dr jekyll and mr hyde

• immoral activities and uncontrolled emotions would damage a gentleman's reputation. If this was to happen they may no longer be seen as a gentleman which would mean losing many social advantages. This helps the reader to understand why Dr Jekyll hides his immoral side (Mr Hyde). Dr Jekyll wanted to be seen as the polite gentleman, that he is not
• when society values reputation as highly as Victorians did, it makes it difficult to know what people are really like. This is what causes utterson problems as he cannot fully understand Jekyll's situation because he only sees Jekyll's reputation as important. This means he holds onto the idea of blackmail until the very last moment.
• Jekyll says " spring headlong into the sea of liberty ". Jekyll associates Hyde with freedom to show the reader how free he feels when he is someone that commits sinful acts as it is equal to someone being free. When Jekyll commits these sinful acts as Mr Hyde feels a wave of relief because no one suspects Mr Hyde to be Dr Jekyll as he is portrayed as a Victorian gentleman.
• Dr Jekyll thinks more about hiding his sins than dealing with them because he wants the public to see him as the perfect Victorian gentleman
• Stevenson creates a suspicious atmosphere in which characters , such as Dr Jekyll , are forced to keep secrets out of fear of their reputation being ruined.
• Olfactory imagery in the metaphor "make his name stink from one end of London to the other " is to show how Jekyll's reputation could be tarnished as he was well known in society it is evident the whole of London would find out what he had done.
• "man is not truly on but truly two" - Stevenson makes Jekyll realise that there are two sides to man, one moral one immoral . Jekyll says this as his final statement to help sum up all that has happened. Stevenson puts Jekyll in a situation where he has to suffer with his immoral side haunting him which makes Jekyll come to the realisation that everyone has an evil side and you can not always hide it
• The adjective in the title , 'strange' , suggest that the novella will be a gruesome story as in the Victorian era there were magazines called penny dreadfuls telling gruesome stories . This reflects that Stevenson wanted to capture the readers mind by writing about Victorian struggles and turning them into gruesome stories.
• "Last reputable acquaintance" in the lives of " damaging men" -Utterson played an essential role in protecting the reputation of these Victorian gentlemen , however , Dr Jekyll illustrates how a lot of these upper class men had double lives that were leading. Beliefs at the time was that whoever was part of the upper class they were seen as morally superior
• physiognomy, the belief that personality and disposition could be identifed from facial features and outer appearance. The grotesque appearance of Hyde symbolising his wicked character is a nod to this but the inability of observers to describe or explain his appearance also alludes to its limitations.
• "The two hands are in many points identical : only differently sloped "- shows there are two aspects of the same person , metaphorical difference which one leans to good and one leans to evil
• "i concealed my pleasures ... i regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame" -Jekyll acknowledges that he was aware of his dark side even before the experiment. Jekyll creates Hyde so his reputation does not get ruined
• " It was thus rather the exacting nature of my aspirations Than any particular degradation in my faults" - Jekyll here justifes his actions by saying he merely wanted to see if he could achieve the split in personality, for the sake of scientifc knowledge. The fact he did the experiment on himself does suggest that he did not foresee the outcome. Or does it suggest that, secretly, he wanted to indulge his dark side
• "in the law of god there are no statues of limitations" -there is no expiry date for god. concludes thta it must be somthing from wild youth
• "god forgive us god forgive us" - Utterson has done nothing to offend but his appeal to a higher power suggests a general concern over the 'unnatural' exploits of mankind.
• "Volume of some dry divinity on his reading desk" - he is gratedfull he doesnt read the bible he thinks its dry and tiedious
• " ay it must be that; the ghost of some old sin , the cancer of some consealed disgraced" - Jekyll here justifes his actions by saying he merely wanted to see if he could achieve the split in personality, for the sake of scientifc knowledge. The fact he did the experiment on himself does suggest that he did not foresee the outcome. Or does it suggest that, secretly, he wanted to indulge his dark side?
• "lanyon you remeber your vows: what what follows here is the seal of our profession" - Lanyons reference to the legendary friendship of Damon and Pythias indicates he once felt close to Jekyll and he chokes up with emotion just talking about the subject . This strain in their professional relationship gives pathos to jekyll turning to lanyon for help later
• The novella came out at a time when many people saw science and a belief in religion and the supernatural as being at odds with eachother . Many felt they had to choose between the two
• sigmund freud (1923) believed the human psyche could be separated into three parts: id, ego and superego.
• " god bless me the man seems hardly human! something troglodytic , shall we hardly say" - In the novella Mr Hyde is often described as troglodytic , suggesting his animalistic and savage nature. the term comes from a greek word "troglodytes" meaning " cave-dweller" which is used metaphorically to describe somone who is primitive and uncivilised
• "such unscientific balderdash ... would have estranged Damon and Pythias" - Lanyon is stating that his friendship was like the greek god Damon and pythias but Jekylls 'scientific heresies 'is a good enough reason to end their friendship for lanyon