Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde — Robert Louis Stevenson

Overview and Context

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) is a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. It is both a Gothic horror story and a psychological exploration of the dual nature of humanity — the respectable social self and the darker, hidden impulses beneath.

Key context:

• Victorian hypocrisy: Victorian society placed enormous emphasis on respectability, reputation and public morality — while private behaviour could be very different. Jekyll embodies this contradiction.
• The Gothic tradition: Gloomy settings, horror, the supernatural, moral degeneration — elements of Gothic fiction used to explore psychological darkness.
• Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859): Evolution suggested humans were descended from animals. The late Victorians feared they might degenerate back — Hyde appears physically "ape-like" and primitive.
• Sigmund Freud (though Jekyll and Hyde predates Freud's published work): The novella anticipates psychoanalytic ideas — the Id (Hyde) vs the Superego (Jekyll's respectable self).
• Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town: Stevenson grew up in Edinburgh where the wealthy lived in the respectable New Town while the poor lived in the squalid Old Town. The city physically embodied duality.

The Plot

Utterson the lawyer investigates the mysterious Mr Hyde, who is connected to his friend Dr Jekyll. Hyde attacks a child, murders Sir Danvers Carew. Utterson and Poole break into Jekyll's laboratory and find Hyde dead in Jekyll's clothes. Jekyll's confession reveals he created a potion enabling him to transform into Hyde — his darker self — but eventually loses control. He dies (as Hyde) when he runs out of the drug.

Key Themes

Duality/double nature: Every character has a respectable exterior and hidden interior. Stevenson suggests this is universal — not just Jekyll's problem but everyone's.

Repression and release: Jekyll represses his darker impulses under social respectability. Hyde is pure release — all the desires that Victorian society forbids, given physical form.

Science and morality: Jekyll's experiment crosses moral boundaries — he uses science to separate moral from immoral self. This ends in destruction. Stevenson critiques the idea that science is morally neutral.

Secrecy and reputation: All the male characters (Utterson, Enfield, Jekyll) prioritise keeping secrets and protecting reputations above truth. This refusal to name problems enables Hyde to flourish.

The danger of self-indulgence: Hyde initially brings "joy" to Jekyll — freedom from constraint. But Hyde's actions escalate; Jekyll loses control; the Id cannot be caged once released.

Key Quotations

Gothic Elements to Analyse

• Setting: London fog, dark streets, "door of no windows" — London's dual nature mirrors Jekyll's
• Atmosphere of mystery: The narrative is told from Utterson's limited perspective — the reader discovers the truth gradually; creates suspense
• The uncanny: Hyde is familiar yet deeply wrong; "He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable." Nobody can explain WHY he is disturbing — this uncertainty is Gothic horror
• The doppelganger: Hyde is Jekyll's double — physically smaller (he is a younger, suppressed self) but morally monstrous

Exam Structure (Eduqas Component 2, Section B)

Two-part question: extract analysis + essay. AO1, AO2, AO3 weighted. AO4 (SPaG) — up to 4 marks for 19th-century prose essays.