Jekyll and Hyde Knowledge Organiser - Chapter 1: The Story of the Door

Vocabulary, characters, symbols, quotations, and historical context flashcards based on the GCSE English Literature Knowledge Organiser for Chapter 1: The Story of the Door.

Victorian gentleman

A respectable upper-class man following a strict moral and social code, repressing any "unacceptable" desires.

Repression

Pushing unacceptable desires or thoughts into the subconscious mind.

Social conventions

The expectations and stereotypes of how people should behave.

Hedonism

Pleasure is the main aim in life.

Duality of man

Every individual is split into two-the 'good' and the 'bad'.

Façade

A false appearance.

Utterson

An "austere", repressed lawyer. A loyal friend, who refuses to interfere in other people's business. We see the novel's events through Utterson's eyes.

Enfield

Utterson's relative. He is familiar with Soho at night: like Jekyll, Enfield is a Victorian gentleman by day, and hedonistic by night.

Hyde

A brutal and animalistic man who appears to be less than human. No-one knows who is he, and he doesn't seem to fit in with Utterson's understanding of society.

Soho (Symbol)

A "fire in a forest": the destructiveness of hedonism.

The door (Symbol)

Forbidden knowledge.

Innocent victim (Symbol)

The darker side of humanity destroys all that is good and pure. The fact that she is a girl may suggest how women were subjugated in Victorian society.

Victorian society (Historical context)

Strict morals and social conventions existed, but areas of Victorian London like Soho were hot-beds of prostitution, gambling, alcoholism and drug-taking that gentlemen visited under cover of darkness.

Quotation: Utterson's self-restraint

Mr Utterson was "austere with himself"

Quotation: Soho's lights

Soho's lights shine "like a fire in a forest"

Quotation: Hyde as a Juggernaut

Hyde is "like some damned Juggernaut"

Quotation: Hyde's trampling incident

Hyde "trampled calmly over the child's body"