Jekyll and Hyde - Chapter 2

“Mr Hyde shrank back with a hissing intake of breath.”

Theme:

• The “hissing” links him to snakes, and the devil. Cannot be trusted. Sinful behaviour and animalistic.

• Emphasises victorian fears of regression and devolution, portrays Hyde as subhuman.

“He gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation.”

Theme:

• Hyde is indescribable. His evil is sensed rather than seen, revealing a deeper evil. Suggests deformity is moral/spiritual, not physical. An abomination of nature.

• Criticises Victorian beliefs of physiognomy - a persons traits cannot be defined by their appearance.

• This ambiguity makes him more terrifying, as people cannot pinpoint the source of their unease, leading to intense disgust and fear

“snarled aloud into a savage laugh”

Theme:

• Hyde’s manner of speaking is unsettling and primitive. The “savage laugh” reveals his lack of civility, marking him as animalistic and dangerous.

• oxymoron-like effect: laughter, usually joyful, becomes brutal and threatening. This corruption of normal human behaviour makes Hyde uncanny.

• animalistic imagery

“a hearty, healthy, dapper, red-faced gentleman” - description of Lanyon

Theme:

• reveals Lanyon’s apparent energetic, welcoming, vigorous appearance which heavily contrasts with his later decline and falling ill

• Lanyon's physical and mental deterioration symbolizes the breakdown of his rational worldview and the inability of traditional science to comprehend the supernatural. 

“the man seems hardly human”

Theme:

• refers to Mr. Hyde's appearance and nature as a terrifying, primitive, or subhuman, embodying a pre-human, animalistic aspect that shocks the Victorian audience by reflecting the inner evil and impulsive urges that exist within all humanity, rather than being solely a supernatural entity.  

'must have secrets of his own:black secrets…compared to poor Jekyll’s worst would be like sunshine.”

Theme:

• emphasises Hyde's evil nature and suggests a profound darkness to his secrets, which are far worse than the already disturbing secrets and misdeeds of Dr. Jekyll. 

• criticises the victorian society for the physiognomy - Jekyll and Hyde share the same secrets as they are one, in many ways Jekyll is more deceiving due to his reputation and trust within society

• juxtaposition of “black” and “sunshine” highlight the difference between Jekyll and Hyde, evil and sin versus innocence and positivity to highlight Hyde’s devilish composition