Symbols and Motifs

Motif: Smiles - Which character are smiles strongly linked with?

Hyde

Motif: Smiles - What might they represent?

Arrogance, self importance, pride, lack of humanity

Motif: Smiles - What quote is about Hydes smile?

‘displeasing smile’

Motif: Smiles - What happens with smiles from Chp 7 onwards

Everytime Jekyll smiles it signals Hyde is about to take over (Hyde is stronger now)

Motif: Smiles - What happens to Jekyll’s smile in Chp 7?

Goes from ‘the smile was struck out of hs face’ to ‘abject terror’

Motif: Smiles - What happens in Chp 10 involving a smile?

He is sitting in Regents Park, quite pleased with himself, has vain thoughts, he smiles, then becomes Hyde

Motif: Violence Against Innocence - Who does Hyde attack?

The young girl and Carew (who is described as a ‘beautiful gentleman’

Motif: Violence Against Innocence - Hyde’s attacks are unprovoked, what does this show?

Shows his depravity (moral corruption) representing his evil

Motif: Violence Against Innocence - What does Hyde represent?

An attack on society, on its morals and values

Motif: Violence Against Innocence - What is the most unsettling thing about Hyde’s attacks?

Its coming from within Jekyll

Symbol: Fog - What does the fog represent?

Secrets, hidden identities, lies, threat and lack of knowledge

Symbol: Fog - What happens to the fog as the novella continues?

It increases

Symbol: Fog - What does the fog increasing align with?

Mystery increasing

Symbol: Religious Texts - Utterson often reads theological texts, but what happens when he is troubled?

He can no longer focus on them. They should comfort him, but they don’t

Symbol: Religious Texts - What did Hyde do to Jekyll’s Bible?

Written blasphemies all over it. His ‘ape like tricks’. Represents how Jekyll has played God with the creation of Hyde

Symbol: Religious Texts - What question about God arises with the presence of Hyde?

Is there a threat to good/God with the creation of evil and presence of Hyde in the world?

Symbol: Doors - What do doors represent?

A barrier to the truth

Symbol: Doors - Who is Jekyll’s door often closed to?

Utterson - represents Jekyll keeping secrets from him

Symbol: Doors - What is the lab door like?

Closed, has no windows, needs a key - represents Jekylls secret identity as Hyde

Symbol: Doors - What do doors represent in Lanyons case?

He meets Hyde at the door. He opens the door to the truth and it kills him

Symbol: Doors - Who controls access to Hydes door?

His housekeeper

Symbol: Jekylls House and Lab - What does Jekyll’s house represent?

His respectable, public face

Symbol: Jekylls House and Lab - What does the lab represent?

His primative desires and lusts. It represents Hyde, it is where he was born

Symbol: Jekylls House and Lab - How is the lab described?

As ‘sordid’ and a ‘sinister block’

Symbol: Jekylls House and Lab - How do the buildings represent the connection between Jekyll and Hyde?

House = Jekyll, Lab = Hyde, they are connected, but this can’t be seen from outside - shows the link is clear but not definite

Symbol: Locks - What do the locks represent?

The locking away of truth

Symbol: Locks - Where are locks found in the novella?

On windows/doors/safes and there are seals on letters

Symbol: Locks - What themes do locks pick up on?

Dishonesty and repression

Symbol: The City - What does the city encapsulate?

Duality

Symbol: The City - How is London presented in the novella?

Dark, grimy, full of danger, the unknown and violence

Symbol: The City - How is Soho represented?

Full of ‘many nationalities’, night is day, brown is dominant colour (suggests the city is devoid of hope)

Symbol: The City - What does Hydes housekeeper in Soho represent?

Flaws of humanity, she enjoys the trouble of others

Symbol: The City - Where did both attacks take place?

On the streets - the city is unsafe

Symbol: Appearance - What do clothes represent?

Someones public face

Symbol: Appearance - What does Hyde’s strange appearance challenge?

The respectable face of Victorian society

Symbol: Appearance - Which particular part of appearance is focused on?

Faces

Symbol: Appearance - How is Jekyll’s face described?

Has a ‘slyish cast’ - Chp 3

Symbol: Appearance - How is Lanyons face described?

‘red-faced’ - shows his wealth and self indulgence

Symbol: Appearance - How is Uttersons face described?

Unsmiling and serious

Symbol: Appearance - How is Hyde’s face described?

Indescribable

Symbol: Appearance - How is Hyde’s Housekeepers face described?

‘smoothed by hipocrisy’

Symbol: Letters/Documents - What do they represent?

Secrecy / creates mystery

Symbol: Letters/Documents - What letters are seen in the novella?

Jekyll’s will, Hyde’s letter, Jekyll’s note, Uttersons letter, Jekylls letter, Lanyons letter to Utterson, the new willl, Jekylls statement

Symbol: Letters/Documents - What does Jekyll’s initial will say?

Names Hyde as the heir if he ever disappears or dies

Symbol: Letters/Documents - What does Hyde’s letter (after the Carew murder) say?

Jekyll has nothing to do with it, and that Hyde will never return

Symbol: Letters/Documents - Why is Jeyll’s letter to Utterson significant?

Guest notices and sees that the handwriting on that letter and the one written by Hyde are similar

Symbol: Letters/Documents - What is significant about Jekyll’s letter from Chp 6?

It is written after Jekyll briefly reappears into society after the Carew murder, before plunging himself back into isolation

Symbol: Letters/Documents - How does Jekyll describe himself in the letter from Chp 6?

‘if I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also’

Symbol: Letters/Documents - What does the new will say?

Utterson is the heir to all of Jekyll’s things

Symbol: Letters/Documents - What do all of the letters suggest, and what do they actually show?

Suggest communication, but really they intensify confusion

Motif: Silence - What are people repeatedly unable to do?

Articulate themselves

Motif: Silence - What happens in Chp 1 when Enfield and Utterson are talking about the door?

They stop their conversation, and neither of them name Jekyll

Motif: Silence - What doesn’t Utterson tell Inspector Newcomen?

The murder weapon in the Carew case is a cane gifted to Jekyll by Utterson

Motif: Silence - Do we actually know what Hyde does?

Apart from two described incidents, no

Motif: Silence - What can’t people do concerning Hyde’s appearance?

Describe it

Motif: Silence - What happens in Chp 7?

After seeing Jekyll at his window, Enfield is silent, and Utterson only says ‘my god’

Motif: Silence - What is happening to language?

It breaks down, Hyde makes people incapable of articulation as nothing like him has ever existed (rational fails when faced with the irrational)

Motif: Urban Terror - What happens to London?

It becomes dangerous, attacks on the streets, people are vulnerable

Motif: Urban Terror - What time of day becomes dominant?

Night

Motif: Urban Terror - What happens to the landscape of London?

Becomes nightmarish - fog grows, day becomes night

Motif: Urban Terror - What contextual links mean urban terror was feared?

Increased immigration, crime, poverty, suspicion of the new police force

Motif: Light/Dark - What does light symbolise?

Truth, hope, God, good

Motif: Light/Dark - What does dark symbolise?

Secrets, hidden identities, shameful acts, night is the place of Hyde, fog

Motif: Light/Dark - What does the battle between light and dark represent?

The battle between good and evil in Jekyll, but more broadly, in society

Motif: Light/Dark - As the novella progresses, which dominates?

Dark - meaning Hyde has increased in power

Motif: Light/Dark - Is light still fighting back? What does this show?

Yes - there is still hope