English literature DR JEKYLL AND HYDE

I remember do Jekyll and Hyde, fu''ing hated it

what points have you got down so far??

what do you think the word "evil" means? You could think about this in terms of defining its opposite "good," which should lead you to things like empathy. hyde is compared to an "ape" and therefore behaving due to instinct and desires, rather than empathy and concern for others. what's the difference between humans and apes? which came first in human evolution, your own animal desires or concern for others? therefore, certain feelings could be termed as more base, primal and even more your true personality than other behaviours which are possibly due to socialising constructs and helping society to succeed. any of that make sense?

Thanks that helps a lot is there any way you could put that in a whole paragraph using my thesis so it makes a bit more sense would be much appreciated thanks

Just say something along the lines that Hyde carries out nefarious acts therefore showing how evil he is. I dunno that’s all I can remember as I’m in Yr 13 and had Jekyll and Hyde for one of my lit books. In the end I got a 7 in lit and 8 in Lang. I think tour over complicating it tbh

I asked questions to make you think so that you can write the essay .

Hi I'm in year 11 and I had this question on my mock last year. I got 26/30 so I hope I can help:

Firstly use of dynamic verbs, such as "brandishing the cane", "stamping with his foot", "trampling" (same word used for the incident with the girl in chapter one).
Also consider allusions to primitive man such as "ape-like fury" and we also see this elsewhere in the novel with Hyde being described as "troglodytic" which basically means a cave man, and also Utterson says this after meeting Hyde, "God bless me, the man seems hardly human! Something troglodytic". Here the use of religious words shows that something unnerves Mr Utterson about Hyde in his soul, and that links to the strictly Christian society, but also the fact that Hyde does something to Utterson's soul in the way that people turn to religion in their moment of death. Also his sudden expression shows that something kust be wrong for a character that is usually describes as, "long, dark, dusty, dreary" in the opening lines. The primitive connotations also link to the context as it was around the same time as Charles Darwin's 'The Origin Of The Species' was published and people began to fear that if we had evolved from apes then, somehow, we might be able to evole backwards (called atavism). Hyde is the embodiment of this fear.
Also, the physical reaction people have to Hyde, and his physiognomy - is it his evil core that repulses people? Or merely his haunting appearance?
Consider also the fact that location in which Carew is murdered is, "brilliantly lit by the full moon", showing Hyde's daring. Also the moon links to the Gothic genre.
The fog mentioned at the start of the chapter is a motif synonymous with Hyde and tends to appear before or around the time he does - note Jekyll's lab is full of fog.
Other instances in the book with evil would obviously be the trampling of the girl with religious quotes, "like Satan", "it was hellish to see" etc. But for top marks you really want to consider themes and deeper meanings to the book, e.g. the evil within us all (as in we all have our own Hyde) "man is not truly one but truly two", and perhaps the evil setting such as in The Search for Mr Hyde, the tension that is created as Jekyll hears effectively a murderer coming towards him (sibilance in "the steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly", and the eeriness of London, e.g. descirbed "as clean as a ballroom floor" which is a very odd description of Victorian London.
I hope that can help you, and don't worry about it! Your first essays are always really tricky to get to grips with, but I promise you if you keep at it you will get there in the end. By the end of year ten, you will probably be happy you don't have to sit this exam next year!

Aah your such a life saver thank you soo much we havent started studying macbeth yet but I'll let you know when we are because I mean if you got a 9 why not but thanks this helps A LOT

Hi I'm in year 11 and I had this question on my mock last year. I got 26/30 so I hope I can help:

Firstly use of dynamic verbs, such as "brandishing the cane", "stamping with his foot", "trampling" (same word used for the incident with the girl in chapter one).
Also consider allusions to primitive man such as "ape-like fury" and we also see this elsewhere in the novel with Hyde being described as "troglodytic" which basically means a cave man, and also Utterson says this after meeting Hyde, "God bless me, the man seems hardly human! Something troglodytic". Here the use of religious words shows that something unnerves Mr Utterson about Hyde in his soul, and that links to the strictly Christian society, but also the fact that Hyde does something to Utterson's soul in the way that people turn to religion in their moment of death. Also his sudden expression shows that something kust be wrong for a character that is usually describes as, "long, dark, dusty, dreary" in the opening lines. The primitive connotations also link to the context as it was around the same time as Charles Darwin's 'The Origin Of The Species' was published and people began to fear that if we had evolved from apes then, somehow, we might be able to evole backwards (called atavism). Hyde is the embodiment of this fear.
Also, the physical reaction people have to Hyde, and his physiognomy - is it his evil core that repulses people? Or merely his haunting appearance?
Consider also the fact that location in which Carew is murdered is, "brilliantly lit by the full moon", showing Hyde's daring. Also the moon links to the Gothic genre.
The fog mentioned at the start of the chapter is a motif synonymous with Hyde and tends to appear before or around the time he does - note Jekyll's lab is full of fog.
Other instances in the book with evil would obviously be the trampling of the girl with religious quotes, "like Satan", "it was hellish to see" etc. But for top marks you really want to consider themes and deeper meanings to the book, e.g. the evil within us all (as in we all have our own Hyde) "man is not truly one but truly two", and perhaps the evil setting such as in The Search for Mr Hyde, the tension that is created as Jekyll hears effectively a murderer coming towards him (sibilance in "the steps drew swiftly nearer and swelled out suddenly", and the eeriness of London, e.g. descirbed "as clean as a ballroom floor" which is a very odd description of Victorian London.
I hope that can help you, and don't worry about it! Your first essays are always really tricky to get to grips with, but I promise you if you keep at it you will get there in the end. By the end of year ten, you will probably be happy you don't have to sit this exam next year!

Aah your such a life saver thank you soo much we havent started studying macbeth yet but I'll let you know when we are because I mean if you got a 9 why not but thanks this helps A LOT

If you want to make it better, talk about Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytical Theory of the id, ego and superego. Be aware that Freud published this after Jekyll and Hyde was published and that Freud was clearly unknown to Stevenson. There was a zeitgeist at the time and the 'unconscious' was among an innovative new way of thinking. You could say that Stevenson had an early idea of the 'unconscious' and this is represented through using Hyde as a metaphor of the 'unconscious'. Hyde represents the id, our innate instinctive impulses and primary processes/desires. The super ego is the part of a person's mind that acts as a self-critical conscience, reflecting social standards learned from parents and teachers. Jekyll represents the ego, what reflects us and our actual mentality. It is the intermediate between the id and the super ego. For example, with Utterson, his ego is more leaning towards the super ego rather than the id. With Jekyll, you can say ego is more leaning to the id, thus why he created Hyde. I'm not sure if you'll understand this, it is a critical perspective, but in terms of evil, adding on to what @lucexo-1 said, that "even in a society with 'perfect' gentlemen who publicly repress their desires evil is still dominant and is arguably worsened as the evil within eventually builds up and is released", you can say their evil is dominant and innate (part of their id). Also the "'perfect' gentlemen who publicly repress their desires evil" could allude to Mr Enfield. Mr Enfield in the beginning 'was coming home from some place at the end of the world'. This can suggest he was doing stuff in the night (it is in Soho) which can show his ego is also somewhat leaning to the id but then he is also a bit more respectable so his leaning to the id is not as much as Jekyll's. This also reflects the theme of 'duality of man' which critically, can be linked to another pyschoanalytic theory which is further explored later in the novella. If you understand this than great, if not don't worry.

In terms of general tips for Jekyll and Hyde, write about social and historical context, authorial intent, themes, genre, form, structure, motifs and use a sophisticated repertoire of vocabulary. If you really want to stretch yourself, talking about religious imagery (context is Stevenson's Scottish Calvinist upbringing) and refer to the King James Bible (use bible quotes). Talk about alternate perspectives and meanings. I.e. from the biblical perspective, from the psychonanalytic perspective, from the patriachal perspective (femininity)...

Yessss!! We're learning about the Freud approach at A-Level in relation to Othello and I was thinking how perfectly it fits in Jekyll and Hyde! Unfortunately we didn't do this at GCSE but I think this would defo lead to a high mark, even though critical theory isn't in the mark scheme for GCSE as far as I'm aware this shows a very deep understanding of the novella and therefore a high band/mark answer.