Themes in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

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  • Created on: 24-04-18 21:37
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  • Jekyll and Hyde Themes.
    • Duality
      • Stevenson suggests we have both:
        • A base part concerned with psychical appetites and pleasures.
        • A higher part that is concerned with intellectual pleasures, moral behavior and the life of the mind
      • The Duality of Human Nature
        • The most important duality Stevenson presents in the novella is his ideas as the dual aspect of human nature.
          • The noble part that follows the conscience.
          • The selfish part that is interested only in pleasure-seeking.
    • Good and Evil
      • Closely linked with that of the duality of human nature.
        • Evil is personified in Hyde.
          • Jekyll says Hyde is "alone in the ranks of mankind, pure evil" (p.61)
          • His evil lies in being entirely selfish: he will do whatever he wants to satisfy he own appetites without any regard for other people.
        • Good is shown in the novella as being generous and kind to others.
          • Enfield describes Jekyll as "one of your fellows who do what they call good" (p.5)
          • When freed from his bad aspects, Jekyll works for charities, is religious, is a good friend and he "did good" (p.30)
    • Friendship
      • Friendship is a minor theme in the novella.
        • Enfield and Utterson were friends, though  "It was a nut to crack for many, what these two could see in each other" (p.2)
        • Utterson, Lanyon and Jekyll are friends who dine together.
        • Jekyll and Lanyon are long-standing professional friends,  though they fall out over Jekyll's approach to science.
      • Friendship is also a spur to the action.
        • Utterson's friendship with Jekyll leads him to investigate Hyde and to become involved in the action of the story .
        • Poole asks Utterson, as Jekyll's friend, to help him on the final night.
        • Jekyll turns to Lanyon, as one of his "oldest friends" (p.49) when he needs chemicals from his cabinet.
      • The novella looks on why people make and break friendships, wand what obligations friendship places on people.
    • Science
      • Science is a major theme in the novella. There are two principal views of science.
        • Lanyon follows a practical, rational type of science, described by Hyde as showing "narrow and material views"
        • Jekyll has a more mystical and supernatural - or "transcendent" (p.55) - approach, which Lanyon considers "scientific balderdash" (p.10) and "scientific heresies" (p.17)
      • The different approaches lead to different styles of descriptive language. Lanyon's account gives as much clear, factual detail as possible.
        • The effect on himself of seeing Hyde.
        • The appearance of the chemicals before and after mixing.
        • The physical symptoms he observed in Hyde as he changed.
        • But the transformation is so bizarre that normal science and its language cannot adequately account for or describe it. Jekyll describes his experience in much more abstract, poetic language that does not communicate scientific facts.
          • He speaks of "the trembling immateriality, the mist-like transience" (p.59) of the psychical body.
          • He says the potion "shook the very fortress of identity" (p.59)
    • Appearance and Reality.
      • Few things are as they seem in the novella.
        • Jekyll is considered a respectful, upstanding man, but feels he hides a dark inner identity.
        • Hyde appears to be a normal, if ugly, person, but is actually a "child of hell" (p.71)
        • Jekyll's predicament: it looks as though he is being blackmailed, and this is what Enfield and Utterson assume is happening.
        • The psychical deterioration of Lanyon looks to Utterson like a physical illness, but is the result of the shock of seeing Hyde's transformation
        • Utterson assumes Jekyll's odd behavior means that he is ill and seeking a cure.
      • We as readers are also taken in by these deceptive appearances.
  • Friendship is a minor theme in the novella.
    • Enfield and Utterson were friends, though  "It was a nut to crack for many, what these two could see in each other" (p.2)
    • Utterson, Lanyon and Jekyll are friends who dine together.
    • Jekyll and Lanyon are long-standing professional friends,  though they fall out over Jekyll's approach to science.

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