The document discusses key themes, symbols, and motifs in Robert Louis Stevenson's novella "Jekyll and Hyde". The main themes explored are the duality of man/divided self and the tensions between science and religion in Victorian England. Recurring motifs that build suspense include urban terror in foggy London streets, the sinister laboratory door symbolizing Jekyll's dual nature, and the power of silence when characters refuse to explain troubling events. Secrecy is also a major theme, as secrets about Hyde's identity and Jekyll's experiments drive the narrative and heighten tension throughout the story.

1. Themes, Symbols and Motifs in
Jekyll and Hyde

2. Theme: fundamental, over-arching
ideas explored throughout the text.
Motif: recurring structures, devices,
descriptions etc that help the reader
recognise major themes.
Symbols: are objects used to represent
ideas

3. TIP 1: remember to consider
the effect the novel would
have had on readers at the
time as well as now (and the
effect on you).

4. Theme: Science and Religion
▪ Jekyll and Hyde (1886)
▪ The Origin of Species (1859)
▪ Religion (Christianity) was
dominant in England from Medieval
times.
▪ Religion provided society and
worshippers with comfort, a sense
of life after death, an origin (Adam
and Eve).
▪ Charles Darwin’s theory began to
undermine society’s faith in
religion.

5. Theme: Science and Religion (2)
▪ Stevenson is concerned with the
nature of humankind. He shows this by
showing the sides of peoples’
personalities and their contradictory
natures.
▪ There are signs in the story of the
impact of science:
– Jekyll uses science to split his evil
personality from his good one
– Jekyll’s cabinet is full of salts and potions
– Dr Lanyon stops seeing Jekyll when he
became ‘too experimental’
– The sinister side of science is alluded to in
the darkness of the laboratory door.
▪ The primitive origin of man is
expressed in Hyde (‘animal’ and ‘ape-
like’.

6. Why is Science and Religion important?
It adds tension for readers at the time because people were
worried about our origins.
Because they were worried about evolution and where people
came from, this science and religion imagery is used because it
plays on their fears – this adds tension for reader at the time.
Today, we commonly see science motifs (recurring images) as a
sign of ‘crazy experiments’ which also creates an element of
danger = tension.

7. TIP 2: unlike Of Mice and
Men, you are not assessed for
being able to analyse the text
in context. However, if you
know how people at the time
were feeling, it will help you
to understand why and how
moments were tense.

8. Theme: The Duality of
Man/ The divided self
▪ Stevenson (and Jekyll) believed that mankind was ‘not
truly one, but two’.
▪ Jekyll explores the idea that he had a good and evil side
(or civilised v animalistic); he wanted to be evil but that
would risk his reputation.
▪ Hyde liberated Jekyll’s evil desires.
▪ Signs of duality: the good and evil side of Jekyll’s house;
Hyde’s size and appearance; the area of London and the
neighbourhood

9. Why is the theme of duality important
for tension?
Society was becoming increasingly concerned with the nature of
mankind.There was an increase in crime. People stopped trusting
others – they might have seemed decent on the outside but who
knew what was going on in their heads?
People are hypocrites!This is proven by the fact that they despise
Hyde because they sense evil but the don’t seem to criticise their
own evil (e.g. their desire to kill him).

10. TIP 3: you have to be able to
explore the structure of the
text (novel and/or extract).
The theme of secrets is good
because you can explain how
secrets are used to build
tension throughout the
narrative.

11. Theme: secrets and reputation
▪ Secrets are vital in the story for driving
the narrative and creating suspense.
▪ Mr Enfield and Mr Utterson agree to
never talk of the story of the door again
– they agree to keep a secret.
▪ Jekyll’s secret is that Hyde enables him
to “save” his reputation.
▪ Dr Lanyon writes a letter only to be
opened when Dr Jekyll dies.
▪ Motifs are associated with secrets – the
laboratory door; the weather…
▪ Appearances often Hide a sordid
underside.

12. Motif: urban terror
▪ London was a very dangerous place
inVictorian England.
▪ Jack the Ripper – an unidentified
serial killer (c. 1888) who killed
prostitutes in London slums
▪ In the years after the publication of
J&H, urban places as seen in the
novel would have taken on this
greater level of meaning.
▪ Before Jack the Ripper, London was
still considered dangerous for
similar reasons.

13. WARNING!
Jekyll and Hyde isn’t tense
“because Jack the Ripper
was around”
In the years after the publication he was –
and this would have given the events of the
book a greater level of terror.

14. Motif: urban terror
▪ The unknown identity = Hyde?
▪ The description of the places in J&H
point convey a sense of fear and
tension
– ‘a fog rolled in’
– ‘long for the sight of a policeman’
– 3am
– Alone

15. TIP 4: you have to be able to
explore the impact of
language and language
motifs.

16. Motif: silence
▪ Heightens tension/senses
▪ Characters fail or refuse to articulate themselves
– Enfield and Utterson refuse to talk of the incident again
– Lanyon refuses to explain why he and Jekyll don’t talk
– Jekyll refuses to explain his knowledge of Edward Hyde to
Utterson
▪ Victorian society favoured decorum and manners -
they did not speak of the sordid or undesirable.
▪ When confronted with the supernatural, language
fails. It cannot be explained.
▪ OR perhaps explaining the terrible events in too
much detail takes something away from it.

17. Symbols are used in language
to represent things - they are
a feature of language which
must be explored.

18. Symbol: the laboratory door (duality,
secrets, reputation)
▪ Jekyll lives in an outwardly expensive,
reputable house.
▪ Jekyll’s laboratory is entered around the
back of the housing block, by a ‘sinister‘
looking door.
▪ From the outside, you wouldn’t know they
are part of the same house.
▪ The doors sumbolise the entrances of
good and evil
– Hyde always uses the laboratory door
– The trampling of the little girl happened outside
the lab door
– Jekyll’s certainty that he was going to be rid of
Hyde was confirmed by the crushing of the key

19. Symbol: Hyde’s description
▪ His small size represents the fact that
the evil in Jekyll has been repressed for
years. His stature grows as his evil acts
worsen.
▪ He also grows as evil’s dominance over
Jekyll takes over.
▪ ManyVictorians believed in the science
of Phsyigonomy – judging a person’s
character from their physical
appearance.
▪ His description reinforces the idea of
secrets, that appearances often hide
something sordid.
▪ He represent the ‘beast in man’ (Darwin)

20. A note on structure
▪ Jekyll and Hyde uses 3 narrators
(Utterson, Lanyon and Jekyll).
▪ The various narrative
perspectives authenticate the
narrative – because it is told by
many people it gives the story a
greater sense of reliability and
realism.