Jekyll and Hyde- Themes and Characters
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- Created by: Samwise
- Created on: 21-05-17 16:32
Jekyll
- Jekyll is ambitious and has "every guarantee of an honourbale and distinguished future"
- He's respectable "well known and highly considered"
- But also troubled "I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end"
- He's very aware of how people see him. In public he carries his "head high" and is "fond of the respect" people give him
- He is worried about his hidden desires and he thinks they're far worse than what they are
- His desires make him feel guilty so he creates a "deeper trench" then most between his good and bad side. He hides them with an "almost sense of shame"
- As a result he finds himself commited to a "profound duplicity of life" which is making a potion
- He experiments in "transcendental medicine" which is controversal and as a result he lost the respect of Lanyon who called it "unscientific balderdash"
- His "fanciful" work is not seen as respectable as it crosses the boundary of science of the material world into the supernatural
- By splitting his two sides he wants to rid himself of "the curse of mankind". He's motivated by ambition and a selfih desire to be "relieved of all that was unbearable"
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Jekyll Continued
- He's so desperate that he willingly "risked death" by drinking the potion
- Instead of splitting his good and bad sides he only suceeds in releasing his bad side
- He treats Hyde as a seperate person
- He often refers to Hyde in 3rd person "I find it in my heart to pity him" he has trouble accepting Hyde is a part of him
- He increasingly loses control of Hyde "slowly losing hold of my original and better self"
- He becomes addicted to the immoral side of his personality and compares himself to a "drunkard"
- He finally loses all control which shows his evil sides is stronger
- In the end he admits his experiments failed. Mans evil side "returns uopn us with more unfamiliar and more awful pressure"
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Hyde
- Hyde is "pure evil"
- He's "a man who was without bowels of mercy"
- "he gives a strong feeling of deformity"
- He's self-centred "his evry act and though centred on self"
- He seems to be violent for the sake of it. He takes "delight" in murdering Carew
- His evil is reflected in his appearance. It leaves "an imprint of deformity and decay"
- He is so evil it is clear to evryone there's "something wrong with his appearance"
- He is frquently compared to animals, particularly apes
- People loathe Hyde. Even the unemotional Doctor had a "desire to kill" Hyde
- People are disturbed by his appearance. Enfield says he is "extraordinary-looking" and Utterson says he can "read Satan's signature" on Hyde's face
- Hyde "resented the dislike" which Jekyll feels towards him
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Utterson
- He's serious "a rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile"
- He's reputable "the last good influence in the lives of down-going men"
- He's brave "I shall consider it my duty to break in that door"
- Utterson is a typically rational Victorian gentlemen- he's "a lover of the sane and customary sides of life"
- He doesn't consider explanations that threaten to upset his rational way of thinking. He concludes that Jekyll has locked himself in the cabinet due to disease. He thinks this is a "plain and natural" explanation
- He feels "mental perplexity" when he meets Hyde for the first time
- The memory of Hyde gives makes him feel a "shudder in his blood" the supernatural nature of Hyde is strong enough to afftect his emotions which he usually controls
- He feels a "singularly strong, almost inordinate, curiosity" to see Hyde and he waits "by all lights and at all hours" to see him
- It's possible he sees his own darker side in Hyde and is strangely drawn to him
- He wants to maintain respectability, order and propriety
- He is also concerned about Jekylls reputation
- He doesn't read Lanyons letter out of "professional honour"
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Lanyon
- He's faithful "I felt bound to do as he requested"
- He's friendly "Welcomed him with both hands"
- He's also conventional "Jekyll became too fanciful for me"
- At first he is described as a "hearty, healthy, dapper, red-faced gentlemen"
- His "friendliness seems "theatrical" which might suggest he's putting on a front but has "genuine feeling behind it"
- He has a lot in common with Jekyll- they're both doctors and respectable men and were once "insperable friends"
- Lanyon regards Jekylls mystical science as "unscientific balderdash" and Jekyll thinks Lanyon is an "ignorant blatant pendant" for being so sceptical and as a result they are no longer friends
- Like Utterson, Lanyon never comes close to guessing what is wrong with Jekyll as he concludes he is suffering from a "cerebal disease"
- His shock is shown by his language as he repeatedly screams "O God!" as he watches the transformation
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Reputation
- Utterson is wary of gossip. He and Enfield agree to never talk about Hyde, and believe in not asking questions i something "looks like Queer Street"
- Utterson is more concerned for Jekylls reputation then bringing Hyde to trial as he says "If it came to a trial, your name might appear"
- Reputation can't be trusted as it is based on appearance
- Utterson finds it very hard to look into Jekylls problem as he only sees his reputation
- Jekyll creates Hyde to rid himself of the "disgrace" of sin
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Duality of Man
- Jekyll is an estbalished gentlemen, with "the respect of the wise and good" in society. On the other hand, he is guilty of "irregularities" that he wants to remain hidden
- He applies this to all of humanity "man is not truly one, but truly two"
- He fails to seperate his sides as he is "radically both"
- There's a "war" within Jekyll and the "two natures that contended in the field" of his mind clash
- Without Hyde, Jekyll is "distinguished for religion" and charity but is also an "ordinary secret sinner"
- In contrast, Hyde is purely Satanic and writes all over Jekyll's religious text with "startling blasphemies"
- Jekyll refers to Hyde as "my devil" and Utterson sees "Satan's signiture" on Hyde's face
- Jekyll says Hyde could have been created as "an angel instead of a fiend"
- Hyde behaves "like a madman" and "ape-like", but he's a part of Jekyll. This suggests the civilised side restrains the evil side
- Jekylls house "wore a great air of wealth and comfort" but is connected to Hyde's shabby laboratory
- Hyde's evil nature is shown in his "displeasing smile" and "extra-ordinary appearance" he is the only one who does not hide behind his appearance
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Science and Religion
- Lanyon deals with the science of the material world and cannot cope with Jekyll using science to experiment with spiritual matters
- Jekyll's work leads "wholly towards the mystic and transcendental"
- He uses science to deal with "that hard law of life, which lies at the root of religion" the "hard law" being that all humans are sinful
- When Jekyll was younger he "regarded and hid" his sins with "an almost morbid sense of shame"
- Jekyll is a "secret sinner" and Hyde is "the spirit of hell"
- Science is portrayed as unsettling "racking pangs", "deadly nausea" and "a horror of the spirit" describe the transformation
- Jekyll's science causes death and destruction. This shows how powerful science can be
- Jekyll says he won't "deeply" describe his experiment as it caused his evil side to return with a "more awful pressure"
- His experiment was also "incomplete". Even Jekyll, a respected scientist, failed to achieve his aims
- Jekyll's drugs "shook the doors of the prisonhouse of disposition"
- Despite this, Jekyll is still proud of his experiment. He repeats "I was the first..." to show how proud he is and he starts to think he is "beyond the reach of fate"
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Secrecy
- Utterson has done "many ill things" in his past but doesn't say what they are even though his past is "fairly blameless"
- They often decide not to speak about certain things so they pretend they're not happening
- They downplay shocking events such as Enfield describing Hyde trampling a girl as "a bad story"
- Jekyll asks Utterson to "respect" his silence and says he "cannot share" what he knows about Hyde
- Both Lanyon and Jekyll decide to write their experiances, rather then speak about them. They are left unread until the end which adds to the secrecy
- There are many locked doors and windoes in the novel "neither bell nor knocker" is associated with Hyde, Jekyll slams the window and later locks himself in a cabinet, letters and ingredients are kept locked in drawers and safes
- They represnent people's desire to hise their secrets, so smashing the cabinet door is a symbolic moment. It represents the breakdown of Jekyll's walls of secrecy
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