Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Quotes

"He began to go wrong, wrong in mind; and though of course I continue to take an interest in him for old sake's sake, as they say, I see and I have seen devilish little of the man." - Dr Lanyon

"The death of Sir Danvers was, to his way of thinking, more than paid for by the disappearance of Mr. Hyde. Now that that evil influence had been withdrawn, a new life began for Dr. Jekyll. He came out of his seclusion, renewed relations with his friends, became once more their familiar guest and entertainer" - Utterson's perspective

"We told the man we could and would make such a scandal out of this as should make his name stink from one end of London to the other. If he had any friends or any credit, we undertook that he should lose them."  - Mr Enfield

"But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove" - Narrative (on Utterson)

"It was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men." - Narrative (on Utterson)

"It was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both; and from an early date . . . I had learned to dwell with pleasure, as a beloved daydream, on the thought of the separation of these elements." - Dr Jekyll

"An ivory-faced and silvery-haired old woman opened the door. She had an evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy: but her manners were excellent." - Narrative (on landlady)

"With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and thebintellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two." - Dr Jekyll

 "“Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of me." - Dr Jekyll

Jekyll kept the sinful side of his personality repressed in favour of appearing to be a socially respectable man.

"My devil had long been caged, he came out roaring."

The inner devil that Jekyll speaks of here is a manifestation of his unconscious desires and repressed pleasure-seeking elements. The “devil” is a deliberate contrast and religious allusion to the Christian ideals of morality, goodness and purity. The animalistic continuous verb, "roaring" suggests how the entity within has been reppressed for so long that it has become angry and aggressive.

"I looked down; my clothes hung formlessly on my shrunken limbs; the hand that lay on my knee was corded and hairy."

The “hairy” creature has been allowed to grow hair freely - an unrestrained and uncontrolled creature that is unlike Jekyll.Jekyll himself is shocked at the uncontrollable transformations as he looks down upon his own body and sees the results of his experimentation. The hand is a symbol of respectability and honour - and this is invaded by the hair that grows underneath his skin.

"This inexplicable incident… seemed, like the Babylonian finger on the wall, to be spelling out the letters of my judgment”

Biblical allusion which foreshadows Jekyll's death and evokes an ominous feeling of doom.

" A man who was without bowels of mercy" - 3rd person Narrator on Hyde

"He gives a strong feeling of deformity" - Enfield on Hyde

"His every act and thought centred on self" 

"The other snarled aloud into a savage laugh" From passage where Utterson first meets Hyde

Hyde is described as a “savage” character that we cannot describe - the adjective “savage” implies he is a degenerate without morals, and he also moves like an animal would.The verb “snarled” is usually applied to animals, and has a sinister undertone.The sibilance in this quotation also suggests that there is a sinister aspect to Hyde’s character.This connotes to the context of Darwinism, and the idea that humans could possibly degenerate into the inner savage if the veneer of society were removed.

"There was something abnormal and misbegotten in the very essence of the creature" - Lanyon

Hyde is described as “abnormal” which differentiates him from the other well-respected gentlemen in the novella.Hyde is frequently referred to as a “creature” rather than a human and this evokes animalistic imagery. We get the impression that Hyde is a pre-human troglodyte (caveman) that exists without civilisation and the laws and morals that dictate the civilised being.

"He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something down-right detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why.”

This shows us that he is an unidentifiable character that does not blend in with the rest of society.Hyde is deliberately described as vague and ambiguous to make the reader anxious about who this character actually is. The idea that Hyde evokes fear in the other characters, but there is a non-specific reason for this, builds tension for the reader, and also leaves the reader to paint an image of Hyde that aligns to their own personal fears.Hyde poses as a mechanism to revive the inner terrors and sins that exist within us.

"Satan's signature upon a face"

Religious imagery depicts Hyde as a feared being that is the closest thing to wholly evil in the victorian era.

Quotes Presenting Hyde as a Primitive/Non-Human Being:

• “A dismal screech, as of mere animal terror, rang from the cabinet” (8)
• “Snarled aloud into a savage laugh” (2)
• “Clubbed him to the earth…with ape-like fury” (4)
• “Satan’s signature upon a face” (2)
• “That masked thing like a monkey jumped from among the chemicals” (8)

"A rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile" (1).

This quote shows he is dull-looking, serious and represses his emotions

The last good influence in the lives of down-going men" (1).

This shows him to be a trustworthy gentleman

"lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable"

"he had an approved tolerance for others"

"if he br Me Hyde, he had thought, I shall be Mr Seek."Obsessive Determination

"Welcomed him with both hands"

This quote shows him to be friendly, sociable and kind.

"Jekyll became too fanciful for me."

Shows him to be a traditional and skeptic scientist.

"I felt bound to do as he requested" - shows he is a faithful friend

"I am quite done with that person and I beg that you will spare me any allusion to one whom i regard as dead." Unaccepting/narrow-minded

"O, sir...do you think I do not know my master after twenty years? Do you think I do not know where his head comes to in the cabinet door, where I saw him every morning of my life? No, sir, that thing in the mask was never Dr Jekyll." - Poole

Poole is loyal and has worked for Jekyll for over two decades. He is the one that notices when Jekyll’s behaviour starts to change, so he notifies Utterson for help. Only one of few members of lower class in the novella.

"Well, sir...there's a rather singular resemblance; the two hands are in many points identical: only differently sloped.” - Guest (5). Utterson locks the letter into his safe that night, and thinks "Henry Jekyll forge for a murderer!" His blood runs cold in his veins.

"Like a district of some city in a nightmare"

"A fog rolled over the city in the small hours"

"Brilliantly lit by the full moon"

"Blistered and distained"

"Dingy windowless structure"

"sinister block of building" 

all setting quotes display pathetic fallacy - provides ominous tone, cretes fear and tension, foreshadows death and harm