Jekyll and Hyde Key Vocab

Allegory

A story with a hidden message

Amoral

Lacking a moral sense

Atavistic

Being primative

Bestial

Being like an animal

Diabolic

So evil as to be suggestive of the devil

Doppelganger

An apparition or double of a living person

Duality

The quality or condition of being dual

Duplicitous

Decietful

Epistolary

Structured as letters or diary entries

Fin de siècle

The 1890s

Foil

A character who contrasts with another

Gothic

Belonging to or redolent of the Dark Ages; portentously gloomy or horrifying

Hypocrisy

The practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behaviour does not conform

Immoral

Not conforming to accepted standards of morality

Incongruous

When something doesn’t fit in with its surroundings

Living vicariously

Living through someone else

Macabre

Disturbing because concerned with or causing a fear of death

Nominative determinism

The idea that people’s names expose something about their character

Piety

The quality of being religious or reverent

Physiognomy

A person's facial features or expression, especially when regarded as indicative of character

Psyche

The human mind

Reliability (of a narrator)

How reliable the narrator is

Reputation

The beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone/something

Simian imagery

Metaphors comparing someone to an ape

Topography

The arrangement of the natural and artificial physical features of an area

Troglodytic

Being like a caveman

Uncanny

Strange or mysterious in an unsettling way

Zoomorphic metaphor

A metaphor comparing someone to an animal

Paragon

Perfect example

Nuance

Subtle

Unorthodox

Not normal

Transmogrification

Change in a surprising manner

Heinous

Evil

Metaphysical

Outside of human realms

Dichotomy

Split

Disillusionment

Not as good as originally thought