Examine Stevenson’s presentation of evil in ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. Look at the way language and description are used to create atmosphere.
If you wish, use this as an essay plan/ guide. Remember to look closely at the text and use quotations to prove what you say. Use short quotations, integrate them into your own sentences, then comment on the effect they create. Do pick out verbs, adjectives and figurative language. Do not just retell the story, be selective in the incidents you focus on.
1. Comment on historical and literary context, eg Victorian morality, science and literature. Refer to Darwinism and the contemporary attitude towards religion. 2. Explain the narrative structure of the text and introduce the main characters/ narrators. 3. How is evil first presented? Comment on the description of the door to Jekyll’s lab p11. What atmosphere is created and how? 4. Compare the good characters with the violent and evil Hyde. What effect does this contrast have on the reader? How is the character and appearance of Hyde gradually revealed to the reader? Consider how we learn more about people’s reactions to his presence than his actual appearance. 5. Places are also used to represent good and evil. Compare and contrast the area of Soho and Hyde’s housekeeper, pp31/32 with Dr Jekyll’s home, p24 and his butler Poole, p47 onwards. 6. Analyse the description of the murder; how does this reinforce our impression of evil? p30 7. Look at the way Jekyll describes his divided self and his relationship with Hyde as described in Jekyll’s full statement. Comment on this. What is Stevenson suggesting about everyone’s character, and issues such as choice and self-control? 8. How is suspense and mystery created in the novel? Would Jekyll’s final statement be as effective without the whole of the previous narrative? Explain your own response. The End – Well done!