, gasping with open mouth’. Stevenson uses violent alterations of normal physical features to create a gothic, horror-like scene.
• The greatest danger of the drug however is Jekyll’s inability to frontal his transformations anymore. Stevenson uses similes to depict this saying that ‘Edward Hyde would pass away like the stain of breath on this mirror’. The use of Hyde’s full name by Jekyll shows that Jekyll feels a disconnect to Hyde now, as though he thinks of Hyde as a stranger and does not know who he is anymore.
• Jekyll feels a great sense of horror, when he changes involuntarily depicting this with another simile and personification, ‘terror woke up in my breast as sudden and startling as the crash of cymbals’. The personification of ‘terror’ waking up inside of Hyde is emphatic of the fact that Jekyll’s feelings have a life of their own now and he is no longer in control. ‘Cymbals’ have connotations of being the loudest, most intrusively interrupting instrument conveying to the reader the way that Jekyll’s feels the drug has loudly and rudely interrupted and taken over his life.
• How are Jekyll’s discoveries presented as blasphemous?
• Jekyll’s experiment releases something abominable in the shape of Mr Hyde. Stevenson uses a metaphor in the form of a Biblical allusion to describe Hyde as ‘the child of Hell’ whose ‘evil was written broadly and plainly on his face.’
• Meeting Mr Utterson after witnessing the transformation, Lanyon refers to Jekyll as an ‘accursed topic’. Later exploring he laboratory, Mr Utterson is shocked to find a religious book that Jekyll had ‘annotated in his own hand with startling blasphemies’. This was done to shock and potentially even upset a 19th century reader as this would have been particularly impactful since religion was such an integral part of a Victorian citizen’s livelihood .
• key quotes:
• ‘A new provence of knowledge and new avenues to fame and power shall be laid open to you...’ chapter 10 Jekyll describing the potion to Lanyon
• ‘I was losing hold of my original and better self’ and being over ridden by his ‘second and worse’

Respectability and repression

• The majority of the characters follow social codes of respectability; following a clear code of how one should behave. This was typical of the Victorian period in which the novel is set.
• Mr Enfield has a rule about ‘undue curiosity’ which Mr Utterson refers to as a ‘good rule’. The lawyer also says, ‘I am ashamed of my long tongue’. This depicts the serious extent to which Enfield takes the code of soctal conduct.
• The similar approach to the societal codes of courtesy reflected by the other characters is used as a literary device to contrast and emphasises Mr Hyde’s total disrespect to common courtesy. Mr Utterson even goes so far as to reprimand Hyde’s aggressive speech by saying ‘that is not fitting language’. Dr Lanyon also goes out of his way to emphasise the importance of being polite when despite an unsettling and rude visit from Hyde, he still asks Hyde to ‘be seated, if you please’.