Jekyll & Hyde

• "a large well made smooth faced man of fifty"- Jekyll

  • as a fifty year old man he should have wrinkles and signs of aging(paradoxical)
  • paints Jekyll as artificial
  • -> ironic counterpoint to the barbaric lurking beneath, which reflects his morbid curiosity 
  •  an archetype yet almost as manufactured 
• "I am chief of sinners, i am chief of sufferers"

  • alliteration, which blurs these concepts
  • an intertwined relationship
  • reflects jekylls microcosmic Victorian gentlemen whom is always battling with indulging his sinful darker desires
  • theres a blurred line between morality and immorality
  • reflects how Jekyll is accountable to gods judgment
• "ape like fury trampling his victim calmly" - Jekyll and Hyde

  • zoomorphism of ape, link to Darwinism, unsettling animalistic inheritance
  • animalistic simile, regression to primitive state, instinctual desires are unchecked
  • barbaric state
  • trampling is amoral which means there is no awareness of lwrongdoings just like an animal
• "he was austere, drank gin alone" - Utterson

  • Austere means stern
  • gin is stronger than wine, which he drinks alone to avoid tarnishing his reputation (nobody should see him drunk, respectable gentlemen DONT do that)
  • reflects a Victorian gentlemen and satirises Victorian society which is deemed as ‘perfect’
  • hypocrisy is shown even though utterson is shown as an archetype
• “ if he be mr Hyde, I shall be mr seek” - Utterson

  • Homophone of Hyde. Disguise and illusion, the limitations of Victorian physiognomy
  • Hyde and seek show duality
  • Utterson has a morbid fascination and leaks beneath his facade
  • being nosy and indulging on what others do is looked down upon by victorian society
• • “ more Queer Street, less I ask“ - Enfield 
  • colloquialism, accentuates camaraderie (mutual trust and friendship)
  • dismisses curiosity, vilifies it
  • Brushing off the barbaric reality and the horrific truth is a euphemism as he avoids confronting the truth