Themes in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Quotes are in red.
Notations of where each quote is from are in purple.
Links to context are in blue.
Women and Femininity
Women are totally excluded as main characters because Stevenson wants
to say something about the Hypocrisy of men, he paints a negative
portrayal of women.
“Never(she used to say, with streaming tears, when she narrated that
experience), never had she felt more at peace with all men” Chapter 4 (The
Carew Murder Case)
- This is a theatrical description of the maid as Stevenson points out
she loves to tell the story of how Hyde murdered Carew. It
undermines her and suggests she isn’t actually horrified by this brutal
murder and is in fact delighted by it. Here, Stevenson is trying to
make fun of his female readers. Most of his readers were probably
women as they had the leisure time in which to read. Accusing them
to be blood-thirsty and delighting in violence.
“The bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the
roadway...the maid fainted” Chapter 4 (the Carew murder case)
“The maid fainted” is something typical of Victorian literature, Stevenson is
making fun of this, ‘of course she didn’t faint, look at how excited she was
about telling the story of this murder’ Stevenson is gently making fun of the
tradition of the stereotypical women portrayed in gothic literature,
something that his female readers would have wanted.
“Many women of different nationalities passing out, key in hand, to have a
morning glass” Chapter 4 (the Carew murder case)
, When Utterson gets to Soho he describes the women. Suggesting that all
the women in Soho are alcoholics , readers can also interpret this as
misogynistic as Utterson sees women as below him in society.
“An Ivory-face and silvery haired old woman...she had an evil face,
smoothed by hypocrisy; but her manners were excellent” Chapter 4 (the
Carew murder case)
Could see this as a positive description but then goes on to say “she had
an evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy; but her manners were excellent”
Stevenson is going on to say that women are like men, they have manners
on the surface, just like Dr Jekyll, but this is actually hypocritical because
underneath it all, they are evil. Difference here is that the woman’s evil can
be seen on her face and Jekyll’s evil cannot, it is concealed.
Christianity
“The slime of the pits seemed to utter cries and voices; that the amorphous
dust gesticulated and sinned...should usurp the offices of life” Chapter 10
(Henry Jekyll’s full statement of the case)
Stevenson was not religious but gives a Christian context to the novel
because that is what his reader’s want, but he also makes fun of them for
their Christian belief. This quote uses exaggerated language. “Usurp”
means to attack. “Offices of life” means life itself, life itself is being
attacked by this evil. Jekyll’s life has been overthrown by Hyde, but
Stevenson deliberately uses complex language to poke fun at the complex
religion that decides there are a heaven and a hell. Stevenson also
exaggerates Hyde’s evil and describes him as “The slime of the pits”
meaning he is the pit of hell. This over exaggeration is to point out that he
doesn’t really believe in hell, it is not something that makes sense to him,
but he uses the over exaggerated language that preachers might use in the
chapel in order to mock them. When he talks about mankind coming from
“dust” this is in the bible. He introduces the adjective “amorphous” meaning
to have no shape until this evil takes shape in the form of Hyde. He again
Quotes are in red.
Notations of where each quote is from are in purple.
Links to context are in blue.
Women and Femininity
Women are totally excluded as main characters because Stevenson wants
to say something about the Hypocrisy of men, he paints a negative
portrayal of women.
“Never(she used to say, with streaming tears, when she narrated that
experience), never had she felt more at peace with all men” Chapter 4 (The
Carew Murder Case)
- This is a theatrical description of the maid as Stevenson points out
she loves to tell the story of how Hyde murdered Carew. It
undermines her and suggests she isn’t actually horrified by this brutal
murder and is in fact delighted by it. Here, Stevenson is trying to
make fun of his female readers. Most of his readers were probably
women as they had the leisure time in which to read. Accusing them
to be blood-thirsty and delighting in violence.
“The bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the
roadway...the maid fainted” Chapter 4 (the Carew murder case)
“The maid fainted” is something typical of Victorian literature, Stevenson is
making fun of this, ‘of course she didn’t faint, look at how excited she was
about telling the story of this murder’ Stevenson is gently making fun of the
tradition of the stereotypical women portrayed in gothic literature,
something that his female readers would have wanted.
“Many women of different nationalities passing out, key in hand, to have a
morning glass” Chapter 4 (the Carew murder case)
, When Utterson gets to Soho he describes the women. Suggesting that all
the women in Soho are alcoholics , readers can also interpret this as
misogynistic as Utterson sees women as below him in society.
“An Ivory-face and silvery haired old woman...she had an evil face,
smoothed by hypocrisy; but her manners were excellent” Chapter 4 (the
Carew murder case)
Could see this as a positive description but then goes on to say “she had
an evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy; but her manners were excellent”
Stevenson is going on to say that women are like men, they have manners
on the surface, just like Dr Jekyll, but this is actually hypocritical because
underneath it all, they are evil. Difference here is that the woman’s evil can
be seen on her face and Jekyll’s evil cannot, it is concealed.
Christianity
“The slime of the pits seemed to utter cries and voices; that the amorphous
dust gesticulated and sinned...should usurp the offices of life” Chapter 10
(Henry Jekyll’s full statement of the case)
Stevenson was not religious but gives a Christian context to the novel
because that is what his reader’s want, but he also makes fun of them for
their Christian belief. This quote uses exaggerated language. “Usurp”
means to attack. “Offices of life” means life itself, life itself is being
attacked by this evil. Jekyll’s life has been overthrown by Hyde, but
Stevenson deliberately uses complex language to poke fun at the complex
religion that decides there are a heaven and a hell. Stevenson also
exaggerates Hyde’s evil and describes him as “The slime of the pits”
meaning he is the pit of hell. This over exaggeration is to point out that he
doesn’t really believe in hell, it is not something that makes sense to him,
but he uses the over exaggerated language that preachers might use in the
chapel in order to mock them. When he talks about mankind coming from
“dust” this is in the bible. He introduces the adjective “amorphous” meaning
to have no shape until this evil takes shape in the form of Hyde. He again
