Themes in Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

Violence
1. "he broke out in a great flame of anger"
  1. The metaphor compares him to fire, wild and uncontrollable
2. "trampled calmly"
  1. His violence was in the act, not the way it was carried out
3. "the bones were audibly shattered"
  1. Hyde continued to beat Carew until his bones were crushed
    1. He is out of control and beat Carew until the effects were deadly. He enjoyed beating Carew
Science & the supernatural
1. "some dammed juggernaut"
  1. Hyde is compared to a machine which crushes everything in it's way.
    1. Re-enforces the idea that Hyde is not human and does not display any emotions
2. "It turns me cold to think of this creature"
  1. The mere thought of Hyde provokes a fearful physical reaction. He puts people on edge without having to do anything.
    1. Emphasises that Hyde isn't human. 'Creature' suggests that he is not thought of as another human.
The importance of reputation
1. "No gentleman but wishes to avoid a scene"
  1. Nobody, even Hyde, wants to give themselves a bad name
2. "professional honour and faith to his dead friend were stringent obligations"
  1. Although the envelope held the key to solving the mystery, Utterson preserved his friends reputation by keeping the letter closed
3. "Signed with a name I can't mention"
  1. Enfeild does not want to give Jekyll a bad name for protecting Hyde
    1. Even knowing a bad person ruined your reputation in Victorian morals
The duality of human nature
1. "in the agonised womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling"
  1. There is a battle between the two contrasting personalities for prominence.
2. "Dammed juggernaut" TO ""smooth faced man of fifty"
  1. Shows that the two men have contrasting appearances and highlights the different characteristics of the men
3. "man is not truly one but truly two"
  1. Jekyll holds the belief that it is part of human nature to have contrasting thoughts and personalities as part of you
    1. Jekyll has drawn a definitive line between good and evil and separated them as two different parts
Secrecy
1. "he didn't look the lawyer in the face"
  1. Hyde tries to keep his face hidden from Utterson, and hence the reader.
    1. This leaves the reader guessing what Hyde looks like. Only unflattering descriptions from other people have been used to describe him so far.
Religion
1. "if I ever read Satan's signature upon a face"
2. "really like Satan"
3. "the unbelief of Satan
  1. Hyde is repetitively compared to the devil. For Christians, Satan is the worst form of evil, so to compare somebody to Satan is calling them pure evil.
    1. Stark contrast to the high reputation held by Dr Jekyll

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Themes in Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

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	Created by Lana Duncan almost 9 years ago