Comprehensive Study Notes on Dr Henry Jekyll
Dr Henry Jekyll: Introduction and Symbolism
Core Symbolism: Dr Henry Jekyll represents the theme of repression and the dangers of insatiable curiosity. He is a well-respected figure in the community who harbors a deep secret that manifests as Mr Hyde.
Upper-Class Status: Jekyll is a member of the bourgeoisie, possessing a very large secret to conceal. His public persona is kind and generous, which makes his decision to leave his entire estate to Mr Hyde in his will particularly shocking to Utterson.
The Origins of Hyde: Hyde was created through Jekyll's scientific experimentation. The text implies that Jekyll was "rambunctious and ill-behaved" during his late teens or early twenties. There are also subtle hints within the text suggesting he may have engaged in homosexual relationships, providing a motive for his desire to create a separate persona.
Separation of Self: Jekyll develops a chemical concoction to separate his positive and negative characteristics. This allows him to indulge in socially disapproved behaviors and pleasures without damaging his reputation.
Loss of Control: As the narrative progresses, Jekyll loses control over the transformation, and Hyde begins to appear uninvited. Stevenson uses this to comment on the lack of control individuals have over their own behavior once they succumb to temptation.
Duality and Identity: It can be argued that Jekyll and Hyde are not distinct characters but a single entity. The power of the novel stems from the conjunction of these personalities and the resulting internal conflict. While Jekyll attempts to liberate his "evil" side, his own character remains a mix of good and bad traits, questioning the binary nature of morality.
Contextual and Theoretical Frameworks
Religion: Jekyll has a turbulent relationship with faith.
He is described as having completed significant religious work and study: "he was now no less distinguished for religion."
Upon realizing his errors, he seeks redemption through God: he "had fallen upon his knees and lifted his clasped hands to God."
Freudian Analysis: According to Freud's structural theory of the mind, Jekyll can be viewed as the ego. He represents the struggle and balance between one's basal instincts (the id) and moral thought (the superego).
Marxism and Social Class: As a member of the bourgeoisie, Jekyll's creation of Hyde—who would technically also be part of that class—serves as a commentary on the behavior of high-status individuals.
The Girl: Stevenson's inclusion of the violent trampling of the young girl may be a commentary on the bourgeoisie's callous and violent attitudes toward the lower classes.
Sir Danvers Carew: The murder of Carew, another member of the upper class, highlights the perceived selfishness and lack of loyalty within high-society circles.
Historical Influences: William Brodie and John Hunter
William Brodie: A well-respected member of the Town Council in Edinburgh. Brodie lived a double life; by day, he was a community leader, but at night, he used his access to clients' furniture to copy keys and commit robberies. This real-life duality is widely believed to have influenced Stevenson's depiction of the dual relationship between Jekyll and Hyde.
John Hunter: A high-status London doctor and a primary inspiration for Jekyll. Hunter's home in Leicester Square featured a stark duality: the front was fashionable for his wife’s parties, while the back (accessible via a dingy alley) contained his dissecting rooms and specimens. This back entrance provided a route for grave-robbers to deliver bodies for Hunter’s experiments. Jekyll's house layout is modeled after Hunter's, symbolizing the upper class's inability to fully isolate themselves from the lower, more "sordid" elements of society.
Key Characteristics and Personality
Moral and Honourable: Jekyll is community-minded and active in charity work. However, this mask of morality makes the eventual revelation of his bond with Hyde more impactful. It is argued that his original intention was noble: to refine himself by purging his evil traits through science.
Social vs. Self-Involved: While he is friendly and frequently hosts dinner parties for his "old cronies," he is also quite self-involved. This acts as a foil to Utterson, who is characterized by an outward focus and concern for others.
Inventive and Intelligent: Jekyll represents the Victorian encroachment of science upon religious thought. His intelligence is applied to the exploration of the human psyche, specifically the segregation of moral and immoral impulses.
Erratic Nature: As the burden of hiding Hyde becomes unmanageable, Jekyll’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic and unstable.
Significant Narrative Moments
Chapter 3: Jekyll hosts a dinner party for intelligent, reputable men. Afterward, Utterson requests he change his will. Jekyll remains secretive regarding Hyde, acting unusually and signaling a rift in his relationship with Lanyon. This moment suggests that Jekyll and Utterson’s friendship may be more strained or less transparent than initially perceived.
Chapter 5: Utterson visits a deathly-looking Jekyll. Suspicions arise when Utterson's assistant notices the striking similarities between Jekyll's and Hyde's handwriting, leading Utterson to falsely believe Jekyll has forged a letter to protect Hyde. This highlights Hyde’s growing influence and power over Jekyll.
Chapter 10: Jekyll's full confession describes the descent from scientific curiosity into moral ruin. As the final voice in the novel, his story serves as the definitive explanation of his motivations, exemplifying his desire to challenge stagnant Victorian beliefs regarding morality, religion, and the boundaries of science.
Interpersonal Relationships
Dr. Lanyon: Though Jekyll entrusted him with the secret of Hyde, the two characters drifted apart due to a fundamental disagreement over the "improper and immoral" usage of science.
Mr. Utterson: Driven by curiosity and a deep, unwavering loyalty, Utterson is the catalyst that uncovers the mystery. Their friendship is strong enough to withstand differences in opinion, largely due to Utterson's neutral character. Even as Jekyll isolates himself, Utterson's care remains constant.
Mr. Hyde: The relationship is defined by a power imbalance that shifts toward Hyde as the novel progresses. The boundary between the two becomes fluid and uncontrollable, suggesting that the separate parts are merging back into one.
Analysis of Key Quotes and Literary Devices
Social Respectability: ‘A fortnight later, by excellent good fortune, the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies, all intelligent, reputable men and all judges of good wine’
Jekyll is portrayed as socially acceptable and well-liked. He is elsewhere noted as a "charitable man" who carries his "head high" in public, putting on a "grave countenance" to maintain his reputation.
Suppression of Self: ‘Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of me’
This highlights Jekyll's commitment to the Victorian status quo, suppressing his "sinful" side to maintain his social ranking.
Religious Allusion and Animalism: ‘My devil had long been caged, he came out roaring. I was conscious, even when I took the draught, of a more unbridled, a more furious propensity to ill’
The "devil" refers to his repressed desires in the form of Hyde, clashing with Christian concepts of morality. The verb "roaring" suggests an animalistic, uncontrolled release. "Propensity to ill" suggests that immorality has become a natural inclination.
Loss of Respectability: ‘I looked down; my clothes hung formlessly on my shrunken limbs; the hand that lay on my knee was corded and hairy’
The hand, typically a symbol of honor, is here invaded by hair, symbolizing a loss of control and a move toward primitive, "free-flowing" instincts.
The Burden of Society: ‘There was something strange in my sensations, something indescribably new and, from its very novelty, incredibly sweet. I felt younger, lighter, happier in body, within I was conscious of a heady recklessness… a current of disordered sensual images… a solution of the bonds of obligation’
The tricolon structure conveys Jekyll's delight in being free from the "burdensome" restraints of reputation. His moral obligations are dissolved by the chemical mixture.
Science vs. God: ‘For any drug that so potently controlled and shook the very fortress of identity, might, by the least scruple of an overdose… utterly blot out that immaterial tabernacle which I looked to change.’
The term "immaterial tabernacle" has heavy religious undertones. Jekyll's experimentation with the "fortress of identity" suggests he has dangerously encroached into territory traditionally reserved for God.
The Hypothesis of Duality: ‘Man is not truly one but truly two’
The syntactic parallelism emphasizes Jekyll’s belief that the human psyche is perfectly split between good and evil, and that man cannot be purely one or the other.
The Inevitability of Guilt: ‘I was driven to reflect deeply and inveterately on that hard law of life which lies at the root of religion and one of the most plentiful springs of distress’
The alliteration in "law of life" and "root of religion" refers to the inherent nature of conscience and guilt. Jekyll attempts to use science to bypass this "distress."
The Failure of Separation: ‘I have been made to learn that the doom and burthen of our life is bound for ever on man’s shoulders and when the attempt is made to cast it off, it but returns upon us with more unfamiliar and more awful pressure’
The meta-theme is that trying to isolate good from evil only causes them to reunite with a more destructive force. One cannot escape the "doom and burthen" of existence.
Darkness and Risk: ‘Late one accursed night, I compounded the elements, watched them boil…with a strong glow of courage, drank off the potion’
Stevenson uses the motif of darkness ("accursed night") and the semantic field of chemistry ("compounded the elements"). Jekyll’s "strong glow of courage" indicates his awareness of the high risks involved.
Potential for Good: ‘Had I approached my discovery in a more noble spirit, had I risked the experiment while under the empire of generous or pious aspirations…and from these agonies of death and birth, I had come forth an angel instead of a fiend’
Jekyll reflects on how his intent shaped the outcome. The use of inverse iconic word order in "death and birth" emphasizes that his experiment defied generational human restrictions.