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Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Context
1. Robert Louis Stevenson
  1. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1850
  2. Jobs within his family included engineers, scientists, a professor of philosophy, and a religious minister
    1. Science v Religon
  3. Died in 1894 in the Samoan Islands
  4. Bad health as a child - lung problems
    1. Led him to travel as an adult, while writing, to find a healthier climate
  5. Published on January 5, 1886
2. Religion and Science
  1. In 1859, when Stevenson was 9 years old, Darwin published The Origin of Species
    1. Theory of Evoultion
      1. Attack on religon - meant God couldn't have created the world in 7 days
      2. Life, including humans, evolved from 'primitive' forms
  2. People believed they had to pick sides
  3. Dangerous to meddle in God's matters
    1. Dr Jekyll does this
  4. Religion provided comfort of life after death
  5. Adds tension
  6. Plays on readers-of-the-time's fears
3. Science and the "Super Natural"
  1. The explainable V the inexplicable
  2. Conflict
    1. Calm, rational, everyday normality of family life and employment
    2. Fantasies, nightmares, anger and violence
  3. Good v Evil
4. Jack the Ripper murders occurred in London in 1888
  1. London was very dangerous in Victorian London
Narrative Structure
1. Narrators
  1. Utterson
    1. We are told about Mr Utterson; his personality, lifestyle and qualities, Utterson is Jekyll's lawyer and that he has some suspicions about Hyde
    2. Stevenson doesn't describe other characters to create mystery and keep the reader in the dark
    3. A proxy for the reader
      1. Share Utterson's feelings of fear, mystery and bewilderment
    4. Narrative
  2. Lanyon
    1. Account
    2. The central section is a short account written by Lanyon who gives his eye-witness account of Dr Jekyll's change from human to monster
      1. The link between Jekyll and Hyde is for the first time established two-thirds of the way through the book
      2. This technique is especially effective in that this eye-witness account is explained in Dr Lanyon's own words in the first person narrative
      3. This way despite the horror our sympathies remain with Dr Jekyll
  3. Jekyll
    1. Letter
    2. The final section is Dr Jekyll's own statement written before Mr Hyde takes him over completely
    3. In the form of a letter written in the first person by Dr Jekyll
    4. It is a first-person 'confessional' narrative and is therefore all the more convincing
    5. Using this narrative technique, Stevenson is able to give us the sense that we are finding out what has happened from Jekyll himself
  4. Mulitiple narrators gives the story a sense of reliablity and realism because the different perspectives aufenticate the narrative
    1. Builds up mystery and suspense
  5. Contemporary Victorian readers would have read Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as a mystery story, wondering throughout about the connection between the two men
    1. The narrative point of view here is crucial in revealing the truth
2. Denouement
  1. Unravelling of the narrative
Theme
1. The Duality of Man
  1. Jekyll is expected to act with an appearance of good behaviour at all times because he is well-educated and highly respected
    1. However, this is a fraud, his true nature was sometimes extremely immoral
      1. Therefore, he creates the potion to separate his good and evil characters
      2. Thinks having an evil side is natural
2. Science and the "Super Natural"
  1. Lanyon has avoided Jekyll for ten years because of his 'fanciful' and 'wrong minded' ideas and investigations
  2. Lanyon and Jekyll are both scientists
    1. Lanyon cannot believe anything that isn't sceintific
      1. Stevenson asks the reader to examine for themselves which man comes closer to the truth
    2. Jekyll explores the supernatural
  3. Science is based on fact and observation unlike the supernatural
  4. At the end Jekyll says his investigations "led wholly towards the mystic and the transcendental"
    1. Closer to religion and the supernatural than science
3. Law
  1. Utterson represents the standards of conventional society and the law.
    1. Like Lanyon, he does not have the imagination to understand what Jekyll is doing
    2. Therefore Jekyll cannot confide in him despite being old friends.
    3. Stevenson makes Utterson come to all the wrong conclusions
      1. Confuses the reader
      2. The law blinds him
      3. As he is a lawyer, he suspects Hyde of blackmail against Jekyll and comiting a crime in order to get Jekyll's money
  2. Other part of law is the police who are also blindsided and not useful
4. Jekyll and Hyde
  1. Names
    1. Double meaning
    2. Jekyll
      1. Je - kyll
        I kill
        Could be referring to how he tried to get rid of Hyde
        He said he would commit suicide to kill Hyde
        'Je' is 'I' in french
      2. Derived from the Breton given name JUDICAËL
        Derived from the elements iud "lord, prince" and cael "generous".
        This was the name of a 7th-century Breton king, also regarded as a saint.
        Represents Hyde as being good, respectable and higher class
    3. Hyde
      1. Hide
        Hyde is hidden within Jekyll
        Animal hide
        Animalistic nature
        Hides in his house
      2. Topographic name for someone living on (and farming) a hide of land
        Lower/working class
  2. Size/Age
    1. Jekyll is bigger than Hyde
      1. Hyde is a smaller part of Jekyll
      2. Hyde is 'caveman'-like
        Unevolved
      3. Hyde grows as he controls more of Jekyll
  3. Hyde is younger and more energetic than Jekyll
    1. Evil is something that develops later in life
      1. After a period of childhood innocence
    2. Stevenson felt there is something primitively energetic and exciting about mankind's baser nature
      1. The 'higher', respectable nature of social humans is repressed and tame.
Characterisation
1. Physical Appearances
  1. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde look different, so they must be different people
    1. They have very different apperences
    2. Dr. Jekyll is described as middle-aged, distinguished-looking, and a large man
    3. Mr. Hyde is younger, more energetic, and deformed. No one can pinpoint exactly what this deformity is, but they unanimously agree that it’s there... and that it’s definitely evil.
2. Thoughts and Opinions
  1. Approaches to mystery
    1. Embraces
      1. Jekyll
      2. Utterson - "oh, that’s strange—I wonder what’s going on."
        However won't except supernatural due to law abiding characteristics
    2. Avoids
      1. Mr Enfeild - "the more it looks like Queer Street, the less I ask."
      2. Lanyon
        Due to scientific characteristics
  2. Approaches to Science
    1. Dr. Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll have different approaches to science—therefore, they’re different men. Lanyon says something like "I believe in logic and science and rules" and Jekyll replies "I’m going to mess with science until it approaches a weird and supernatural form of abuse."
3. Direct characterisation
  1. Mr. Utterson—"cold, scanty, and embarrassed in discourse… yet somehow lovable."
4. Actions
  1. Mr. Utterson is a boring man of routine.
    1. Utterson's nighttime ritual
5. Speech and Dialogue
  1. Subordination
    1. Poole refers to Dr. Jekyll as "my master."
    2. When speaking to Mr. Utterson, both Mr. Guest and Poole frequently use the term "sir."
      1. Represents class based Victorian soceity
Imagery
1. Symbolism
  1. Hyde's Appearance
    1. Symbol for evil
    2. Whenever someone looked at him they were instantly disgusted at the sight, and believed that there was just something about him that was dissatisfying
    3. Hyde is given the physical traits of being short, hairy, and grotesque, all traits that are not desirable, and are given negative connotations
    4. Connotations for the reader with evil and mystery
    5. He grows as he controls more of Jekyll
  2. Dr. Jekyll's House
    1. In the front it looks like a well to do home, that is well kept and for someone of a high social status
    2. Then the back side of it, which is the rundown laboratory, where Hyde lived, is kept shrouded in mystery
      1. Even Utterson does not realize that the lab is connected to the house of his friend until over halfway through the story
    3. Putting out the very best for everyone to see, even if it is not who that person really is, and keeping the bad and ugly swept under the rug and hidden
    4. The door
      1. The trampling of the girl happened outside the door
      2. Represents Jekyll/Hyde Good/Evil
      3. Jekyll's certainty that he was going to be rid of Hyde represented by the crushing of the key
      4. "The door, which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained. Tramps slouched into the recess and struck matches on the panels..."
  3. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
    1. good and evil
    2. Hyde being the evil one constantly beats down upon the soul of Jekyll, trying to get him to give in to temptation
    3. Jekyll is the classic good guy. He puts up a fight to the death to try his best not to let the evil win the fight
Setting
1. Victorian London
  1. Servants / Masters
  2. Rich / Poor
  3. Working class / Middle class
  4. Bachelor living
  5. Repression
    1. Jekyll feels he needs to 'unleash' Hyde
      1. More sympathy for Jekyll
  6. Morally restrictive era
2. Hyde's house
  1. Down a small "by-street," or private side street, in Soho, London
    1. Secretive
    2. Private
  2. Soho
    1. ‘The dismal quarter of Soho…’
    2. ‘Like a district of some city in a nightmare’ – link to Stevenson
3. Time of day
  1. Utterson first approaches and speaks with Hyde in the courtyard in Soho at night
    1. Night = dark
      1. Connotations with danger, mystery and evil
  2. We learn of Dr. Jekyll's strange will in Utterson's house after dinner
4. The atmosphere is dark and mysterious
5. Weather
  1. Many of the scenes take place at night on shadowy streets in the Soho section of London or in the daytime in heavy fog
  2. Fog = obscurity, and the literal fog emphasizes the metaphorical fog surrounding the true identity of Hyde
    1. The literal fog emphasizes the metaphorical fog surrounding the true identity of Hyde
  3. Although there is "brilliant" moonlight early in the evening (which makes the maid feel at peace with all mankind), a really ominous fog rolls in when Hyde is about to murder
  4. You've also got firelight, lighted lamps, and light in general as the counterpoint to fog because of their safe, illuminating qualities
  5. Use of pathetic fallacy
    1. ‘black winter morning’ – the morning is foul in temperament, reflecting the darker side of man and the novel’s main concern
    2. Jekyll’s home described at the beginning of the novel -“certain sinister block of building.”
    3. ‘…reinvasion of darkness’ – furious internal struggle within the novel’s very setting. Reflects central concerns; aids atmosphere and reflects the characters of the novel
6. Setting reflects the underlying themes of the novel (duality of man, mystery)
7. Stevenson disliked the duality of its inhabitants (Edinburgh also an influence)
Exam technique
1. Memorise quotes
2. Learn Narrative
3. Understand the role each character plays
4. Paper
  1. Question 1
    1. 20 marks
    2. Answering using an extract
  2. Question 2
    1. 20 marks
    2. Answering using the whole novel
5. Show understanding of:
  1. Narrative structure
  2. Characters
  3. Context
  4. Language
  5. Imagery
6. Read the text several times
7. Annotate ever paragraph as if it were an extract based question
Sources
1. http://www.shmoop.com/jekyll-and-hyde/characterization.html
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/prosejekyllhyde/
3. http://ondo.weebly.com/symbols.html
4. http://www.shmoop.com/jekyll-and-hyde/setting.html
5. http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-setting-strange-case-dr-jekyll-mr-hyde-488179
6. http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides2/Jekyll.html
7. http://www.shmoop.com/jekyll-and-hyde/london-fog-vs-light-symbol.html
Characters
1. Dr Henry Jekyll
  1. Doctor and experimental scientist
  2. He is wealthy and respectable
  3. He has been a sociable person in the past, with a circle of friends
    1. Utterson
    2. Lanyon
      1. Old friends
  4. His behaviour becomes increasingly erratic
  5. His will states that if he disappears he leaves everything to Hyde
    1. Utterson doesn't know of Hyde therefore urges Jekyll to change his will
      1. Utterson fears Hyde has a mysterious, perhaps criminal, hold over Jekyll, and that Hyde might murder him to benefit from the will
  6. In the last chapter we learn that Jekyll has been carrying out experiments to separate his personality (the 'evil' part embodied in Hyde) from his higher nature
    1. Hyde eventually becomes more powerful and takes over
2. Mr Edward Hyde
  1. He is described as small ('dwarfish') and young.
  2. People react with horror and fear when they see him.
    1. But there is no single thing about him that is especially unpleasant; it is as if his spirit affects people.
    2. Deformed
  3. His appearances in the novel are always brief. People only catch impressions of him, before he vanishes into the dark or behind a door.
  4. He is violent, and has no sense of guilt about his crimes
    1. In Chapter 4 he beats an elderly gentleman to death
    2. In Chapter 1, Hyde assaults a young girl
      1. No motive
  5. Hyde is very secretive
  6. Represents Evil
3. Gabriel Utterson
  1. Utterson is an old friend of Jekyll, and his lawyer
  2. He is calm and rational, just as lawyers are supposed to be. Rather like a scientist, his approach in life is to weigh up the evidence
  3. Utterson is 'a lover of the sane and customary sides of life'. Stevenson probably uses him to represent the attitudes of the average reader of his time
  4. His sense of shock and horror when he first meets Hyde is, by contrast to his normal reaction to things, irrational
    1. 'Not all these points together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing and fear with which Mr Utterson regarded him.'
  5. He spends much of the novel trying to advise and help Jekyll, giving advice about his will and avoiding Hyde, and trying to help him when he shuts himself in his room
    1. Jekyll recognises that he is a good friend, but rejects all his offers of help
  6. At no stage does he suspect Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. However, he makes observations whereby the reader can, looking back, see the evidence
    1. For instance, he asks his chief clerk, Mr Guest, to look at Hyde's handwriting. When Guest sees that Hyde's and Jekyll's writing is strangely similar, though with different directions of slope
      1. Utterson draws the wrong conclusion: that Jekyll has forged Hyde's handwriting to protect him
  7. He is left as an uncompleted character. This is perhaps Stevenson's way of showing that sensible, rational people do not always have all the answers
    1. In Chapter 8, Utterson goes home to read the documents found in Jekyll's laboratory. The reader never discovers his reaction to them, or what action he takes
4. Dr Hastie Lanyon
  1. Lanyon is a doctor
  2. He and Jekyll were once close friends and went to medical school together
  3. Lanyon is respectable and conventional. He follows all the rules and obeys the law
  4. He believes in science and the world of real, material things
  5. He is a big contrast with Jekyll, who likes to live dangerously and experiment with the paranormal
    1. (What Jekyll calls 'transcendental medicine')
  6. He disagrees with Jekyll's ideas and calls them 'scientific balderdash'. In Chapter 2, Lanyon has not seen Jekyll since he started to become 'too fanciful' and 'wrong in mind
  7. Dr Jekyll, on the other hand, regards him as 'hidebound' (conventional and unadventurous) in his attitude to medical science
  8. Lanyon is the only person to actually see Hyde transforming into Jekyll, something that does not fit the laws of science
    1. When he sees the change, he cannot cope with the fight between his common-sense view of the world and what Jekyll's experiments reveal
      1. "I ask myself if I believe it, and I cannot answer. My life is shaken to its roots." Not long after he becomes mentally and physically ill, and dies.
5. Minor characters
  1. Richard Enfield
    1. A distant relative of Utterson, Enfield is a well-known man about town and the complete opposite to Utterson.
  2. Poole
    1. He is Jekyll's man servant.
    2. Poole appears briefly in the novel from time to time, notably when Utterson goes to visit Jekyll
    3. In Chapter 8, he goes to Utterson's house to report the strange goings on in Jekyll's house. He helps Utterson to break down the door
    4. Admires Jekyll and is very loyal to him
    5. Shows class gap between servants and masters
  3. Sir Danvers Carew
    1. Sir Danvers is a distinguished elderly gentleman who is beaten to death by Hyde. This is a turning point in the novel.
      1. Hyde is then 'wanted' by police
  4. Mr Guest
    1. Mr Guest is Utterson's secretary and a handwriting expert
      1. In Chapter 5, he comments on the remarkable similarity between Jekyll and Hyde's handwriting.

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