“All human beings… are commingled out of good and evil” -Dr. Henry Jekyll.
Since it is a short text, a cold, teacher led read could be a good option here. Depending on the lesson time you have, it could take less than two weeks. It gives an early opportunity to get all the plot covered and iron out any possible misconceptions as they arise. Quick options as you read might be:
-Simple ‘key event’ chapter timelines
-Have some big questions to spider diagram with quotes that you can go back over later or as homework or MCQ
-Character statements
-Paper 1 question 2 style language analysis bursts or quotation explorations
-Silent debate some key statements Paper 1 question 4 style.
One question is, does the student in 2020 having a snippet of an idea give the infamous story away? If you have read the novel you’ll know, not at all. Initially, it could be seen as problematic in some ways for us knowing ‘the plot’ as we are not then in the same position as the Victorian reader, piecing together the mystery alongside Mr Utterson. But I would argue we still are. Indeed, an interesting choice of name from the start - utterances do not exist in written language, only their representations do.
This is the same for Jekyll and Hyde. Hyde does not exist as we might expect. He is Jekyll’s utterance: a representation. Ironically, the tale is narrated through the cleverly named Mr Utterson’s and events are filtered through his character apart from epistolary sections of ‘evidence’ such as
letters and Jekyll’s final confession.
It is important to note: there is only ever Jekyll. Hyde never narrates and we only get his opinion from reported speech or Jekyll’s perspective. It is the duality IN man, the ‘commingled’ we look to explore, not duality as in two people. Even when he is in Hyde’s form he is still Jekyll calling himself ‘I’ the dissipated atavist according to theories expounded by Cesare Lombroso. In this way Stevenson reflects and taps into Victorian fears warning that: degeneration, immorality and deviant sexuality. He continues the duality motif into the London setting, that in this urban Gothic setting such evil could be lurking around every cobbled street behind any ‘clean and brightly coloured’ house. Stevenson therefore presents the setting of London as a dark place both literally and metaphorically. Certainly, the introduction of the buildings in chapter one and not knowing where, ‘one ends and another begins’ is representative of the ‘duality in man’ and foreshadows the inhabitants’ traits. Indeed, the fact this building has ‘no window’ highlights Hyde’s inaccessibility and mystery remaining in darkness at this point of the novel, symbolically enshrouded in the ‘pall’ of fog. Furthermore, the door having no knocker or way of apparently being opened or called on from the outside reflects Hyde’s characterisation as Jekyll’s id- hidden away and repressed because of the conservative morals of Victorian society.
As the text continue Jekyll becomes more isolated. He sits at his ‘half open’ window when Enfield and Utterson go to visit him. Previously, the window at Hyde’s house was described to be closed allowing no contact and secrecy to continue behind the façade. Here, as Jekyll is dealing with the conflict of releasing Hyde this window is described to be ‘half open’. Indeed, Jekyll is described to be ‘taking in the air with an infinite sadness of mein’ evoking the sense that he is becoming suffocated in part through his duplicitous existence. This is compounded by Stevenson’s use of simile to present Jekyll as a ‘disconsolate prisoner’ miserably trapped in his own body and possibly (as we later learn) unable being able to control the changing from one outwardly appearance to another. During his conversation with his friends the window is ‘thrust down’ rapidly and forcefully in a panic by Jekyll. This window serves as a symbol for the barrier now between Jekyll, his friends and Victorian society. Jekyll has physically cut himself off. He is able to see and take part in society but where he thought Hyde would lift barriers for him actually, he is isolated further due to his immoral acts that are unaccepted by society which instead of making him guilt free make him very conflicted and full of regret in chapter ten. Stevenson arguably criticises the Victorian era’s repression of naturally occurring immorality and illustrates as Jekyll later considers, that by doing this it causes a much bigger ‘devil’ to ‘come out roaring’.
Reputation is a definitely a key concept to be covered. To lose one’s reputation in Victorian society was to lose everything. I turn here to ‘Othello’ and Shakespeare’s Cassio who on losing his job -due to villain Iago’s behind the scene manipulation- exclaims, ‘“Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.”’ So, Jekyll’s position in society allows him no room for misdemeanour, or outlet for freedoms based on his privileged position. However, in reality and thoroughly relevant to today’s society, the upper classes used their position in society as a protective veneer, a reflective ‘cheval mirror’ to deflect any insight into their misdeeds, drug use and debauchery. Such behaviour is alluded to with Jekyll’s friends also. Enfield is described to be walking back from ‘some place at the end of the night’ at three in the morning and later we learn that the well known ‘kindly’ and ‘innocent’, Danvers Carew is walking in the ‘small hours’ through the streets of London. Where had both of these been or where were they going at such a time? At the very least we know, both witnessed despicable acts further emphasising the dark underbelly of not only Victorian London’s people but the space itself.
Arguably, more genteel Victorians saw themselves as civilised and acting within prescribed moral boundaries. To transgress these, as Jekyll has, gives rise to the terror Hyde initiates in those who see him. Why can’t other characters quite put their finger on what it is that’s wrong with him? He is ‘not easy to describe’ and ‘deformed somewhere’ and yet Enfield cannot ‘name anything out of the way’. Perhaps evil is indescribable. Moreover, it creates terror because Hyde reflects the evil inherent in all of us, which also makes it is so hard for Enfield or anyone else to define. The mere sight of this evil is enough to kill Jekyll’s foil, Dr Lanyon who functions as a symbol of rational Victorian science and a warning against Jekyll’s tempting brand of ‘balderdash’ .
Here Stevenson also taps into another Victorian fear by posing the question: what might happen if civilised society could degenerate? The Victorian era was a time of massive progress. Indeed, Darwin’s theories of evolution and ‘The Descent of Man’ led to some thinkers like Edwin Ray Lankester proposing a sort of evolutionary degeneration possibly to the ‘ape like fury’ of Hyde. Such a concept in a time of conservative morals and relatively quick progress may have been the stuff of nightmares: humans are not only evolved from apes but also could arguably degenerate in less demanding environments to the point of trampling calmly over a child. This is seen in other Gothic novels, for example Dracula turns into a bat and a wolf, both predatory animals. By inhabiting this liminal state between animal and human these characters emphasise for Victorian readers, that potentially terrifying indeterminate link between humans and animals.
Stevenson’s protagonist then is only ever Jekyll, holding up his reputation whilst indulging desires viewed as taboo. In his own confession in chapter ten he continued being ‘radically both’. Certainly, it can be useful to introduce students to Freud’s theory of id, ego and superego to highlight the characteristics of Jekyll and Hyde. Stevenson does indeed illustrate all humans are ‘commingled’ out of good and evil, a rather less black and white version than Victorians perhaps wanted to believe, but that many suspected existed based on the high levels of crime and low confidence in the police . The hidden life Jekyll tried to maintain reflects that of Deacon Brodie - a professional cabinet maker- a useful job to have when you are actually a housebreaker funding your gambling addiction. Brodie was, on the surface, an upright citizen and on the town council no less, but using this façade to fund his extravagant lifestyle. Once caught, Brodie was hanged (a fate Jekyll also refers to) ironically by a gibbet he designed. This emphasises the horrific realisation that reputable citizens in which Victorians placed their trust were maybe not as respectable as they seemed.
Getting students to find examples of appearance versus reality or duality in key moments would be very valid. Arguably it is more unsettling to have the real fear that the appearances of those who might seem the most respectable in society - doctors and town councillors are actually the very people we should be afraid of. People we trust. This is still very relevant in recent times with respected figures actually committing heinous crimes. Perhaps, sadly, the human psyche hasn’t changed that much. Ultimately, it is a lot more of a terrifying proposition to consider there is no evil side to blame our decisions on, that it is simply down to our humanity to indulge or resist them. There is no way for Jekyll to escape Hyde. So, Jekyll kills himself. Often here we talk about the nomenclature with associations to Je meaning I in French and that ‘I kill’ ( for Jekyll) was always a hint of Jekyll’s agency. It certainly creates a great deal of discussions whether in the end good or evil triumphs after all.
Hyde never gets a voice precisely because he does not have one. The most terrifying evil, as Golding also symbolised with the beast in ‘Lord of the Flies,’ is the evil in all of us.
