How and why does Stephenson explore the duality of man(TM)s nature in Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde(TM)?

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How and why does Stephenson explore the duality of man’s nature in ‘Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’?

        ‘The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ was a novella in 1886 by Robert Louis Stephenson. The story is set in Victorian London, besides the fact that Stephenson has never travelled to London in his life and was ‘born and bread’ in Edinburgh. Reputation is a key feature in this story as it shows the duality of man. This was inspired by one William Brodie who can be compared to Hyde. He was an upper class, well respected man by day and a thieving, drunk at night. Also secrecy and hypocrisy are prevalent features as well. These features are mainly come up around the theme of the characters repressing their sexual desires and their lust for ‘living on the edge’

At the time Darwinism was rapidly and controversially changing the views on the creation of man and causing mass arguments on both sides of the belief system. As many people at the time were of a catholic faith, or similar religion, this came as a shock to many and Darwin was ridiculed. But his worked showed the link that humans have to primates and how they are their ancestors. This is shown y Stephenson as he describes a lot of Hyde’s emotions and actions as those of which an animal and, more importantly, a primate would have. “The animal within me licking the chops of memory”

        The story was written in the third person from the point of view from Mr Utterson. This shows an outsider’s point of view which seems to show that he is solving the mystery at the same time we are, he knows as much as we do therefore his surprise and curiosity make the reader want to keep on reading because it is as thought we are inside his head. “And at the next moment, I had sprung to my feet and leaped back against the wall, my arm raised to shield me from that prodigy, my mind submerged in terror.” We know what he see’s inn the real world and we also know what he is thinking of them which leads the us to  uspect the same thing which keeps the hunger of the brain pleading with hunger to know what will happen next. Also the names of the chapters give the story a better sense of a detective story. i.e. “Henry Jekyll’s full statement of the case” and “Incident at the window”

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        This novella is set in London in the mid 18th century which, around that time, was a very controversial place to be living. Half of London was poor and living in squalor where as the other half was high class and rich. There was a middle class, but that was pretty poor as well compared to the wealthy so they were considered poor. Many of the rich men would hide secrets for their dignities sake. For example late at night men would go out to drink, gamble, use prostitutes and partake in illegal events such as cock fighting. In the ...

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The Quality of Written Communication is fair, but it is y no means perfect. There is a sound enough handling of the English language and few spelling errors are made in the answers, but sometimes their is a misuse/misunderstanding of the standards of grammar that lead to a miscomprehended sentence of two. Also, all candidate should avoid colloquialisms in their answers such as "posh", which is used on more than one occasion. As it is a slag word, though not known by many to be such, it can slide in practise papers but for real exams and coursework this is not acceptable.

The Level of Analysis is fair, and where the novella is analysed, the analysis shows abilities of a person operating at a high B grade for GCSE. However, there are fewer than sufficient moments on analysis that actually equates to what the question is asking: the presentation of the duality of Man in 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'. It is absolutely crucial candidates adhere to the question and do not simply stray off and make analytical points that pertain to other aspects of the novel as this will not be demonstrating a focus on the question and elicits fewer marks than what the candidate could be capable of. Where the candidate succeeds in in their contextual awareness. There is a sound appreciation of the social and historical factors that influenced the writing of the novel regarding Stevenson's reasons for writing as well as the inspiration of the events in the novel. I also like the expansion of the theme of duality into the place and setting, with the candidate commenting on the class divide of Victorian London being an example of the duality that influenced the novel and acts as evidence that everyone and everything can have a dark side.

The Response to Question is fairly focused, but there are time in it when the candidate only appears to be analysing as much as they can about whatever they appear to have remembered from classroom learning; there are moments where points are made and not explained; or where there is explanation, there is not sufficient evidence provided to successfully justify the analysis made. Another issue with the answer is that there are few moments where the candidate explicitly relates their analysis back to the question proposed. This is an imperative for cohesive, coherent answers that score highly, as it shows structure and planning and a full focus on the question.