Jekyll+Hyde Key Quotations

• Jekyll: '"he was now no less distinguished for religion"'
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  His difficult relationship with religion. He has previously studied religious texts but appears here to have rejected it.
• Jekyll: '"had fallen upon his knees and lifted his clasped hands to God"'
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  He has turned to God for redemption after realising his mistakes.
• Jekyll: '"A fortnight later, by excellent good fortune, the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies, all intelligent, reputable men and all judges of good wine"'
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  He is sociable and well respected.
• Jekyll: '"charitable man"'
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  He has an image of a generous person.
• Jekyll: '"I concealed my pleasures"'
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  He suppressed his sinful side in order to gain social respect.
• Jekyll: '"He came out of his seclusion"'
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  After indulging in Hyde, Jekyll attempts to re-assimilate into society.
• Jekyll: '"My devil had long been caged, he came out roaring."'
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  Jekyll's inner "devil" is a manifestation of his deeper desires. The connotations of "devil" also suggest that Jekyll's desires are in direct opposition to contemporary Christian ideology.
• Jekyll: '"he was conscious of his "more furious propensity to ill"'
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  "propensity to ill" implies a now natural inclination towards immorality.
• Jekyll: '"the hand that lay on my knee was corded and hairy"'
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  The hand, a symbol of respectability and honour, is invaded by free-flowing hair insinuating ideas of an unrestrained and uncontrolled freedom.
• Jekyll: '"I felt younger, lighter, happier in body"'
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  Stevenson uses triadic structure to show how burdensome the restraints of society are on Jekyll.
• Jekyll: '"An overdose might "blot out that immaterial tabernacle which I looked to change"'
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  "immaterial tabernacle" is lexis from the semantic field of religion so shows that in Jekyll's experiments he is encroaching on God's territory.
• Jekyll: '"I was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame"'
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  He has failed in splitting his good and bad and has instead allowed the evil in him to thrive.
• Jekyll: '"man is not truly one but truly two"'
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  He believes that the human psyche can be split.
• Jekyll: '"I was driven to reflect deeply and inveterately on that hard law of life which lies at the root of religion"'
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  Alliteration is used and refers to the common concept of guilt, conscience and sin. Jekyll attempts to isolate the moral and immoral to undercut the "root of religion".
• Jekyll: '"Late one accursed night, I compounded the elements, watched them boil...with a strong glow of courage, drank off the potion"'
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  "Late one accursed night" creates darkness, adding gravitas to the scene. "Strong glow of courage" suggests Jekyll to be erratic as well as showing that he was aware of the risks he was taking.
• Jekyll: '"Had I approached my discovery in a more noble spirit...I had come forth an angel instead of a fiend"'
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  He was intending to extract the good in his character, not the bad.
• Jekyll: '"I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end"'
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  The novella ends on a sad note, creating sympathy for Jekyll.
• Jekyll: '"This is the last time...that Henry Jekyll can think his own thoughts"'
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  He eventually permanently loses control over himself.
• Jekyll: '"Smooth-faced man of fifty"'
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  His external appearance doesn't reflect his internal truth.
• Hyde: 'He conveys a "strong feeling of deformity"'
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  Through physiognomy, his appearance would convict him as a criminal.