Jekyll and Hyde — Themes and Key Quotes

One-line summary

A respectable doctor creates a potion that releases his evil alter ego, Mr Hyde, who gradually takes over — until Jekyll is destroyed.

Key themes & quotations

• Duality of human nature – "man is not truly one, but truly two"; everyone has good and evil.
• Science vs religion – Jekyll's dangerous overreaching.
• Reputation – Victorian gentlemen hide their darker side to protect their public image.
• The Gothic / supernatural – fog, darkness, locked doors, secrecy.

Characters

• Jekyll – respectable but tempted by his darker urges.
• Hyde – pure evil; described as "ape-like", "troglodytic", inspiring instinctive disgust.
• Utterson – the rational lawyer through whose investigation we uncover the mystery.

Context (Victorian, 1886)

• Strict moral code and obsession with reputation.
• Fear of degeneration and reactions to Darwin's evolution (Hyde's animal imagery).
• Tension between science and religious faith.

Exam tip

Link Hyde's animalistic descriptions to Victorian fears about evolution and degeneration. Duality is the central idea — weave it through every paragraph.