Hyde Quotes

themes: inner evil, degeneration, growing power, freedom

spirit of hell (inner evil)

instantly the spirit of hell awoke in me and raged (ch10)

• adverb ‘instantly’ shows how unpredictable Hyde is, which shows his chaotic nature

• the religious language ‘spirit of hell’ demonstrates how Hyde is part of Jekyll’s soul and how he radiates with evil and hell

• verb ‘raged’ presents Hyde’s uncontrollable anger

an imprint of d… (inner evil)

Evil had left.... an imprint of deformity and decay (ch10)

• this description shows how Hyde is an artificial creation of Jekyll

• noun ‘deformity’ connotes disfigured and ugly, this description presents how Victorians feared transgressive science and how they viewed it as clearly unnatural and troublesome

• noun ‘decay’ could be used to present how Hyde is causing Jekyll’s good side to rot away or it could show Hyde’s corruptive nature

satan’s signature (inner evil)

I read Satan’s signature on his face (ch 2)

• sibilance in ‘Satan’s signature’ creates a hissing effect like a snake, snakes are not only associated with evil, but in Genesis Satan disguises himself as a snake. This connection could be used to help emphasize Hyde’s relation to Satan himself

• The use of the word ‘signature’ on Hyde’s face displays how Hyde can easily be identified and associated with the devil and in no way is he trying to hide it

trampled (degeneration)

trampled calmly over the child’s body (ch 1)

• oxymoron shows Hyde’s lack of remorse of sympathy, this highlights his absence of basic human nature and pure evil attitude

• verb “trampled” connotes clumsy and chaotic, which correctly displays how Hyde opposes the sophistication of Victorian Gentlemen and is more barbaric

human → troglodytic (degeneration)

‘hardly human’, ‘something troglodytic’ (chapter 2)

• alliteration in ‘hardly human’ emphasizes his improper appearance, as he doesn’t look civilised Utterson doesn’t view him as human

• adjective ‘troglodytic’ presents Hyde’s animalistic and prehistoric appearance

• vagueness in “something” highlights his irregular appearance, he doesn’t look like anything Utterson’s ever seen

ape-like (degeneration)

with ape-like fury… hailing down a storm of blows (ch 4)

• ‘ape-like’ represents how unhuman Hyde is and better resembles which connote violence and strength

• noun ‘fury’ connotes violent anger and also commonly associated with wild weather. Throughout the novel the weather reflects the emotions and growing power of Hyde.

• ‘storm’ presents Hyde’s power is at an all high and is destructive

grew pale → deathly sick (growing power)

grew pale to the very lips (ch 3) → looked deathly sick (ch 5)

• at the start of the novel, where Hyde had little control there were only glimpses of him in Jekyll, but as he grows stronger it’s more prominent

• after Carew’s murder, Jekyll is very unwell due to Hyde’s actions and power, he’s draining Jekyll of all his strength for himself

destroyed the balance (growing power)

My evil finally destroyed the balance of my soul (ch 10)

• Hyde is now strong enough to become the dominant side of Jekyll’s soul, disrupting the natural balance

• violent verb “destroyed” amplifies how much Hyde has changed Jekyll for the worse, he didn’t just alter it, he has the strength to completely control Jekyll

• balance connotes control and order and Hyde, as he is chaotic ruins that

powers of Hyde → sickliness of Jekyll (growing power)

The powers of Hyde seemed to have grown with the sickliness of Jekyll (ch 10)

• this correlation presents Hyde like an evil parasite, he uses Jekyll for power and then uses that power to torture him, this directly contrasts with his original purpose of helping Jekyll feel in control of his emotions and actions, being an outlet for his improper behaviour

great flame (power)

all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger (chapter 4)

• adverb ‘sudden’ creates a tone of uncontrollable and unpredictable, this reflects the manic and irrational aspect of Hyde’s character

• metaphor ‘broke out’ could symbolise how Hyde is like a captured dangerous beast and how he was previously concealed and controlled by Jekyll but now he has the immense power to release himself from Jekyll’s grip.

  Hyde could also be symbolising how suppressed emotions burst out, and that it’s harmful for Victorian Gentlemen to bury down emotions just to protect their reputation

• ‘great flame of anger’, flame connotes threatening and wild, this shows how Hyde thrives in chaos and can no longer be restrained by anything.

my devil (power)

my devil had been long caged, he came out roaring (ch 10 (about ch 4))

• imagery of the cage portrays how threatening and dangerous Hyde is, and that he has to be contained for the safety of Jekyll’s reputation

• verb ‘roaring’ connotes loud and riotous, and how Hyde resembles a beast

• possessive pronoun ‘my devil’ could be interpreted as how Hyde acts as Jekyll’s personal tormenter and that he belongs to him

sea of liberty (freedom)

spring headlong into the sea of liberty (ch 10)

• sea connotes travel and adventure, Hyde was supposed to enrich Jekyll’s life and allow him to try new things disguised as Hyde, but instead Hyde ended up making Jekyll isolated and confounded to constantly worrying about transforming into Hyde

• verb ‘spring’ presents Jekyll’s eagerness to transforming into Hyde, ‘spring’ also connotes joy

• ‘headlong’ implies that he is unafraid of what could happen, perhaps he’s too focused on feeling free to worry about the consequences?

younger,l…,h… (freedom)

I felt younger, lighter, happier in body (ch 10)

• list of threes presents Jekyll’s excitement for using Hyde

• initially Hyde helped Jekyll achieve freedom, but it was short lived

• all of these aspects didn’t happen, Jekyll ended up dying, full of mental turmoil, and completely miserable

innocent freedom (freedom)

an innocent freedom of the soul (ch 10)

• ironic because Hyde is the opposite of innocent