Could someone mark this English Lit essay?

Hi could someone please mark this GCSE English Lit essay please on Jekyll and Hyde? It’s 30 marks and could you maybe give me some pointer? English is not my forte so would love some tips to improve. Thanks)

How does Stevenson present Dr Jekyll and powerless to control Mr Hyde?

[removed first sentence as it's not really necessary. this is an english lit essay, not a story! you need to address the question precisely.] In ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’, Stevenson explores how Dr Jekyll abuses his scientific power to become powerless against his alter ego, Mr Hyde. Throughout the novella, Dr Jekyll changes and develops character as he begins to realise the extent of what he's created.


In Chapter 7, Mr Utterson and his ‘distant kinsman’ Richard Enfield are taking one of their ‘Sunday walks’ and see Jekyll at his window. Stevenson uses the simile ‘like some disconsolate prisoner’ to allow the reader to imagine his state. The noun ‘prisoner’ is a powerful word on its own. A reader could interpret it as Jekyll being imprisoned by the ‘devilish’ Hyde – a prisoner in his own body. This has connotations of being locked up, which could convey that Hyde has locked up Jekyll, which presents him as overpowering. On the other hand, a reader could see the line as Jekyll being in a prison, having committed a crime. In Victorian times, society were not allowed to have secret desires or violent thoughts. Jekyll, being guilty to both of these as his alter ego Hyde, could be viewed as an outcast of society; it is not Jekyll, but Hyde who controls him and manipulates him to commit such sins. Utterson and Enfield get a glimpse of Jekyll transforming before the doctor shuts the window and hides. Even without taking the potion, Hyde is able to easily dominate Jekyll to the point where he (Jekyll) feels so isolated that he cannot confide in one of his oldest and dearest friends.

In the extract, Dr Jekyll reflects on his experiences and adventures concerning Hyde, explaining that he ‘had gone to bed as Henry Jekyll’ and then ‘awakened as Edward Hyde’. A reader could associate Hyde with a nightmare with so much power that he has found his way into his victim’s life. Hyde is appearing in the middle of the night and stealing Jekyll’s life without his consent. The fact that this happens overnight increases the tension as night-time and darkness have connotations of evil and the devil, both of which are used to describe Mr Hyde at some point in the novella. At the start of Jekyll’s adventures as Hyde, he describes them as his hidden ‘pleasures’, however in the extract from the end of the novella, he changes his experiences to ‘terror’ and his ‘blood’ turning ‘icy’. The adjective ‘icy’ implies that his blood turned cold which has connotations of death as well as linking to the growing strength Hyde's cold hearted character- an emotionless character with not one ounce of remorse in his body. This depicts that the spirit of Hyde is so powerful that it has killed any trace of Jekyll, conveying just how powerless Jekyll is over ‘deformed’ Mr Hyde.

Another example of Jekyll being powerless to control Mr Hyde is at the end of Chapter 10. Dr Jekyll finishes his ‘statement of the case’ by writing ‘this is the last time Henry Jekyll can think his own thoughts’. He knows that Hyde will take over his body and if he does not ‘bring [his] unhappy life to an end’, Hyde will ‘tear up’ his confession. An 1800s reader would sympathise with the powerless Jekyll, knowing that the only way to be rid of Hyde, is to end his life. A Victorian reader would feel disgust towards the ‘dwarfish’ Hyde because he is forcing his victim to play God, something which was frowned upon in the 1800s. Victorians had very strong beliefs in God and religion, so would disapprove of Jekyll being forced to play God and end his life to escape the captivity of this ‘deformed creature’. The finality of this action may imply that in the end, evil always wins out no matter what means they use to achieve it- Dr Jekyll, a supposedly good man is not able to fight against Hyde at the end.

To conclude, Stevenson successfully presents Dr Jekyll as powerless to control Mr Hyde through the use of similes and descriptive language. He creates a vivid and terrifying image in the reader’s mind of being controlled by the hegemonizing Hyde.

this is a nice little essay. made typo correction in red and added potential new sentences in bold. you analyse well and you clearly have good contextual knowledge which you can easily link to the novella when needed. i'd maybe add another paragraph, perhaps talking about how jekyll fell into temptation to turn into hyde because of the fact that he was an outlet- some aspects of hyde attracted jekyll greatly.

Ahh thank you. I would add more but in the time limit 600words approx is what we are told to aim for.
Do you have any idea how many marks (approx) this would get?
But I’ll defo write something in the *hopeful* case I get asked this question next year haha thanks )

ahh yeah that's fine, i can imagine during the exam the paragraphs you wrote here would look a lot bigger on paper! i'm gonna give a very rough estimate (i've only recently did my gcses so don't take this mark to heart) and maybe say early 20s, late teens out of 30? i dunno, i may be a bit harsh you might need to write about structure (eg. perspective) as you mainly focus on language (nothing wrong w that sometimes) and maybe some more in depth analysis in some places.
i can imagine over time your technique will get better as well as your knowledge of the text
i hope this helps you in some way, sorry if it didn't

This is amazing! Well done! You have clearly referred back to the question, continuously using “power” throughout the answer - it’s well focussed. Also, your links to the history of the victorian era as well as using readers interpretation from a 21st and 19 century perspective is great. You have also included more than one interpretation for one point which shows great depth of thought. Good amount of imbedded quotes and good use of different scenes throughout the novella!

I would personally think this is a high level answer but I was the first year to do the new GCSEs so it was more than a year ago now 😂. (Got a 9)

If I were to say something to improve I would maybe condense your sentences? That way you can fit a lot more in such a time pressured exam . Lastly, keep up the awesome work!

Ok that’s cool thanks. What do you mean by structure and perspective (I mean obv I know it means haha) but in what way? Jekyll and Hyde is my worst text so I’m hoping duality come ups as I have some very unique stuff for that 😂!

like the narrative viewpoints- eg. majority of the novel is through utterson's viewpoint until the last two chapters- you might argue that the fact that we only have one chapter through jekyll's eyes and the fact that it ends with him killing himself to get rid of hyde also shows that he's powerless. and if you look deeper into chapter ten, there are times where jekyll's happy to see hyde as himself and other times where he distances himself- a very turbulent relationship.
there's a chance that duality may come up doesn't mean you can't link your unique stuff to whatever the question asks you, however! you just to need to be forwardthinking.

Thank you so much! Well done on your 9 though. So could this be about 21/22 marks out of 30, do you think? I’m aiming for at least a 7 because although i enjoy it, I find English quite hard

I thought it would have been like 25/30 but don’t it against me because every English teacher, school and examiner has different opinions 😂. The problem with English is that although you can structure your answer to get all the marks, there is still a high level of subjectivity so marks will fluctuate. English literature was actually my worst subject at GCSE because I was getting a range from 4-7 in year 11. The 9 was completely unexpected 😂.

Wow that must’ve been awesome to see that 9!! And yeah I guess some teachers mark harshly and others mark to the actual standard but hopefully the examiners are nice😂🤞 thanks