Explore how Stevenson presents Dr Jekyll in this extract and elsewhere in the novel.

In the Victorian era there was a clear divide in classes and attitudes. This was known as duality. For
the upper class gentlemen it was very important, men are meant to suppress their feelings and
conform to the social norms Jekyll is displayed to the reader as needing an escape from this which is
as Hyde. This is foreshadowed throughout the book.

In the extract Jekyll's dark nature is presented with techniques such as pathetic fallacy “The fog
began to lie thickly”, here the fog symbolises secrecy and concealment using this description in line
with further descriptions around the laboratory Stevenson hints to something being hidden in the
laboratory establishing that Jekyll’s pleasant façade “Smooth faced man of fifty” is not akin to what
is inside him. His nefarious activities are further hinted by a semantic field of death “held out a cold
hand” cold provoking images of a chilled dead body and “dissecting room” a place used to dead
bodies. “Cold” is a contrast to Jekyll's previous nature “warm” showing how he has changed over the
first five chapters and how possibly he could feel he is losing control over Hyde or maybe he is
starting to remember what he does as Hyde and is sickened by it. The dissecting room creates a
gothic image of slaughtering, with grave robbing common at the time it creates a gory setting for a
scientist to be doing his work suggesting Jekyll's unpleasant undertones and links him to death.

His duality is symbolised in this extract by the “cheval glass”. Cheval glass is a type of
mirror Jekyll could be using it to see if his transformations had worked so this glass has
experienced the forefront of his duality and therefore becomes a symbol of it. Jekyll’s
scientific pursuits are described as “chemical rather than anatomical” this further scientific
association suggests that the lab has been repurposed foreshadowing his trans formals to
Hyde and implies how his chemical meddling is messing with the fabric of the universe and
displays his hubristic natures.

Jekyll's surrounding heavily show his dark nature. Thee description of the curtain entering
his lab is “red baize” the curtain symbolises that something is hidden while the red
symbolises blood. The lab is a “Dingy windowless structure” these adjectives suggest the
there is something hidden and unnatural, by suggesting Jekyll works in a place which is
hidden from view and natural air Stevenson creates a sense of unease and mystery. Jekyll is
displayed as a mad scientist who acts in promethean ways when he calls Lanyon a “high
bound pedant” in chapter 3 by looking down on Lanyon remaining inside the rules one can
infer that Jekyll does quite the opposite.
In chapter 3 Jekyll is shown displayed as flustered and troubled in spoken phrases such as
“’My position is a very strange one – a very strange one’” here Stevenson uses repetition to
show how Jekyll is incredibly reluctant to share his “position” with Utterson and describes it
as strange. Jekyll is being deliberately vague and unclear, he wants to tell his friend but
cannot. Jekyll's repetition also makes him appear unsure or blundering highlighting his
secrecy and foreshadowing his involvement with Hyde from one of his first encounters.
Jekyll also mentions how “I would trust you before any man alive, ay, before myself” This is
elliptical writing and foreshadowing he reassures Utterson how he trusts him while still
refusing to explain “my position” to him. The withholding of information from the reader
(elliptical writing) creates unease. He also hints how he doesn’t trust himself and how he
wouldn’t if he were Utterson suggesting how he feels he can’t control Hyde and how
dangerous that will become. He implies this knowledge with how he “grew pale”.

In chapter ten Jekyll is allowed the chance to give his testimony which will naturally make
him more sympathetic. He treats Hyde as a separate part of himself. ‘He, I say – cannot say.
I’ tellingly shows this detachment. For Stevenson, Hyde is never ‘I‘. Jekyll describes how
“man is not truly one but truly two” this displays how Jekyll feels there are two distinct sides
to him and how he is different to Hyde. This is similar to how he doesn’t refer to Hyde as “I”
further highlighting the duality of his personality. Jekyll justifies his transformations to Hyde
and didn’t necessarily think that they were a bad thing show by ”a leap of welcome” this
could suggest that he feels after being forced to repress his views and darker side in the
ways of victorian men, that society owes him his freedom and so he transforms to Hyde.
Jekyll is presented as a mix between good and evil, he claims that he transforms to free his
light side from his inner Hyde although this ends with his light half ceasing to exist entirely.
However on the whole Jekyll distances himself from his double “Henry Jekyll stood at times
aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde” emphasising how he sounds detached from his
creation.

In this extract, Stevenson uses the setting to display Hyde as secretive and foreshadow his
hidden alter ego. The reader recognises that Jekyll’s work is morally dubious with semantic
fields of death and illness. In the book Jekyll and Hyde seem to be polar opposites but it is
shown as we get through the book that Jekyll clearly maintains traits of Hyde while
remaining as Jekyll.