Hyde

• Stevenson’s intentions: Hyde

  • Stevenson creates a hyperbolic physical manifestation of the dangers of repression through Hyde. Allows reader to see their carefully constructed facade stripped bare through the character, revealing the savage lurking just beneath the surface of even most respectable gentleman
• Stevenson’s intention: Hyde

  As Jekyll is microcosmic for Victorian gentleman, juxtaposing Hyde's depravity, it reveals the ambiguity (vague) and blurred lines between morality and immorality in Victorian society. The interconnection used satirises the ‘progressive’ society in reality founded on hypocrisy, duality and suffering
• Stevenson’s intention: Hyde

  • Stevenson's novella serves as a cautionary tale against the dangers of moral favouriat simplistical absoluties. He suggests that the attempt to deny or to eradicate this inherent duality is not only futile (pointless) but also detrimental to the individual and society as a whole.
• “little man” - Hyde is small physically but also metaphorically, he represents the darker side of human nature that we all possess.
• Enfield C1: '"There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable." about Hyde'
• Physiognomy

  A person's looks reflects their true nature
• This displays the Victorians upholding the theory of physiognomy, that a person's character was revealed through their looks
• The more someone engages in debauchery (sex, alcohol, drugs)

  The more their physical appearance will decline
• Jekyll's pristine presentation mocks the idea of physiognomy
• Hyde's appearance

  Symbolises the societal belief that physical abnormalities are a divine and natural indication of an individual's wickedness and immorality
• The alliterative "d" sounds in "downright detestable" emphasise the magnitude of Hyde's physical and moral inhumanity and depravity (wicked)
• The monstrous depiction of Hyde

  Is used to juxtapose the "smooth" unblemished facade of Dr Jekyll
• Jekyll's polished exterior becomes a symbol of societal hypocrisy
• This symbolises the potential for immorality to lurk beneath the polished surface of Victorian propriety (standards and morals)
• The unacknowledged desires and vices repressed within Victorian society explodes in the form of Hyde, a monstrous embodiment of the darkness Victorians tried so desperately to suppress
• “With ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim” C.4 


  Animalistic simile: “ape-like fury” portrays Hyde’s regression to a primitive state, where instinctual desires are unchecked. Violent eruption exposes the futility of relentless repression. The ceaseless suppression only serves to exacerbate Hyde’s violent and amoral tendencies, prompting an evolution towards a more barbaric state.

  • The very core of what Victorian society deemed civilised, the control of base instincts, crumbles under the presentation of Hyde - he becomes a monstrous embodiment of their deepest anxieties.
• C.4: '"With ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim"'
• Darwinism

  The rise of Darwinism forced Victorians to confront the unsettling concept of man's animalistic inheritance
• Hyde

  In Hyde, they see their carefully constructed facade stripped bare, revealing the savage lurking just beneath the surface of even the most respectable gentleman
• Verb "trampling"

  • The repetition of the brutish and careless verb: "trampling" as echoed in chapter 1 where he "trampled calmly" over a little girl, illustrates the uncontrollable and inhumane manifestation of reckless violence and aggression
• The malevolent Hyde

  Reclaims the dominance relinquished (given up) by the virtuous Jekyll to his paternalistic (freedom restricting) society