Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

1. Context

   • by R L Stevenson
   • gothic novella
   • based in 19th century London

2. Themes

   • Duality
     • the duality of human nature
   • Addiction
   • Repression
   • Reputation

3. Symbolism

   • Setting
     • symbolizes opposing characters of Jekyll and Hyde
     • Jekyll
       • Jekyll's house
         • Jekyll's home symbolises his character and his character's good nature, while contrasting to the home of Hyde in Soho.
         • superficial
           • front is welcoming and respectable, as is the character of Hyde, but conceals the inside which contains a darkness
             • Conveys Jekyll's superficial nature as he hides the darker side of himself. This symbolises the darkness of human nature as, below the surface, we all have a faker nature, just as Jekyll's hom appears warm and respectable, within there is the laboratory, which is dingy and distasteful.
         • "wore a great air of wealth and comfort"
         • "the pleasantest room in London"
         • "handsome houses"
     • Hyde
       • the door
         • The door that Hyde uses to enter Jekyll's home. The door symbolises Hyde's dark nature.
         • creates intrigue
         • "every marks the features of prolonged and sordid negligence"
         • "blistered and distained"
         • "showed no window"
           • The door allows through no light, meaning that there is only darkness within. 
       • Soho
         • The area where Hyde lives contrasts to that of Jekyll's neighbourhood, which is nice and respectable.
         • "a dingy street"
         • "like a district from some city in a nightmare"
           • Connotes fear, terror, trauma and something abnormal and out of place.
         • "mournful reinvasion of darkness"
           • This emotive phrase effectively portrays the unhappiness of succumbing to the darker side of human nature through the symbolism of the fog.
       • laboratory
         • Contrasts to the rest of Jekyll's house.
         • "dingy windowless structure"
         • "distasteful sense of strangeness"
   • Weather
     • fog
       • Allows Stevenson to convey the tone of the novel at certain points in the story.
       • "A great chocolate pall lowered over heaven"
         • "heaven" is a biblical reference and infers that the city is so full of sin that it has been physically cut off from heaven and all that is good. The fog is descending upon the city, smothering and suffocating the citizens, perhaps referring to mankind succumbing to the temptations of evil and allowing their dark nature to overcome them.
       • "The fog still slept on the wing above the drowned city"
         • "drowned" would literally mean that the city had been killed of murdered, but we may see this as meaning that the city has allowed their dark side to destroy them as their goodness has been destroyed and now they are living in sin.