Theme Analysis Sheets

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde — 4 themes · A4 printable

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson uses the duality of Jekyll and Hyde to argue that every human being contains both good and evil, and that the attempt to separate these two natures — rather than accepting and managing them — leads inevitably to self-destruction.

duality

Duality

Point 1

Jekyll's experiment is motivated by his recognition that man possesses a dual nature, and his desire to liberate each side from the other reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of human identity.

“man is not truly one, but truly two” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The declarative statement presents duality as an inescapable truth of human nature, not merely Jekyll's personal experience — Stevenson universalises the conflict between good and evil within every individual.

The adverb 'truly' repeated twice gives the statement a tone of scientific certainty, reflecting Jekyll's belief that he has made a rational, empirical discovery — yet the disastrous consequences suggest his understanding is fatally incomplete.

This reflects late-Victorian anxieties about Darwinian evolution: if humanity evolved from animals, then a bestial nature must still lurk beneath the civilised surface, waiting to re-emerge.

“I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The adjective 'primitive' suggests that duality is not a modern condition but something ancient and fundamental — it predates civilisation and cannot be eliminated by it.

The verb 'learned' implies a process of painful discovery, positioning Jekyll as a tragic figure whose intellectual curiosity leads him to a truth he cannot control.

Stevenson uses Jekyll's confession to critique the Victorian belief that respectability could suppress the darker aspects of human nature — the 'primitive' self will always reassert itself.

Point 2

Hyde is presented as physically smaller and deformed, suggesting that Jekyll's repressed evil side has been stunted by years of suppression yet remains dangerously potent.

“Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation” [Narrator] Chapter 4: The Carew Murder Case

The paradox of 'deformity without any nameable malformation' creates an uncanny effect — Hyde's evil is felt instinctively rather than rationally identified, reflecting the Gothic tradition of the monstrous Other.

The adjective 'dwarfish' suggests that evil, while powerful, has been kept small by years of repression — Hyde is the underdeveloped side of Jekyll's personality, which makes his violence all the more shocking.

Stevenson draws on physiognomy and degeneration theory, popular in the 1880s, which held that moral corruption would manifest as physical abnormality — yet the inability to name the deformity undermines the pseudo-science.

“the man seems hardly human! Something troglodytic” [Mr Utterson] Chapter 2: Search for Mr Hyde

The word 'troglodytic' — meaning cave-dwelling — is a direct allusion to pre-evolutionary humanity, linking Hyde to Darwinian ideas about regression to a more primitive state.

Utterson's struggle to articulate what is wrong with Hyde ('seems hardly human') mirrors the broader difficulty Victorian society had in confronting the irrational and the uncivilised within itself.

The exclamatory tone reveals Utterson's shock and revulsion, breaking his characteristic composure and suggesting that Hyde's presence disrupts the rational, ordered world that Utterson represents.

Point 3

The physical transformation between Jekyll and Hyde dramatises the instability of identity, showing that the boundary between the respectable self and the monstrous self is terrifyingly permeable.

“I felt younger, lighter, happier in body; within I was conscious of a heady recklessness” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The list of comparative adjectives — 'younger, lighter, happier' — presents the release of evil as physically pleasurable, suggesting that repression itself is a burden and that vice offers a seductive liberation.

The noun 'recklessness' foreshadows the escalating violence to come, while 'heady' implies intoxication — Hyde is an addiction that Jekyll cannot resist despite knowing the consequences.

Stevenson implies that Victorian moral codes, by demanding constant self-denial, actually intensify the desire for transgression — the stricter the repression, the more exhilarating the release.

“I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The repetition of 'slowly' creates a creeping, inexorable rhythm that mirrors Jekyll's gradual loss of control — the transformation is not sudden but a steady erosion of identity.

The passive construction 'becoming incorporated' suggests that Jekyll is no longer the agent of change but its victim — Hyde is consuming him from within.

The moral vocabulary of 'better' and 'worse' reveals that Jekyll still categorises his two selves hierarchically, yet his inability to maintain the distinction proves that such neat moral binaries are unsustainable.

Point 4

The novella's conclusion demonstrates that the attempt to divide the dual self ends in annihilation, as neither Jekyll nor Hyde can exist independently.

“the doom that is closing on us both has already changed and crushed him” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The pronoun 'us both' is significant — Jekyll acknowledges that he and Hyde share a single fate, proving that duality cannot be resolved through separation but only through mutual destruction.

The verb 'crushed' conveys the overwhelming, inescapable force of the consequences, while 'doom' elevates the narrative to a tragic register, presenting Jekyll's fall as inevitable and predetermined.

Stevenson suggests that the Victorian project of dividing the self into a public respectable persona and a private sinful one was always doomed to collapse under its own contradictions.

“Will Hyde die upon the scaffold? or will he find courage to release himself at the last moment? God knows; I am careless” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The rhetorical questions reveal Jekyll's complete loss of agency — he can no longer predict or control what Hyde will do, even though they share the same body.

The adjective 'careless' is devastating in context: Jekyll has reached a state of nihilistic exhaustion where even the manner of his own death no longer matters to him.

The invocation of 'God' in the final statement of a man destroyed by science creates a poignant irony — Jekyll, who sought to transcend moral limits through chemistry, returns to religious language in his despair.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson exposes the gulf between outward respectability and inner corruption in Victorian society, using Jekyll's transformation to argue that the most dangerous deceptions are those we practise upon ourselves.

appearance vs reality

Appearance vs Reality

Point 1

Jekyll is introduced as the epitome of Victorian respectability, and it is precisely this polished exterior that conceals and enables his secret experiments.

“a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness” [Narrator] Chapter 3: Dr Jekyll Was Quite at Ease

The string of approving adjectives — 'large, well-made, smooth-faced' — constructs a portrait of establishment respectability, yet the parenthetical 'slyish cast' introduces a subtle note of suspicion that the reader initially overlooks.

The word 'smooth-faced' operates on a dual level: it describes physical appearance but also connotes concealment — a smooth surface that hides what lies beneath, encapsulating the theme of appearance versus reality.

Stevenson's narrator presents Jekyll through the lens of social convention, where wealth, physical presence, and professional standing are taken as proof of moral character — a dangerous assumption the novella systematically dismantles.

“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 life” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The verb 'concealed' is central: Jekyll's respectability was never genuine virtue but always a performance designed to hide transgressive desires from public view.

The phrase 'profound duplicity of life' reframes Jekyll's entire existence as a lie — 'profound' suggests the deception runs to the core of his being, not merely its surface.

This confession critiques Victorian society more broadly: if a man of Jekyll's standing has been living a double life, the implication is that the entire social fabric of respectability is built on similar concealment.

Point 2

The physical setting of Jekyll's house — with its respectable front and decaying rear laboratory — serves as an architectural metaphor for the division between public appearance and private reality.

“a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street” [Narrator] Chapter 1: Story of the Door

The personification of the building — 'thrust forward' — gives the laboratory entrance an aggressive, intrusive quality, as though the hidden side of Jekyll's life is physically pushing into the public realm.

The adjective 'sinister' immediately associates this rear entrance with moral darkness, establishing the spatial opposition between the handsome front of the house and its neglected, threatening back.

Stevenson uses London's architecture to reflect Victorian hypocrisy: just as grand houses often had hidden passages and servant quarters, respectable citizens maintained concealed lives behind their public facades.

“round the corner from the by-street, there was a square of ancient, handsome houses, now for the most part decayed from their high estate” [Narrator] Chapter 2: Search for Mr Hyde

The phrase 'decayed from their high estate' works as a metaphor for moral degeneration — what was once noble and grand has deteriorated, mirroring Jekyll's own decline from respectable doctor to Hyde's host.

The juxtaposition of 'handsome' with 'decayed' establishes the novella's central visual pattern: beautiful surfaces concealing rot beneath, which characterises both Jekyll and the Victorian society he inhabits.

The setting of fog-shrouded London streets reinforces the impossibility of seeing clearly in this world — appearances are perpetually obscured, and truth is perpetually deferred.

Point 3

Utterson's determined rationalism represents society's refusal to see what is plainly before it, as his loyalty to appearances prevents him from uncovering the truth until it is too late.

“If he be Mr Hyde, I shall be Mr Seek” [Mr Utterson] Chapter 2: Search for Mr Hyde

The wordplay on 'hide and seek' reduces the investigation to a game, revealing Utterson's inability to grasp the true horror of what he is pursuing — he approaches moral catastrophe with the tools of rational inquiry.

Utterson positions himself as the active seeker of truth, yet his methods — legal reasoning, social propriety, respect for privacy — are precisely the mechanisms that Victorian society uses to avoid confronting uncomfortable realities.

Stevenson uses Utterson as a structural device to delay revelation: because the narrative is filtered through a man who instinctively protects reputations, the truth about Jekyll remains hidden from the reader as well.

“I let my brother go to the devil in his own way” [Mr Utterson] Chapter 1: Story of the Door

Utterson's philosophy of non-interference is presented as tolerance but functions as wilful blindness — by refusing to judge, he also refuses to intervene, allowing Jekyll's destruction to proceed unchecked.

The colloquial phrase 'go to the devil' is ironically prophetic: Jekyll is indeed going to the devil through Hyde, and Utterson's passive approach enables it.

This reflects the Victorian gentleman's code of discretion, which Stevenson presents not as admirable restraint but as a dangerous complicity in maintaining the gap between appearance and reality.

Point 4

The narrative structure itself enacts the theme of appearance versus reality, as the truth is withheld through multiple limited perspectives until the final revelations shatter every prior assumption.

“O God! I screamed, and O God! again and again; for there before my eyes — pale and shaken, and half fainting, and groping before him with his hands, like a man restored from death — there stood Henry Jekyll” [Dr Lanyon] Chapter 9: Dr Lanyon's Narrative

The repetition of 'O God!' and the breathless, fragmented syntax convey Lanyon's utter disbelief — the reality he witnesses so violently contradicts every appearance he has trusted that it literally kills him.

The simile 'like a man restored from death' inverts the expected imagery: Jekyll's reappearance should be a resurrection, but Lanyon experiences it as a death sentence, because the truth is more devastating than the mystery.

Stevenson delays this revelation to Chapter 9, ensuring that the reader shares in the shock — the novella's structure mirrors its theme by maintaining a false appearance until the very end.

“the creature who crept into my house that night was, on Jekyll's own confession, known by the name of Hyde and hunted for in every corner of the land as the murderer of Carew” [Dr Lanyon] Chapter 9: Dr Lanyon's Narrative

The noun 'creature' strips Hyde of humanity entirely, reflecting Lanyon's horrified refusal to accept that this being and his respected colleague are one and the same person.

The verb 'crept' connotes stealth and shame, reinforcing the idea that truth in this novella must sneak in through back doors — it cannot enter openly in a society built on appearances.

Lanyon's discovery that reality has been the opposite of appearance for the entire narrative is so traumatic that it causes his death — Stevenson implies that Victorian society would rather die than confront its own hypocrisy.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson portrays Victorian London as a society in which rigid moral codes and the demand for absolute respectability create unbearable psychological pressure, driving individuals to secret transgression that ultimately proves more destructive than the desires they sought to suppress.

victorian repression

Victorian Repression

Point 1

Jekyll's confession reveals that the experiment was born not from pure scientific curiosity but from the intolerable burden of maintaining a flawless public reputation while harbouring private desires.

“many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high views that I had set before me, I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The adjective 'morbid' is carefully chosen — Jekyll's shame is not healthy moral awareness but a pathological condition, suggesting that Victorian standards of behaviour have made normal human desires into symptoms of disease.

The contrast between 'blazoned' and 'hid' highlights the gap between what others might openly display and what Jekyll feels compelled to conceal, exposing the arbitrary and class-specific nature of Victorian moral codes.

Stevenson implies that it is not Jekyll's 'irregularities' that are dangerous but his repression of them — the shame itself becomes the force that drives him to the far more destructive experiment.

“I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high, and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The adjective 'imperious' reveals that Jekyll's desire for respectability is itself a form of tyranny — he is enslaved by his own need to appear morally superior.

The phrase 'grave countenance' is richly ironic: 'grave' means both serious and death-like, foreshadowing that the mask of respectability will ultimately lead to Jekyll's literal grave.

Stevenson critiques the performative nature of Victorian morality — Jekyll does not need to be good, only to 'wear' the appearance of goodness, reducing ethics to a costume that can be put on and taken off.

Point 2

The all-male social world of the novella reflects a society in which emotional intimacy and vulnerability are suppressed, leaving characters unable to communicate openly or seek help.

“the last good influence in the lives of downgoing men. And to such, Mr Utterson was often the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of downgoing men” [Narrator] Chapter 1: Story of the Door

The repetition of 'last' creates a sense of finality and desperation — Utterson is the final connection to respectable society for men who are falling from grace, yet his help is limited to maintaining appearances.

The phrase 'downgoing men' acknowledges that moral decline is common in this society, yet the euphemistic language avoids naming what these men have done — the narration itself practises the repression it describes.

Stevenson presents a male homosocial world where friendships are based on propriety rather than honesty, meaning that men in crisis have no one to whom they can safely confess.

“he was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages” [Narrator] Chapter 1: Story of the Door

Utterson's private consumption of gin to punish his enjoyment of fine wine is a microcosm of Victorian repression — even solitary pleasure must be disciplined and denied.

The verb 'mortify' literally means to put to death, suggesting that the Victorian gentleman must kill his own desires in order to maintain self-control — a process of internal violence that mirrors Jekyll's more dramatic self-destruction.

Stevenson establishes from the opening page that repression is the default mode of existence for respectable Victorian men, making Jekyll's experiment a logical extreme of a society-wide pattern.

Point 3

Hyde represents the violent return of everything Victorian society has repressed, and his escalating brutality suggests that desires denied an outlet will eventually erupt with catastrophic force.

“with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim underfoot and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattering” [Maidservant (as reported by narrator)] Chapter 4: The Carew Murder Case

The simile 'ape-like fury' connects Hyde's violence explicitly to evolutionary regression — the repressed animal nature has broken free and is now utterly beyond rational control.

The visceral auditory detail 'bones were audibly shattering' forces the reader to confront the physical reality of violence that polite Victorian society works so hard to keep hidden and unspoken.

The sheer excess of the attack — trampling and 'hailing down a storm of blows' — suggests that repressed energy, when finally released, is disproportionate to any provocation, precisely because it has been building pressure for so long.

“for the man trampled calmly over the child's body and left her screaming on the ground” [Mr Enfield] Chapter 1: Story of the Door

The adverb 'calmly' is deeply disturbing — Hyde's violence is not frenzied but deliberate and indifferent, suggesting that the repressed self, once freed, feels no compunction whatsoever.

The juxtaposition of Hyde's calm composure with the child's screaming creates a stark contrast between perpetrator and victim, exposing the total absence of empathy that characterises the repressed self once it is freed from social conscience.

Stevenson implies that Hyde's cruelty is not an aberration but the logical consequence of a repressive society — the energy that should have been expressed in moderation has been compressed until it explodes in acts of senseless violence.

Point 4

The secrecy and silence that pervade the novella — locked doors, sealed letters, unasked questions — represent Victorian society's systemic commitment to repression at every level.

“I cannot say that I care what becomes of Hyde; I am quite done with him. I was thinking of my own character, which this hateful business has rather exposed” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 5: Incident of the Letter

Jekyll's claim to be 'quite done with' Hyde is a lie that reveals the depth of his self-deception — even after the murder of Carew, his primary concern is the exposure of his reputation rather than genuine moral reform.

The verb 'exposed' carries connotations of vulnerability and shame, confirming that in Victorian society the greatest fear is not wrongdoing itself but being seen to have done wrong.

Stevenson shows that repression perpetuates itself: Jekyll's response to crisis is not confession but deeper concealment, ensuring that the cycle of secrecy and violence will continue.

“this is a matter I thought we had agreed to drop” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 3: Dr Jekyll Was Quite at Ease

Jekyll's sharp deflection reveals that silence is actively maintained through social pressure — friends are expected to stop asking questions when the answers might prove uncomfortable.

The phrase 'agreed to drop' presents repression as a mutual contract: both parties consent to ignorance, making the maintenance of appearances a collaborative social project rather than an individual failing.

Stevenson uses this exchange to critique the Victorian culture of discretion, suggesting that the gentleman's code of not prying into others' affairs is not courtesy but complicity in concealing dangerous truths.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson presents Jekyll's experiment as a cautionary tale about scientific ambition unchecked by moral responsibility, warning that the pursuit of knowledge without ethical boundaries leads not to progress but to the unleashing of humanity's most destructive impulses.

science & morality

Science & Morality

Point 1

Jekyll's experiment represents the dangerous overreach of Victorian science, driven by a hubristic belief that human nature can be rationally divided and controlled through chemistry.

“I not only recognised my natural body for the mere aura and effulgence of certain of the powers that made up my spirit, but managed to compound a drug by which these powers should be dethroned” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The verb 'dethroned' personifies moral faculties as monarchs to be overthrown, framing the experiment as a revolution against the natural order — Jekyll sees himself not as a scientist but as a liberator.

The grandiose vocabulary — 'aura', 'effulgence' — elevates the experiment to an almost religious register, revealing Jekyll's intoxication with his own intellectual power and his blindness to its dangers.

Stevenson draws on contemporary fears about vivisection and unregulated medical research, suggesting that science without moral governance becomes a tool of destruction rather than healing.

“I hesitated long before I put this theory to the test of practice. I knew well that I risked death” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The admission that he 'knew well' the risk of death yet proceeded anyway exposes the fundamental recklessness at the heart of Jekyll's scientific ambition — knowledge of danger does not equate to moral wisdom.

The verb 'hesitated' suggests a moment of conscience that is ultimately overridden by curiosity, dramatising the conflict between scientific desire and ethical caution that defines the novella.

Stevenson implies that the Victorian faith in scientific progress is itself a form of hubris: Jekyll's willingness to risk his life reveals a belief that the potential rewards of knowledge justify any cost.

Point 2

Dr Lanyon serves as the voice of orthodox, morally bounded science, and his death upon witnessing the transformation represents the destruction of rational certainty by transgressive experimentation.

“I have had a shock, and I shall never recover. It is a question of weeks” [Dr Lanyon] Chapter 6: Remarkable Incident of Dr Lanyon

The clinical understatement — 'a shock' — contrasts devastatingly with the fatal outcome, suggesting that the horror Lanyon has witnessed is so far beyond his rational framework that he cannot even articulate it.

The declarative 'I shall never recover' transforms a psychological trauma into a death sentence, implying that the knowledge produced by Jekyll's experiment is literally unendurable for a man of conventional science.

Stevenson uses Lanyon's death to argue that some knowledge is too dangerous to possess — the moral of the novella is not merely that Jekyll should not have created Hyde, but that the truth itself can destroy.

“He began to go wrong, wrong in mind; and though of course I continue to take an interest in him for old sake's sake, as they say, I see and I have seen devilish little of the man” [Dr Lanyon] Chapter 2: Search for Mr Hyde

The repetition of 'wrong' emphasises Lanyon's moral judgement: Jekyll's scientific pursuits no longer merely deviate from orthodoxy but have entered the territory of madness and immorality.

The phrase 'devilish little' functions as an unintentional pun — Lanyon uses 'devilish' as a casual intensifier, but the reader recognises the literal diabolical nature of Jekyll's work, creating dramatic irony.

The rift between Lanyon and Jekyll dramatises the broader Victorian tension between conservative science that respects moral boundaries and radical science that transgresses them in pursuit of forbidden knowledge.

Point 3

The potion itself — an unstable, impure chemical compound — serves as a symbol of the moral contamination that results when science operates without ethical constraints.

“my provision of the salt, which had never been renewed since the date of the first experiment, began to run low” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The dwindling supply of the original salt introduces a material limit to Jekyll's scientific transgression — his experiment depended on a specific impurity that cannot be replicated, suggesting that the experiment was never truly under his control.

The irony that the transformation depends on an unknown impurity undermines Jekyll's pretension to scientific mastery: he never fully understood what he was doing, and his apparent success was partly accidental.

Stevenson uses the failing supply to create narrative urgency while making a broader point about scientific hubris — the consequences of experimentation cannot always be reversed or reproduced.

“the drug had no discriminating action; it was neither diabolical nor divine; it but shook the doors of the prisonhouse of my disposition” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The metaphor of the 'prisonhouse of my disposition' presents the civilised self as a form of incarceration — science did not create evil but merely released what was already imprisoned within.

The balanced structure 'neither diabolical nor divine' insists on the moral neutrality of the drug itself, placing responsibility squarely on the user — Stevenson argues that science is a tool whose morality depends entirely on human intention.

This passage complicates simple readings of the novella: the drug is not evil, and neither is scientific inquiry — the fault lies in Jekyll's decision to use science to evade moral responsibility rather than to pursue genuine knowledge.

Point 4

Jekyll's ultimate inability to control his transformations demonstrates that science, once it has crossed moral boundaries, cannot be contained or reversed — the consequences of transgressive knowledge are permanent and fatal.

“I was stepping leisurely across the court after breakfast, drinking the chill of the air with pleasure, when I was seized again with those indescribable sensations that heralded the change” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The contrast between the peaceful domestic scene — 'leisurely', 'after breakfast', 'with pleasure' — and the sudden involuntary transformation dramatises the horrifying loss of scientific control.

The passive voice of 'was seized' is crucial: Jekyll is no longer the experimenter but the experiment's victim, illustrating how scientific hubris can reverse the relationship between creator and creation.

Stevenson echoes the Frankenstein tradition of the scientist destroyed by his own work, updating it for the Victorian context where the 'monster' is not an external creature but a force within the self.

“between these two, I now felt I had to choose. My two natures had a memory in common, but all other faculties were most unequally shared between them” [Dr Jekyll] Chapter 10: Henry Jekyll's Full Statement

The forced 'choice' between two selves exposes the failure of Jekyll's scientific project: he intended to liberate both natures, but instead created an impossible binary that demands one be sacrificed.

The detail that 'memory' is shared while other faculties are 'unequally shared' reveals the grotesque incompleteness of the separation — science has created not two whole beings but two damaged fragments of one person.

Stevenson uses Jekyll's final dilemma to argue that science cannot solve moral problems: the question of how to live with one's own capacity for evil is a philosophical and spiritual challenge, not a chemical one.