Themes of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
• Reputation
Immoral and uncontrolled emotions create a suspicious atmosphere as some characters feel
the need to keep secrets out of fear of their reputation being ruined. For example, it makes
Jekyll’s experiments that he is conducting to be significantly more dangerous if they go
wrong because his secretive experiments would ruin his reputation if they were to be
exposed to society as they went against Victorian beliefs. Stevenson may use locked doors as
a symbol as they could represent people’s desire to hide their secrets.
• Duality of Man
Before Jekyll creates Hyde, Jekyll feels he is living a double life because he lives his life trying
to repress these evil urges that are not fitting for a man of his stature, so this means that
Jekyll has conflict between his innermost desires and his aspiration for respect by creating a
man called Hyde which he commits sinful acts. Jekyll prioritise the appearance of
respectability over honesty but then completes immoral deeds as Hyde of which the
Victorian society would look down upon.
• Science and Religion
Many Victorians thought that the development of the idea that the humans evolved from
apes and not created by God was very dangerous because it challenged Victorians religious
view of how the world was created and suggested that the science had the power to create
life as it challenged their religious views at the time. Since Jekyll is such a religious man, he is
desperate for a good reputation however he meddles with human nature for his own selfish
reasons to commit sinful actions.
• Gothic and the Supernatural
Jekyll has created his own supernatural creature to commit sinful actions in being ‘Hyde’
However, Stevenson makes the story much more terrifying by showing Jekyll/ Hyde as both
supernatural in Hyde and human in Jekyll. Hyde’s actions are acts of violence which are
unprovoked (which defy explanation) so by definition they are supernatural because of his
animalistic aggression which is emphasised by the gothic language used to describe the
setting as supernatural and spooky.
• Reputation
Immoral and uncontrolled emotions create a suspicious atmosphere as some characters feel
the need to keep secrets out of fear of their reputation being ruined. For example, it makes
Jekyll’s experiments that he is conducting to be significantly more dangerous if they go
wrong because his secretive experiments would ruin his reputation if they were to be
exposed to society as they went against Victorian beliefs. Stevenson may use locked doors as
a symbol as they could represent people’s desire to hide their secrets.
• Duality of Man
Before Jekyll creates Hyde, Jekyll feels he is living a double life because he lives his life trying
to repress these evil urges that are not fitting for a man of his stature, so this means that
Jekyll has conflict between his innermost desires and his aspiration for respect by creating a
man called Hyde which he commits sinful acts. Jekyll prioritise the appearance of
respectability over honesty but then completes immoral deeds as Hyde of which the
Victorian society would look down upon.
• Science and Religion
Many Victorians thought that the development of the idea that the humans evolved from
apes and not created by God was very dangerous because it challenged Victorians religious
view of how the world was created and suggested that the science had the power to create
life as it challenged their religious views at the time. Since Jekyll is such a religious man, he is
desperate for a good reputation however he meddles with human nature for his own selfish
reasons to commit sinful actions.
• Gothic and the Supernatural
Jekyll has created his own supernatural creature to commit sinful actions in being ‘Hyde’
However, Stevenson makes the story much more terrifying by showing Jekyll/ Hyde as both
supernatural in Hyde and human in Jekyll. Hyde’s actions are acts of violence which are
unprovoked (which defy explanation) so by definition they are supernatural because of his
animalistic aggression which is emphasised by the gothic language used to describe the
setting as supernatural and spooky.
