The Student Room Group

Can someone mark my Jekyll and Hyde short paragraph and give me feedback?

I fundamentally believe that it is normal and ordinary for us the readers to feel sympathetic and sorrow towards Jekyll as his intentions were simply to feel liberated and free from the inheritance of humanity. This resulted him to come to the conclusion that “man is not truly one, but truly two”. It elucidates the idea of how he desperately seeks urgency as he uses transcendental science to separate Jekyll and Hyde into two separate beings, as he is ashamed of his selfish “fanciful’s” and “desires”. Jekyll comes to the conclusion that there is a dual nature within man, which we fear to expose, as they are forced into this well-behaved nature. However, Jekyll feels that he is restricted from the freedom and enforcements of breaking laws. Perhaps he wanted to remove the guilt away and doesn’t want to be manipulated on putting on a facade to gain social advantages. This makes the reader feel a sense of embarrassment as they too know that there is dual nature within them. Perhaps Stevenson uses the novella to criticise the Victorian men who display and reflect noble and etiquette qualities as they are detaining and restricting their immoral behaviour and inner self to be socially approved and respected by society, which is why Stevenson uses the characters Jekyll and Hyde to contradict these qualities as everyone in humanity has an immoral “pleasure” that they are forced to detain or they will be considered as an outcast or ostracised by society.
Excellent analysis.
To be picky though I’d say to include a more pin pointed point in the book.

A certain scene instead of a general view.
As you will be marked on two bullet points.
The question based on a certain part in the poem, and in the general poem.

Not sure how to mark it though.
Maybe give it to your teacher
Reply 2
Original post by Oneiropólos
Excellent analysis.
To be picky though I’d say to include a more pin pointed point in the book.

A certain scene instead of a general view.
As you will be marked on two bullet points.
The question based on a certain part in the poem, and in the general poem.

Not sure how to mark it though.
Maybe give it to your teacher


That's okay, thanks for the feedback!
What was your question? And what exam is it for? Like is it AQA GCSE Eng Lit?
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by Odavies11
What was your question? And what exam is it for? Like is it AQA GCSE Eng Lit?


How does the readers feel sympathy for Jekyll? The specification is AQA.
Original post by Nafiza25
How does the readers feel sympathy for Jekyll?


Was that for AQA GCSE literature?
Reply 6
Original post by Odavies11
Was that for AQA GCSE literature?


Yes AQA GCSE English Literature
Original post by Nafiza25
How does the readers feel sympathy for Jekyll? The specification is AQA.


If it was AQA? What was the extract for the question?
Reply 8
Original post by Odavies11
If it was AQA? What was the extract for the question?


It was a 2017 exam.
Original post by Nafiza25
I fundamentally believe that it is normal and ordinary for us the readers to feel sympathetic and sorrow towards Jekyll as his intentions were simply to feel liberated and free from the inheritance of humanity. This resulted him to come to the conclusion that “man is not truly one, but truly two”. It elucidates the idea of how he desperately seeks urgency as he uses transcendental science to separate Jekyll and Hyde into two separate beings, as he is ashamed of his selfish “fanciful’s” and “desires”. Jekyll comes to the conclusion that there is a dual nature within man, which we fear to expose, as they are forced into this well-behaved nature. However, Jekyll feels that he is restricted from the freedom and enforcements of breaking laws. Perhaps he wanted to remove the guilt away and doesn’t want to be manipulated on putting on a facade to gain social advantages. This makes the reader feel a sense of embarrassment as they too know that there is dual nature within them. Perhaps Stevenson uses the novella to criticise the Victorian men who display and reflect noble and etiquette qualities as they are detaining and restricting their immoral behaviour and inner self to be socially approved and respected by society, which is why Stevenson uses the characters Jekyll and Hyde to contradict these qualities as everyone in humanity has an immoral “pleasure” that they are forced to detain or they will be considered as an outcast or ostracised by society.


This is really good A03, you have made lots of strong points about both the context in which the play was written, and the context within the play.

Your A01 is also very good, as you have conceptualised your response, linking different ideas together effectively.

A02 is generally very good, but I would recommend that you analyse language in more detail, picking out key words and specifying terminology.
Reply 10
Original post by Odavies11
This is really good A03, you have made lots of strong points about both the context in which the play was written, and the context within the play.

Your A01 is also very good, as you have conceptualised your response, linking different ideas together effectively.

A02 is generally very good, but I would recommend that you analyse language in more detail, picking out key words and specifying terminology.


Thanks a lot, can you mark another paragraph of mine?
Original post by Nafiza25
Thanks a lot, can you mark another paragraph of mine?


Yes. I can do. I can mark and score the whole essay if you've written it.
Reply 12
Original post by Odavies11
Yes. I can do. I can mark and score the whole essay if you've written it.


Stevenson allows the readers to feel somber once again for Jekyll in particularly Hyde. When Enfield sees Hyde, he immediately describes Hyde as “dwarfish” with a “displeasing smile”. “Dwarfish” implies to the idea on how Hyde was contained for so long within Jekyll and now that he is unleashed and exposed to society. His short appearance will eventually grow into a beastly monster throughout the novella. As this “dwarfish” quality is abnormal in the Victorian society and the Victorians tend to discard and avoid Hyde as he brings out the true nature of society. Therefore this is an example of how society is ashamed as Hyde is the true example of what societies interior represents. The pseudo-science of physiognomy is used to reflect on how Victorians were instantly judged on how they looked, instead of how they were truly inside. This results to Utterson to come to a conclusion on the death of Sir Danvers Crew as he judges Hyde on how he looks instead of his personality. It seems that he perhaps cared more about Jekyll’s reputation than putting Hyde to trial. As Utterson is true to society, adamantly wishes to not only preserve Jekyll’s reputation but also preserves the appearance of order and decorum. It indicates on how much Utterson cares more about Jekyll’s reputation rather than putting Hyde to trial as he gives an alert to Jekyll saying “your name might appear”. This mirrors on how society valued reputation which resulted them to suppress their emotion to have a high status in society.
I would say that your analysis is good, but there are places where your grammar could be a little more rigorous, your sentence structure more concentrated and language more concise, for example:

I fundamentally believe that it is natural for the reader to sympathise with Jekyll as his intentions were simply to feel liberated from the inheritance of humanity. He therefore concluded that “man is not truly one, but truly two”, of which one fears to expose the worse part, as it would result in societal ostracisation, such is the unforgiving expectation to be completely free from scandal. A sense of urgency is conveyed through his radical use of transcendental science to separate the components of his personality into two separate beings, and that he is ashamed of his selfish “desires”. However, Jekyll felt restricted by pressure to adhere to social conventions and the law. It could be argued that he wanted to expose himself fully to remove the guilt that he feels for hiding the insidious elements of his character to gain social advantages. This makes the reader consider the duality that exists within them, and therefore makes them feel embarrassed. Furthermore, one could argue that Stevenson uses the novella to criticise Victorian men who outwardly display noble qualities in order to gain public approval, while hiding rogue elements of the personalities, by representing each part by the characters Jekyll and Hyde.

NB: I have also reordered it a bit so that the argument is more coherent.
Reply 14
Original post by Rachmaninov
I would say that your analysis is good, but there are places where your grammar could be a little more rigorous, your sentence structure more concentrated and language more concise, for example:

I fundamentally believe that it is natural for the reader to sympathise with Jekyll as his intentions were simply to feel liberated from the inheritance of humanity. He therefore concluded that “man is not truly one, but truly two”, of which one fears to expose the worse part, as it would result in societal ostracisation, such is the unforgiving expectation to be completely free from scandal. A sense of urgency is conveyed through his radical use of transcendental science to separate the components of his personality into two separate beings, and that he is ashamed of his selfish “desires”. However, Jekyll felt restricted by pressure to adhere to social conventions and the law. It could be argued that he wanted to expose himself fully to remove the guilt that he feels for hiding the insidious elements of his character to gain social advantages. This makes the reader consider the duality that exists within them, and therefore makes them feel embarrassed. Furthermore, one could argue that Stevenson uses the novella to criticise Victorian men who outwardly display noble qualities in order to gain public approval, while hiding rogue elements of the personalities, by representing each part by the characters Jekyll and Hyde.

NB: I have also reordered it a bit so that the argument is more coherent.


Thank You so much
That is beautiful I love that you have a very knowledgable mind but you can also write about why the writer does this or what he’s trying to convey

Quick Reply

Latest