Nineteenth-century novel, Year 10: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde option)

That both sides of him were genuine: the respectable doctor and the pleasure-seeker were both really him

提示He says neither of his faces was an act.

为什么Jekyll admits to a “profound duplicity of life”, but he insists he was equally himself when he worked for good and when he gave way to shame. That is why he cannot simply blame Hyde.

That each could live freely: the good without shame, the bad without a conscience

提示He thinks the two sides interfere with one another.

为什么Jekyll imagines the unjust going his way, free of the remorse of his upright twin, and the upright walking on without disgrace. The idea turns out to be false, because the evil side grows stronger.

He turns into Hyde without having taken the potion

提示He is sitting on a bench in the sun.

为什么The change happens while he is awake and sitting still. From then on Jekyll has to take the drug more and more often to stay himself.

His first supply of the salt was impure, and the impurity was what made the drug work

提示The success of the experiment was a matter of luck.

为什么When the original stock runs out, new batches fail to produce the change. Jekyll realises he never understood what made the draught work, so he cannot repeat it.

It is not pure enough

提示A note comes back each time saying it was not right.

为什么The paper orders are in a hand Poole knows. In fact the person in the cabinet is trying to make the potion work, and every batch fails because it lacks the unknown ingredient.

Hyde seems unnatural in a way no one can name, so the reader imagines something worse than any description

提示Think of the effect of leaving the picture blank.

为什么Everyone who meets Hyde feels the same disgust, and no one can explain it. Stevenson leaves the work to the reader's imagination, which is more frightening than a list of ugly features.

The evil side of his nature had been less used, so it was less strong and less developed

提示Jekyll says the good in him was exercised for most of his life.

为什么Jekyll says most of his life had been a life of effort in the service of good. That gives Hyde a smaller, lighter body. Hyde grows as he is allowed out more often.

Half of the broken cane was a present from Utterson to Jekyll years before

提示The weapon belonged to a friend of the lawyer.

为什么Utterson recognises the stick, which proves Hyde has been using Jekyll's possessions. It also shows how closely Utterson's own life is tied to the secret.

The cheque, which was signed with a well-known and respected name

提示The money leads from the door back to a man of standing.

为什么It is the cheque that makes Enfield suspect blackmail, because the signature belongs to a man of high reputation. It is the first clue that Hyde and Jekyll are connected.

That he is more like an animal than a civilised man

提示Think of our closest cousin in the wild.

为什么Stevenson often describes Hyde with animal words. In the 1880s, after Darwin, readers feared that people could slip back towards the animal.