J and H - Themes

Violence - Sis

Good and Evil - Sis

Science - Sam

The transformation is so bizarre that normal science and its language cannot adequately account for or describe it. Jekyll describes the transformation as:

Jekyll and Hyde are the novel's allegory. Good v Evil.

Appearance and Reality - Sam

Hyde appears to be a normal, if ugly, person but is actually the:

Science is a major theme in the novella. There are two principle views of Science

Jekyll's predicament: it looks as though he is being blackmailed, and this is what Enfield and Utterson assume is happening

Jekyll is considered as a respectable, understanding man, but feels he hides a dark inner identity

"...the man trampled calmly over the child's body and left her screaming on the ground."

Jekyll has a more mystical and supernatural - or "transcendental" - approach which Lanyon considers:

Lanyon follows a practical, rational type of science, described by Hyde as showing:

Hypocrisy

"Narrow and material views"

  • Jekyll and Hyde as an individual is a perfect example of hypocrisy. Because when either of them are showing themselves to the public they are also hiding something in private.
  • Mr. Utterson’s hypocrisy is when he consistently keeps information from the police in order to save his friend’s reputation

Presented in two detailed scenes. The Carew murder and the innocent girl trampled.

"unscientific balderdash"

"scientific heresies"

These different approaches lead to different styles of descriptive language. Lanyon's account gives as much clear, factual detail as possible, describing:

"With a transport of glee, I mauled the unresisting body, tasting delight from every blow"

'Both sides of my were in dread earnest,'

The appearance of the chemicals before and after mixing

The physical symptoms he observed in Hyde as he changed

Both incidents are caused by Hyde on two innocent, helpless victims.

The effect on himself of seeing Hyde

In the novel there is a struggle between both. The focus is on which is most powerful / superior. Both want to be dominant

the trembling immateriality, the mist like transience

When says the potion "shook the very fortress of identity"

Hyde seems to take over, suggesting evil is more powerful and cannot be contained.
However, he does die at the end, implying evil's weakness and failure in overtaking good.

In the statement, Jekyll is careful to point out that it is not the potion itself that causes good or evil

Evil, I fear, founded--evil was sure to come--of that connection. Ay truly, i believe you; I dare is still lurking in his victim's room. --- Evil is in J's lab. Poole and Utterson want to get it out

“You must suffer me to go my own dark way.” -- J to Utterson. He knows he is going on a dark path.

"Recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll"

"The drug had no discriminating action; it was neither diabolical or diving; but it shook the doors of the prison of my disposition"

This helps to align him with a more rigorous scientific approach. He means that the effect the potion has on the person who takes it depends on the state of that person - it is just a reaction to a chemical

"child of hell"

"Acting with ape-like fury"

The physical deterioration of Lanyon looks to Utterson like a physical illness, but the result of the shock of seeing Hyde's transformation

'Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth'

Utterson assumes Jekyll's odd behavior means that he is ill and seeking a cure

Hyde is shown to have an innate, animalistic inclination towards violence and brutality

Both sides of me were in dead earnest" == Both sides of Hyde exist within him