Jekyll and Hyde - Chapter 4

“he broke out in a great flame of anger… like a madman”

Theme:

• The word "flame" implies an uncontrollable, elemental force—like a wildfire or a natural disaster—that cannot be contained by human will or reason. 

• Metaphor, simile

• extreme irrationality and lack of self-control, almost subhuman

• A "madman" often evokes imagery of wild, uncontrollable, and primitive behaviour, which reflects Hyde's vicious and vindictive nature. 

“with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim… under which the bones were audibly shattered”

Theme:

• Animalistic dehumanisation: The simile compares Hyde's actions to an ape's rage, highlighting his lack of control, human empathy, and rationality. 

• By describing Hyde "trampling his victim," Sir Danvers Carew is reduced to nothing more than a physical object to be destroyed, stripped of his humanity.

“a great chocolate-coloured pall lowered over heaven”

Theme:

• contrasts the sweetness of chocolate with the dismal reality of the city's underbelly, suggesting a hidden darkness behind a sometimes pleasant facade. 

• "Pall": This refers to a heavy cloth that covers a coffin, immediately associating the scene with death

• shielding heaven from the intense sinful behaviour, protecting the innocence and holiness from evil

“He recognised it for many years before when he had represented it to Jekyll himself.”

Theme:

• Past Virtue: Utterson's "presentation" of the cane to Jekyll signifies a respectable gift to a gentleman. 

• Present Evil: The cane's current state as the instrument of Sir Danvers Carew's murder symbolizes Jekyll's complete loss of virtue and the horrifying emergence of Hyde's pure, uncontrollable evil. 

• More evidence Jekyll and Hyde are the same person, raises Utterson’s suspicions and intensifies mystery