Jekyll and Hyde Essay

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Rebecca Fritchley

‘The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ is a story of contrast. How effective are Stevenson’s techniques in showing these contrasts?

The story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson, was published in 1886 and was estimated to have sold over 250,000 copies by 1901. The story is set in the Victorian era and this was the same era in which Charles Dickens lived and he had similarities to Jekyll as they were both into new science and discovering new things. In the novel, Dr Jekyll invents a potion to change him into a purely man when he wants and Darwin invents the theory of evolution. The main settings in the book are full of contrast. For example the contrast between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The main theme of the book is duality of human nature. This is what a human being is all about. A human is half pleasant and half wicked and in this novel this theme comes up regularly. Other techniques used are included in setting, dialogue, character description and imagery.

     

 The setting is the first place where contrast can be seen. One contrast is the setting of where Mr Hyde is first seen. The description of the street creates a pleasurable image. “air of invitation,” and “row of smiling sales women,”. These phrases suggest the street is welcoming and uses similes to show this.

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This charming street contrasted to it’s own neighbourhood. “shone out in contrast to it’s dingy neighbourhood,” and “like a fire in a forest,”. This explains that the welcoming street stands out just like a fire in a forest; nobody can miss it.

Another contrast is the door on the welcoming street. This is also where Mr Hyde is spotted. The door is ‘blistered’ showing the door is old and uncared for. This builds a chain of contrast with the door, to the street, to the neighbourhood.

     

Dr Jekyll lives on this divine street and ...

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The Quality of Written Communication here is below average. There are moments in this essay where the syntactic structure of certain sentences completely compromises their meaning and therefore there validity in the answer. To take examples from the first paragraph alone: "The story is set in the Victorian era and this was the same era in which Charles Dickens lived and he had similarities to Jekyll as they were both into new science and discovering new things. In the novel, Dr Jekyll invents a potion to change him into a purely man when he wants and Darwin invents the theory of evolution. (sic)" - this section barely makes any sense, and requires a mass overhaul of the grammar and punctuation. The candidate also fails to structure simple sentences: "The main settings in the book are full of contrast. For example the contrast between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde." This full stop separating these two clauses should be a comma, as the latter clause is only subordinate and, if read alone without the cohesion provided from the first sentence, does not make any sense.

The Level of Analysis here is very superficial, and some of the comment barely merit the term analysis because the candidate has either repeated exactly what Stevenson has written or simply not gone far enough into the literary devices to consider the effect on the reader. A good attempt is made, but at the critical moment the candidate doesn't appear to make any effective commentary, e.g. - "“like a fire in a forest,”. This explains that the welcoming street stands out just like a fire in a forest; nobody can miss it." This comment earns no marks at all, as the candidate does not comment on the important part of the analysis, which is to identify the effect on the reader and suggest what impressions this street gives us. The real marks here are in how Stevenson contrasts the spectroscopic nature of the street in question in comparison to it's "dingy neighbourhood" surroundings. This would be commenting on the contrast directly, rather than feature-spotting "similes" and "metaphors". Where this candidate does earn a fair few marks is in their contextual appreciation. Though not apparent nor explicit, this candidate does appreciate the social attitudes at the time the novel was written, explaining how the older, more refined Dr. Jekyll is more 'socially acceptable' than the ugly, nigh-on deformed Mr. Hyde who, at the time, would've been considered an ugly man on the inside as well as the outside, due to common beliefs that bad people were ugly. This sort of analysis and awareness is very important in analytical essays, as it helps the candidate understand how the authorial intentions originally aimed to shape the book; they are particularly important in this novella, which requires much sensitive awareness of the social and historical factors that influenced the writing of it, seeing that it, quite unanimously by those that have read it, has aged very badly.

This essay response is for a question that asks about the contrasting thematic elements of Robert Louis Stevenson's 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde'. The answer is reasonably focused, though more time should be spent on identifying similar aspects of analysis (such as the symbolic aspect of setting) and consolidating them into more cohesive paragraphs. As it is, this answer is a high D, but with a little readjustment to the presentation of the analytical points, this answer to easily achieve a very solid C grade for GCSE. The candidate needs to identify the bigger picture and work their way down to the details in their analysis, and focus more on how the details influence the reader.