Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: The Secret

Analysis: 

Main idea: The author describes Mr. Hyde’s house consistent with the characteristics of the character.  

Paragraph:

Two doors from one corner, on the left hand going east, the line was broken by the entry of a court; and just at that point, a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street. It was two storeys high; showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower storey and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper; and bore in every feature, the marks of prolonged sordid negligence. The door was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained. Tramps slouched into the recess and struck matches on the panels; children kept shop upon the steps; the schoolboy had tried his knife on the mouldings; for close on a generation, no one had appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair their ravages. (pg 32)

Annotation:

1. “Two doors from one corner, on the left hand going east, the line was broken by the entry of a court;”

·      “Two doors” – portray Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

·      “The Line was broken by the entry of a court”- the metaphor of the broken line portrayed the “dualism” of the characters.

 2. “Just at that point, a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street.”

·      “A certain sinister block of building” - the diction “sinister” talks about the sinister character of Mr. Hyde

3. “It was two storeys high; showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower storey and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper;”

·      “showed no window”- no window shows the discrete life that Mr. Hyde lived in due to his circumstances.

·      “A blind forehead of discolored wall on the upper”- the imagery of the “discolored wall”, again shows the negligent nature of Mr. Hyde.

4. “And bore in every feature, the marks of prolonged sordid negligence.”

·      “marks of prolonged sordid negligence”-  again emphasized on the fact that there was seldom activity in the house.

5. “The door was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained.”

·      “neither bell nor knocker”-  shows that Mr. Hyde had a secret thus the discrete life.

·      “was blistered and distained”- refers to Mr. Hyde’s physical descriptions but also again gives better characterization of the type of person Mr. Hyde was.  

 6. “Tramps slouched into the recess and struck matches on the panels; children kept shop upon the steps; the schoolboy had tried his knife on the mouldings; for close on a generation, no one had appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair their ravages.”  

·      The “tramps”, the “children” and the “schoolboy”, show the type of neighborhood My. Hyde lived in. 

·      “no one had appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair their ravages”-

Main idea: Dr. Jekyll due to his moral sense felt that Mr. Hyde was pure evil

Paragraph:

Even as good shone upon the countenance of the one, the evil was written broadly and plainly on the face of the other. Evil besides (which I must believe to be the lethal side of man) had left on that body an imprint of deformity and decay. And yet when I looked upon that ugly idol in the glass. I was conscious of no repugnance, rather a leap of welcome. In my eyes it bore a livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express and single, than the imperfect and divided countenance I had been hitherto accustomed to call mine. (pg 81)

Annotation:

1.“Even as good shone upon the countenance of the one, the evil was written broadly and plainly on the face of the other”

·      “ Evil was written broadly and plainly on the face of the other”- “broadly and plainly” shows the depth of the evilness. And also explains that Mr. Hyde was pure evil in the eyes of Dr. Jekyll.

2. “Evil besides (which I must believe to be the lethal side of man) had left on that body an imprint of deformity and decay.”

·      “Imprint of deformity and decay” -Parallels with the description of the door. Also gives a physical description of Mr. Hyde.

3. “ugly idol”- Dr. Jekyll’s view of My. Hyde’s physical attributes

4. “imperfect and divided countenance”- comments of the imperfectness of the dualism.

Even though due to his illness Dr. Jekyll grew comfortable in Mr. Hyde’s body, the diction he used shows his hatred towards the Mr. Hyde.

Main idea: The Secret that Dr.Jekyll hid from everyone was Mr. Hyde. He believed that he had to hide Mr. Hyde due to the cruel pleasures of the degenerate side.

Paragraph:

Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life. Many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities, as I was guilty of; but from the high views that I had set before me, I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame. (pg  78)

Annotation:

1.”Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures;”

·      “Concealed my pleasures” – did not want to show them to society

2. “I reached years of reflection… I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life.”

·      “reflection”- in order to understand the particulars of his situation

3. “Many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities, as I was guilty of;”

·      “I was guilty of”- felt as if the duplicity was his fault and also felt that he had to take responsibility for it.

4. “but from the high views that I had set before me, I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame”

Thesis:

Dr. Jekyll was ashamed and scared of his dual nature, as he believed that Edward Hyde was pure “evil”. The lead into this, the author in the beginning of the chapter uses the door to foreshadow that described Mr. Hyde and also foreshadows the fact that Mr. Hyde had a secret to hide. However, this secret was hidden by Harry Jekyll to protect his secret and the secret being his duplicity.

Argument 1: The author foreshadows Dr. Jekyll’s secret by describing Mr. Hyde’s door.

“Two doors”

“The Line was broken by the entry of a court”

“A certain sinister block of building”- sinister because it paralleled with Mr. Hyde’s characteristics

“It was two storeys high; showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower storey and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper;”

“was blistered and distained”

“neither bell nor knocker”- portrayed the fact that someone or something was hidden inside the house.

Argument 2: Dr. Jekyll believed that Mr. Hyde was pure evil, but due to his condition he felt that Mr. Hyde was a part of him that he could not get rid of.

“Even as good shone upon the countenance of the one, evil was written broadly and plainly on the face of the other”

Further described the evil as

“Evil besides had left on that body an imprint of deformity and decay”

“Imperfect and divided countenance”

Argument 3: Dr. Jekyll was ashamed of his duplicity thus hid his secret

“I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life”

“A man would have even blazoned such irregularities, as I was guilty of”

“I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame”

  

Thus because Dr. Jekyll through his experiments was desperate to find a cure for himself he created an environment to study Mr. Hyde in order to eradicate the “evil”. Thus the house only had a door and did not have any windows in order to protect the secret from society. 

Citation:  

1.  Robert Louis Stevenson. The Strange Case of Dr. Jykell and Mr.Hyde. Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2005.