evil

• thesis: Stevenson wrote the novel to explore his readers' interests in violence, crime and sin. It has a Christian perspective for a Christian reader, but also subverts that perspective for those (like Stevenson) who had rejected Christianity. Ending makes the reader ask if this is a Christian novel where the evil of Jekyll and hyde is punished, or if the evil lives on because it is inside all of us.
• "damned juggernaut". connotations of damnation (condemning someone to hell - Christianity). noun "juggernaut" comes from Hinduism (jagannath- the image of krishna carried on enormous wagons). A way of the British demonising other religions - othering/alienating. Here Stevenson may be saying that, like Hinduism, hyde is made to look evil and demonic, but is actually just different and misunderstood.
• "trampled calmly over the child's body". oxymoron. preposition "over" shows that he just walked over her and ignored her. Verb "trampled" is just enfield's exaggeration. Stevenson may be saying Hyde isn't actually evil, he just doesn't care about the child. (He doesn't go out of his way to hurt her)
• "I saw the sawbones turn sick and white with the desire to kill him". Adjective "sick" - Stevenson implies that their reaction is a sickness. Everyone wanting to kill Hyde is evidence of Hyde's inherent evilness (Christian interpretation). (Reject Christianity) who is actually evil? respectable men being able to want to kill someone is proof that anyone can be evil if pushed far enough.
• Enfield describes Hyde like "Satan", which is contrasted by "we screwed him up to one hundred pounds". Enfield and the doctor blackmail Hyde, making them look evil as they are committing a crime. They act on evil intentions that they think they can get away with, just because Hyde is not the same as everyone else. Hyde enters a society which is already much more evil than he is.
• Utterson's description of what he imagines to be the material Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll with: "capers of his youth". These youthful indiscretions imagined by Utterson foreshadow much more bad behaviour on Jekyll's part by creating Hyde. Utterson uses euphemism to undermine the seriousness of whatever Jekyll has done. Stevenson is showing that society covers up sin - corrupt and evil world.
• "From some place at the end of the world" (Enfield describing where he was coming from when he saw Hyde trample on the girl). Euphemism - both Enfield and Hyde where getting up to sinful behaviour. Stevenson pointing out that they are no different. Reminds us of Armageddon (Christianity) references original sin which everyone gives into. Only civilised behaviour stops people from fully giving into it. Hypocrisy of men.
• Hyde's part of Jekyll's house

  • Two stories high
  • No window
  • Only a door on the lower story
  • A blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper
• Leicester Square (where Jekyll lives)


  Next door to Soho (which is where Hyde lives)
• Jekyll's house


  • Handsome
  • Back door where Hyde enters is sordid
• Symbolises how we are all "commingled out of good and evil", and it's our natural state. Born with original sin, or if they are natural, is there such thing as good and evil, or are we all just human?
• "We are commingled out of good and evil". Anti-Christian message: you cannot really separate evil from good, they are intertwined.
• Hyde randomly kills Danvers Carew. Christians - appeals to the idea that he is just plain evil. Carew is an MP and gets murdered by the houses of parliament - no part of society is safe, anyone can be a victim of crime.
• Stevenson does not agree with the reader's christian perspectives and uses the maid to symbolise this in Carew murder case. "She used to say with streaming tears, when she narrated the story". She wasn't so traumatised that she couldn't talk, but was so excited she couldn't stop telling people about it - being dramatic. Showing evil is part of everyone and we are all attracted to sin, but that doesn't mean it is awful as the church teaches.
• "Ape-like fury" "Ape-like spite" "Ape-like tricks": Repetition of "ape" plays into the readers fear of devolution (reverse evolution). If Hyde survives, we could all end up like him (dominant gene). Victorians were afraid of the Bible not being literally true. Being created from God = purity, innocence, good. Descended from animals = rabid and primitive.
• "My devil came out roaring", Hyde "mauled" the body. Hyde is his "bravo" (acts on his behalf). Hyde does what Jekyll wants to do. There is a motive for Jekyll killing Carew through Hyde - unreliable narrator. Christian interpretation - original sin.
• Lanyon is a passionate Christian. "Scientific heresies"- noun (refers to beliefs that go against God). Before Hyde takes the potion to return to Jekyll in front of Lanyon he asks if Lanyon is sure he wants to see it "has the greed of curiosity too much command of you?". Lanyon replies "I have gone too far in the way of inexplicable services to pause before I see the end". Lanyon's temptation makes him give in, but he dies due to the horror if the evil he has seen.
• Unchristian world developing due to science - link to evolution.
• The silence of Gabriel Utterson - he has received everyone's letters about the case, but locks them in a safe and doesn't read them. All information is hidden as he wants to inherit, but can't do that if he is found to be a heretical madman who created a monster and murderer. Gabriel is a symbol of Christianity- the ironic juxtaposition of his name and how he behaves by Stevenson shows the typical corruption and cruelty of Victorian society.
• Conclusion: The book criticises civilised morality as false because it goes against human nature. It is hypocritical, damaging and a veneer. Hyde is created because evil society doesn't let people be themselves.