Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
- Context
- by R L Stevenson
- gothic novella
- based in 19th
century London
- Themes
- Duality
- the duality of
human nature
- Addiction
- Repression
- Reputation
- Symbolism
- Setting
- symbolizes opposing
characters of Jekyll and
Hyde
- Jekyll
- Jekyll's house
Anmerkungen:
- Jekyll's home symbolises his character and his character's good nature, while contrasting to the home of Hyde in Soho.
- superficial
- front is welcoming and
respectable, as is the
character of Hyde, but
conceals the inside which
contains a darkness
Anmerkungen:
- Conveys Jekyll's superficial nature as he hides the darker side of himself. This symbolises the darkness of human nature as, below the surface, we all have a faker nature, just as Jekyll's hom appears warm and respectable, within there is the laboratory, which is dingy and distasteful.
- "wore a great air of
wealth and comfort"
- "the pleasantest
room in London"
- "handsome houses"
- Hyde
- the door
Anmerkungen:
- The door that Hyde uses to enter Jekyll's home. The door symbolises Hyde's dark nature.
- creates intrigue
- "every marks the
features of prolonged and
sordid negligence"
- "blistered and
distained"
- "showed no window"
Anmerkungen:
- The door allows through no light, meaning that there is only darkness within.
- Soho
Anmerkungen:
- The area where Hyde lives contrasts to that of Jekyll's neighbourhood, which is nice and respectable.
- "a dingy street"
- "like a district from some
city in a nightmare"
Anmerkungen:
- Connotes fear, terror, trauma and something abnormal and out of place.
- "mournful reinvasion
of darkness"
Anmerkungen:
- This emotive phrase effectively portrays the unhappiness of succumbing to the darker side of human nature through the symbolism of the fog.
- laboratory
Anmerkungen:
- Contrasts to the rest of Jekyll's house.
- "dingy windowless structure"
- "distasteful sense
of strangeness"
- Weather
- fog
Anmerkungen:
- Allows Stevenson to convey the tone of the novel at certain points in the story.
- "A great chocolate pall
lowered over heaven"
Anmerkungen:
- "heaven" is a biblical reference and infers that the city is so full of sin that it has been physically cut off from heaven and all that is good. The fog is descending upon the city, smothering and suffocating the citizens, perhaps referring to mankind succumbing to the temptations of evil and allowing their dark nature to overcome them.
- "The fog still slept on
the wing above the
drowned city"
Anmerkungen:
- "drowned" would literally mean that the city had been killed of murdered, but we may see this as meaning that the city has allowed their dark side to destroy them as their goodness has been destroyed and now they are living in sin.