Jekyll and Hyde: Characters:

Dr Jekyll + Mr Hyde

Respectable person

1.Dr Jekyll is seen as someone who is friendly and a good person, for example he is described as having: "Every mark of capacity and kindness"

2. Dr Jekyll is very much respected for example, "Well known and highly considered"

3. How he looks and presents himself is very important to him, for example it says he is "fond of the respect" which he is given

His medicine:

1 He is a talented scientist, for example it says he works with "transcendental medicine", which clearly shows that he is brilliant at medicine

2. His medicine is looked down at by other people as they believe it is too "fanciful". This is because his medicine crosses the boundary between material science and supernaturalism- therefore there was fear from other scientists, especially from Dr Lanyon who said his work was "unscientific balderdash"

3. His main ambition for his medicine is to "remove the curse of mankind", which is the fact that the good and bad side is bound together. He is so desperate that often he "doubles" or "trebles" the dose and has "risked death"

His other side:

1. However, Dr Jekyll has hidden desires. Due to the high expectations of Victorian society, he often feels guilt for these desires, saying he had an "almost morbid sense of shame"

2. Because of this, Dr Jekyll carries a "more than commonly grave countenance before the public". 

3. This is a comment on Victorian society, showing that they put too much pressure on people to be perfect. This is what drives Jekyll to do what he does. 

Mr Hyde: described as evil: 

His description as evil:

1. Mr Hyde is described as being "pure evil". 

2. It can be seen that he takes pleasure in extreme violence and brutality. For example during the Carrew murder, he "took delight" when "hailing down a storm of blows". This was an unprovoked murder and he found it fun

3. There was the idea of the criminal type: The idea a criminal could be identified by how they looked. Stevenson explores this idea by how he describes Hyde. For example, he says he leaves an "imprint of deformity and decay"

Animalistic imagery:

1. Often, animalistic imagery is used when describing Hyde. For example Stevenson says he is "ape- like" and "troglodytic". 

2. Strong belief in evolution- that humans all evolved from a single descendent. There was also a belief in atavism- which was that features of previous generations which were lost could be brought back in humans. Therefore, he uses the animalistic imagery to emphasise Hyde's atavistic nature. 

His effect on other people:

1. He is shown as having a negative affect on people. For example, the sawbones who is "as calm as a bagpipe", when looking at Hyde is "sick and white with the desire to kill him". This dramatic contrast emphasises that everyone has a bad side within them, but Hyde's evil helps to bring this out. 

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