Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Dr Henry Jekyll
- Repressed
- Causes disatisfaction
- 'dryness of a life of study'
- 'nine tenths a life of effort,
virtue and control'
- 'plod in the eye with a load of
genial respectability'
- Facade to seem
respectable
- 'more than commonly grave countenance before the public'
- 'almost morbid sense of shame'
- adjective 'morbid'
suggests Jekyll's
unhealthy concealment of
"faults"
- 'sense of shame' Jekyll feels for his
"faults" may be Stevenson's way of
critizising the oppressive nature
Victorian society
- Has a latent primitive nature which is
hidden from society
- Conflicted over his identity
- Tries to disassociate
himself from Hyde
- Throughout Chapter 10, repeatedly
refers to himself in 3rd person
- Jekyll is ashamed of Hyde's actions and so removes
himself from being blamed
- This reflects how Jekyll is still trying to
keep his gentleman and respected facade,
even after committing crimes under his
split personality
- Stevenson does this to reiterate the
gravity of pressure society forces on
people
- 'it was Hyde after all, and Hyde
alone, that was guilty'
- No single identity due to duality
- 'imperfect and divided
countenance'
- 'man is not truly one, but
truly two'
- stated as a fact, not an opinion
- 'i was radically both'
- Stevenson explores the
plurality of human
consciousness through
Jekyll's dual personality
- Accepts responsibility for Hyde
- 'the evil side of my nature'
- personal pronoun 'my' suggests Jekyll
takes responsibility for Hyde
- 'my devil had been long caged'
- Sinner
- Tempted by desires
- Stevenson frightens his readers by reflecting
Evangelicalism ideas that all mankind is inevitably
sinful (because of Adam and Eve). As well as this,
Stevenson also suggests the sinful side isn't just
inevitable but also stronger than the moral side
- Controversial experiements
- 'transcendental medicine'
- 'his own tastes being rather
chemical than anatomical'
- 'unscientific balderdash'
- Creates a monster that is uncontrollable
- Sufferer
- Behind a veneer presented to society
- 'infinte sadness of mien, like some disconsolate prisoner'
- adjective 'disconsolate' connotes
unhappiness, presenting Jekyll as
melancholic
- determiner 'some' presents Jekyll as a
commoner or someone without high
standing
- contrasts to 'respectable gentleman'
earlier in novella
- Stevenson does this to show how Jekyll has
fallen after battling with his Id and is
suffering as a result of this.
- Reader feels sympathy for Jekyll as he appears
to be losing the battle, shown in the 'infinite
sadness' he feels
- 'prisonhouse of my disposition'
- 'I became, in my own person, a creature
eaten and emptied by fever'
- Repression causes him to feel
pleasure through Hyde
- 'a solution of the bonds of obligation'
- metaphor 'bonds of obligation' further
emphasises repressive expectations of society,
causing Jekyll to feel release after transforming
- 'I felt younger, lighter,
happier in body'
- comparative adjectives portray joy
Jekyll experiences after transforming
- Stevenson could be reflecting the Victorian
society which places strict expectations on
those high up in the hierarchy. Transforming
into Hyde allows Jekyll to feel pleasure as he
is no longer under the oppressive society in
the form of Hyde
- 'braced and delighted me like wine'
- verb 'delighted'
displays satisfaction
Jekyll feels through
Hyde.
- noun 'wine' further shows Jekyll's satisfaction. Wine
viewed as luxurious item compared to cheap spirits like
gin.
- Hyde feels like a luxury for Jekyll in the
oppressive society
- Physical suffering
to transform
- 'racking pangs'
- Jekyll willing to go through pain
to live unrepressed as Hyde