This essay comes from my Guide to Jekyll and Hyde, available on Amazon
Stevenson presents Hyde as a frightening character in several ways. The language used to describe Hyde portrays him as fundamentally ‘evil’ and ‘unhuman’. Stevenson also uses contrast throughout the novella, emphasising Hyde’s ‘savage’ nature. Most prominently, a key motif throughout is the duality of man, represented by Hyde being part of Jekyll. This makes Hyde even more frightening as Stevenson reminds the readers that ‘evil’ is a part of all of us.
When Utterson first comes face to face with Hyde, he uses sibilance to describe Hyde’s laugh as he ‘snarled…a savage laugh’. This sibilance implies Hyde’s sinister nature. The word ‘savage’ further emphasises Hyde’s threatening persona and portrays Hyde as uncivilised. Throughout this extract, Stevenson refers to Mr Utterson most often, as ‘the lawyer’. Lawyers were well respected men and the height of sophistication. By referring to Utterson as “the Lawyer”, he creates a sharp contrast with Hyde, who ‘gave an impression of deformity’. This further portrays Hyde as an outsider, someone who does not conform to the rules of society, which would have been particularly frightening to Victorian gentlemen at the time.
Furthermore, Utterson suggests Hyde’s darkness is more deep-rooted than the ‘flush of anger’ or the ‘savage laugh’. He describes Hyde’s face bearing ‘Satan’s signature’. This reference to the devil implies Hyde’s innate evil. However, the signature which is later associated with Hyde is recognised as forged by Dr Jekyll. As Jekyll later explains, the only physical aspect Hyde retains from Jekyll is ‘my own hand’, his handwriting. Therefore, ‘Satan’s signature’ is that of Dr Jekyll’s. Perhaps Stevenson is suggesting that Jekyll too is truly ‘evil’, as he creates a ‘creature’ who he is a ‘rare luxury’, carrying out his ‘secret pleasures’.
These ‘pleasures’ are often uncivilised and sinful. During the rising action in the novella, Hyde performs his most sinful act yet, he murders. The account of the murder is delivered to us by the maid who describes the victim as full of ‘old-world kindness’ and the murderer as a ‘madman…with ape-like fury’. This ‘old-world kindness’ highlights the innocence of the victim and subsequently emphasises Hyde’s frightening character and the monstrosity of his cruel act. The reference to ‘ape-like’ is consistent with the ‘creature’ which Hyde is often referred to as. It also suggests that he is not as evolved as his upper-class counterpart, Dr Jekyll. In fact, Victorian upper-class gentlemen often believed that they were more evolved than the rest of society. This reference to Hyde as ‘ape-like’ supports the common misconception, made by the Upper-class gentlemen, that the lower classes and those who commit crime, are less evolved.
After the murder, Hyde returns to his ‘dark and dingy’ residence in Soho. Not only does Stevenson use alliteration to accentuate the darkness of Hyde’s house, reflecting his ‘dark’ character, he also deliberately notes that Hyde resides in Soho. In the 1800s, Soho was associated with poverty and immorality. Thus, for people reading the novella at the time it was published, this association with the immoral Soho, would have portrayed Hyde as even more frightening.
Ultimately, Hyde is most frightening because Stevenson reminds us that evil resides in all of us, just as Hyde resides in Jekyll. Jekyll’s biggest revelation, and the one that encourages him to create Hyde, is the belief that ‘man is not truly one, but two’. This suggests the duality of man, the belief that man is both good and evil.
In Jekyll’s letter, he creates the image of an internal ‘war’ describing his ‘two natures that contended on the field’. The ‘field’ implies a battlefield in which no man shall prosper. Although both sides of Jekyll technically die simultaneously, Jekyll eventually succumbs to Hyde’s will and brings his own ‘unhappy life…to an end’.
Hyde would then be free to act ‘centred on self’, to think about no others and do only what pleases him. Stevenson is suggesting that as we let our ‘devil(s)’ grow, we lose control of our ‘gentle’ nature and submit to the temptations of selfish ‘pleasures’. This is what makes Hyde particularly frightening, the suggestion that there is a Hyde in all of us, that we too can succumb to our innate immoral drives.
In conclusion, Stevenson presents Hyde as a particularly frightening individual through using contrasting language. Not only is there a contrast between the victim and the murderer (Hyde) but the most obvious contrast is between Hyde and Jekyll. Furthermore, Hyde’s actions are unlawful and do not conform to the Upper-class circles he is surrounded by. Perhaps most notably, Hyde is particularly frightening because he represents the evil part of man, which Stevenson suggests dwells in even the most respected of individuals.
776 Words
Grades 7, 8 and 9
AO1
A well-structured argument which begins with a thesis.
Each paragraph is ordered to build the argument to prove your thesis.
Explores at least two interpretations of the character or the author’s purpose.
You pick really good evidence, or quotations, to back up your argument or interpretations.
You write about the full task, which always includes the ending of the text.
AO2
1. Your interpretations of quotations look at individual words and phrases.
2. You sometimes find more than one interpretation of the same quotation.
3. You interpret how the form of the text shapes the way the author wants readers to understand it.
4. You interpret how the structure of the text shapes the way the author wants readers to understand it.
5. You use just the right terminology a student of literature needs to explain ideas.
AO3
1. You write about more than one interpretation. So your thesis argues why one interpretation is better than another.
2. You use details from the author’s life, or society, or literature at the time to back up your interpretation.
3. Your conclusion sums up why you have picked one interpretation as more convincing than another. It shows why your thesis is correct.
Student Reflection
I think my understanding and knowledge of how to answer a question to meet exam criteria has developed significantly. Whilst writing this essay, I had in mind the importance of commenting on structure, purpose and context.
Although I think I struggled with commenting on structure, I did succeed in combing context into my answer and noting the author’s purpose/effect on the reader. I think I have gotten significantly more confident in writing these answers than I was when writing the ‘Lord of the Flies’ essay. I am now able to complete an essay in less time also, just as I would be asked to do in the exam.
Additionally, since the beginning of the course I think my use of literary terms has improved; I would have not even considered using terms like ‘novella’ or ‘motif’ in an essay before.
You can see from this self-assessment, that I think it is the best way to improve in your essays.
Examiner’s Comments: Your Turn
Use the mark scheme above to work out how to grade the essay. It will certainly get into the top band.
Find which bullet points are done less well. If you can mark it, you can write an even better essay, and nail these skills in the exam.
You should notice that this student has not read my guide, and has not been taught this text by me. This means she includes nothing about Stevenson’s dual purpose, or his atheism. She treats the novel entirely at face value, as a Christian allegory promoting good and challenging evil in the English upper classes.
The good news is that you can get a top grade doing that. The even better news is that you can see how including the ideas from this guide are going to blow the examiner away, and suggest you have a far deeper understanding of the novel than a normal top-grade student!
Notice how well she embeds quotations into sentences. This is the easiest way to get into grade 7.
It is a good idea, even if your exam board bases the question around an extract, to practise writing revision essays as proper essays, just considering the novel as a whole. Then you can fit the extract in as you write about the novel in chronological order.
thanks!
Really useful