'well-made, smooth-faced... something of a slyish cast' - Dr Jekyll's appearance (he represents many Victorian gentlemen, hiding a secret double life behind a perfect exterior.)  (DrJwQAE), ‘the thought… braced and delighted me like wine.. I felt younger, lighter happier'. - Dr Jekyll at first felt a sense of freedom as he was not weighed down by social pressure, but, like drinking alcohol, it will make him lose control of himself; also, note how Hyde is linked to youth.  (HJFSotC), 'I knew myself at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil.' - Dr Jekyll can no longer control his sinful side - it is now controlling him; "original evil" echoes the Biblical idea of Original Sin.  (HJFSotC), 'like some disconsolate prisoner, with an infinite sadness of mien' - Utterson and Enfield see Jekyll at the barred window of his house: he seems to have lost his freedom as he is a prisoner of Hyde (now transforming spontaneously). (IatW), 'Man is not truly one, but truly two.' - Dr Jekyll represents the theme of duality - the idea that all beings have two sides to their nature. (HJFSotC), 'My devil had been long caged, he came out roaring.' - Dr Jekyll shows the dangers of, firstly, repressing all of one’s impulses in a very strict society, and then later letting them loose like a wild animal, with no control. (HJFSotC), ‘a great air of wealth and comfort’ versus ‘sinister block of building … prolonged and sordid negligence.’ - Dr Jekyll's house represents his dual nature, as the public side is wealthy and respectable, but the hidden back part is neglected and sinister. (SfMrH), 'transcendental science' - Dr Jekyll believes that he can push the boundaries of science, and use it to change human nature; many Victorians saw this as 'playing God', and therefore wrong. (HJFSotC), 'ape-like fury', 'clubbed him to the earth' (also, Jekyll describes 'ape-like spite') - As Hyde, Dr Jekyll can release his animalistic impulses; de-evolution references. (TCMC), 'trampled calmly' - When he is Hyde, Dr Jekyll can do terrible things to other people without feeling guilt; also, oxymoron. (SotD), 'I make it a rule of mine: the more it looks like Queer Street, the less I ask.”  - Enfield, explaining how Victorian men should not pry into other men's lives; possible hint at homosexuality.  (SotD), He began to go wrong, wrong in mind;' - Dr Lanyon on Dr Jekyll (RIoDrL) , 'She had an evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy: but her manners were excellent.' - Hyde's housekeeper - note how her face is similar to Dr Jekyll's (TCMC)), 'He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something down-right detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn't specify the point.”  - Mr Enfield on the mysterious malformation of Hyde (SotD), 'If ever I read Satan's signature upon a face, it is in that of your new friend.' - Mr Utterson describing Hyde to Jekyll using religious imagery (SfMrH - but compare to "child of hell", a phrase used by Dr Jekyll (in HJFSotC)), 'The large handsome face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale to the very lips, and there came a blackness about his eyes. "I do not care to hear more," said he. "This is a matter I thought we had agreed to drop."'  - Narrator describes change in Jekyll as Utterson mentions Hyde (DrJwQaE), 'city in a nightmare' - A description of London (The CMC), 'blood-red liquor' - the potion's alarming colour and similarity to wine (described in DrLN), 'I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.' - Utterson's weakness (SotD), "The real stab of the story is not in the discovery that the one man is two men; but in the discovery that the two men are one man." - useful Chesterton (literary critic) quote,

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Key Quotations

by
Embed

Leaderboard

Visual style

Options

Switch template

Continue editing: ?