Jekyll and Hyde

• Abominable


  Very bad and causing moral repulsion
• Abominable

  • Hyde's trampling over the child
• Absolves


  Free from guilt, obligation and punishment
• Absolves

  • Through the anonymity achieved via his alter-ega of Hyde, Dr Jekyll is absolved
• Alchemy


  The medieval practice which was concerned with transforming base metals into gold
• Alchemy was concerned with transforming base metals into gold
• Allegory


  A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning
• Allegory


  • Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde can be seen as an allegory for the idea that hiding one's true nature can lead to dire consequences, or as an allegory for the duality of man in Biblical terms
• Allegory


  • Dr Jekyll's pursuit of his drug alludes to the practice of alchemy
• ALLUSION


  A figure of speech in which something is called to mind without mentioning it explicitly, allowing the audience to make the direct connection
• Allusion


  • Stevenson alludes to the fall of man in Dr Jekyll's proclamation that "to be tempted, however slightly, was to fall"
• ALTER-EGO


  An alternative version of the self, the ego is a person's self esteem, or part of the mind that is responsible for personal identity, mediating different levels of consciousness
• Alter-ego


  • Mr. Hyde is Dr Jekyll's alter ego
• AMBIGUITY


  A situation or statement that may have more than one possible meaning, likely causing some confusion
• Ambiguity

  • Enfield is very ambiguous in describing the appearance of Mr Hyde: he's an extraordinary looking man, and yet I really can name nothing out of the way
• AMORAL

  Unconcerned with right and wrong, lacking morals
• Amoral


  • Mr Hyde is amoral in his character
• ANALOGY


  A comparison between two things that have similar features, used to explain a particular idea. An analogy is different from a simile because it does not use "like" or "as" to make an explanatory comparison
• Analogy


  • Enfield uses the analogy to describe Hyde's expression as "really like Satan's signature" and his stature as "a dwarf" to emphasize his appearance with artistic effect
• ANAPHORA


  The repetition of words at the start of clauses/sentences
• Anaphora


  • Stevenson uses anaphora in the phrase "I, I, I"
• ANONYMITY


  A person of unknown identity
• Anonymity


  • Through the alter ego of Hyde, Dr Jekyll achieves anonymity
• ANTITHESIS


  The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas or words in a balanced phrase
• Antithesis

  • Dr Jekyll is the antithesis of Mr Hyde
• ANTI-VILLAIN

  An archetypal character with noble qualities and understandable reasoning but becomes the villain of the story through their actions, leaving the audience to desire their downfall. Opposite of an anti-hero.
• Anti-villain


  • Like Thanos from the Marvel universe, Dr Jekyll is an anti-villain, because we can understand that his mass repression lead to the creation of Hyde
• ANTHROPOMORPHOSIST


  Assigning non-human or animalistic characteristics to a human being, opposite of personification
• Anthropomorphosist


  • "Mr. Hyde shrank back with a hissing intake of the breath" anthropomorphises Hyde as being snake-like
• ARCHETYPE


  A typical example of something, especially a recurrent symbol or motif in literature
• Archetype


  • Dr Jekyll is an archetypal anti-villain
• BARBARITY


  Extreme cruelty and an absence of humanity and civilisation
• Barbarity


  • Mr Hyde demonstrates his barbarity in his disregard of Victorian etiquette and cruel behaviour
• BEATIFIC


  Experiencing bliss and serenity
• Beatific


  • The maid-servant felt beatific before the murder
• CALVINISM

  Religious beliefs originating from the work of John Calvin in the 16th Century. An alternative to the Catholic belief that you can earn your way to Heaven through worship, Calvinism held that God predetermines those who are saved and those who are damned
• Calvinism

  • The use of foreshadowing the end of the novel through the naming of the characters and the setting of the weather in the novella symbolises Calvinism's belief that God predetermines who is already damned
• CLIMAX

  The point at which the highest level of interest and emotional response is achieved. This may be within the novel as a whole, or within a specific sentence, paragraph, or chapter
• Climax


  • Utterson finding Dr Jekyll dead in his study is the climax of the novella
• CONSONANCE

  The recurrence of similar-sounding consonants (any letter that is not a vowel) in close proximity