Jekyll and Hyde - Chapter 1

Jekyll and Hyde - Chapter 1

1. Narrator : bore in every feature the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence

   • Theme: Reputation/appearance.
   • contrasts to 'Smiling saleswomen' which shows that even in a poor neighbourhood this house stands out for sinister reasons that are yet unknown to the reader.
   • 'sordid' - when somebody commits something morally wrong which suggests that the house itself is tainted with immorality.

2. Mr Enfield: I was coming home from someplace at the end of the world about 3 o'clock.

   • This suggests at MR Enfield may not be a very respectable gentleman to be coming home at 3 o'clock and contextually brothels were very common in that part of town.
   • Theme: Reputation
   • Metephor

3. Mr Enfield: It sounds nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see

   • This is reflected in this line as only the most terrible things cannot be described.
   • The description of Hyde is very vague and it doesn't go into detail which allows the reader to come up with their own image which makes the scene seem even more vicious .
   • Theme: religion

4. Mr Enfeild: Signed with the name I cannot mention

   • creates suspense in the story because the protagonists knows the name however as the reader we don't. Brings up questions about Hyde and the people he is associated with.
   • Theme: the unexplained

5. Mr Enfield: The more it looks like Queer Street the less I ask

   • The more out of the ordinary something is, the more we fear it.
   • Links to the idea of the 'other'
   • Theme: urban terror

6. Hyde sounds like the word Hide

   • He isn't what he seems and is clearly hiding something which adds mystery.
   • links to the closed door because both Hyde's house and his character are very closed off and uninviting.
   • Theme: secrecy and silence.

7. Mr Enfeild: He gives a strong feeling of deformity although I couldn't specify the point.... I can't describe him

   • Suggests that it is hidden in society but present nonetheless and like Utterson the reader has no reason to distrust Hyde just an indescribable feeling that something isn't right which makes his character intriguing
   • throughout the whole play, if Hyde represents evil, than the writer sees evil as a hidden, indescribable deformity. Evil is so terrible that it can't be dialogued..
   • Theme: evil

8. Mr Enfield: Black sneering coolness...really like Satan.

   • theme: evil
   • Hyde is compared to Satan himself which adds to the idea that he is pure evil.