Jekyll and Hyde — Characters and Themes

GCSE English Literature · Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

<h3>Key Characters</h3>

<tr style="background:#f0f9f4"><th style="padding:8px;border:1px solid #ddd">Character</th><th style="padding:8px;border:1px solid #ddd">Significance</th></tr>

<tr><td style="padding:8px;border:1px solid #ddd"><strong>Dr Jekyll</strong></td><td style="padding:8px;border:1px solid #ddd">Respectable scientist; creates Hyde to separate his "lower" desires from his public persona</td></tr>

<tr><td style="padding:8px;border:1px solid #ddd"><strong>Mr Hyde</strong></td><td style="padding:8px;border:1px solid #ddd">Jekyll's dark alter ego; described as animalistic; represents repressed desires</td></tr>

<tr><td style="padding:8px;border:1px solid #ddd"><strong>Mr Utterson</strong></td><td style="padding:8px;border:1px solid #ddd">Narrator; lawyer; represents Victorian respectability and reluctance to face the truth</td></tr>

<tr><td style="padding:8px;border:1px solid #ddd"><strong>Dr Lanyon</strong></td><td style="padding:8px;border:1px solid #ddd">Traditional scientist; dies after witnessing Hyde transform — the shock of truth kills him</td></tr>

</table>

<h3>Key Themes</h3>

<ul>

<li><strong>Duality of human nature</strong> — every person has both good and evil within them</li>

<li><strong>Repression and hypocrisy</strong> — Victorian society suppresses natural desires; this creates Hyde</li>

<li><strong>Science and religion</strong> — Jekyll's experiments challenge natural order; he "plays God"</li>

<li><strong>Reputation and respectability</strong> — fear of scandal drives Jekyll's secrecy</li>

<li><strong>Evolution and degeneration</strong> — Hyde is described in ape-like terms; Victorians feared regression</li>

</ul>

<h3>Key Quotes</h3>

<ul>

<li>"Man is not truly one, but truly two." — Jekyll's confession; central thesis of the novella</li>

<li>"An aura of deformity" — Hyde's evil manifests as physical ugliness</li>

<li>"Something troglodytic" — Hyde described as prehistoric, degenerate, subhuman</li>

</ul>

<h3>Context</h3>

<ul>

<li>Published <strong>1886</strong></li>

<li><strong>Victorian repression</strong> — the strict moral code forced hidden lives</li>

<li><strong>Darwin's theory of evolution (1859)</strong> — raised fears about humanity's animal origins</li>

<li>Can be read as addressing homosexuality in Victorian society — the secret, the shame, the double life</li>

</ul>