“Aspects of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Worth Pondering. Bear in mind the distinction between two aspects of this or any other narrative: ”
A. The order in which the events really occur in the real world the text evokes (sometimes called the Fabula or histoire).
B. The order in which the text depicts the eventsthat is, the order in which the reader learns of them (the Sjuet or discours).
Some issues worth consideration:
1. Consider the role of London in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Is it crucial that this novel takes place in a large cityindeed, in the largest city in the world at that time? Stevenson, by the way, was not English but Scottish, and a native of Edinburgh.
2. G. K. Chesterton wrote of Dr. Jekyll that The real stab of the story is not in the discovery that the one man is two men; but in the discovery that the two men are one man. Chesterton is right, but notice that this stab of the story is the focus of only the third-person narrative (29-73) and Lanyons narrative (74-80). Each of these two narratives presents the transformation from an outsiders perspective, and from an outsiders perspective the plot must build up to the discovery that the two men are one. Jekylls own account (81-97), on the other hand, describes the process in its real chronological order (see A, above), and this process splits one man into two. How would the novels effect be different if it were narrated solely by Jekyll?
3. People assume that Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll. With what might Hyde be blackmailing Jekyll, if he were blackmailing him? What information about Jekyll might in theory be something he would pay to conceal? What are the possibilities? What are the effects of Stevensons leaving this question so vague?
4. Why do people have so much trouble being specific when they describe Hyde? (Note that this makes him more difficult to identifyimagine Enfield talking to a police sketch artist.) See 50.
5. Think about how Jekylls science reveals that the body is only the aura of the spirit (83), an aura that can reveal things a person might prefer hidden: . . . is it the mere radiance of a foul soul that thus transpires through, and transfigures, its clay contiment? The last, I think; for, O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satans signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend! (40)
6. Consider how this novel focuses on the difficulties of determining identity, either from outside (how might Utterson determine that Jekyll is Hyde and that Hyde is Jekyll?) or from inside (am I Jekyll or am I Hyde?). Do Jekyll and Hyde share consciousness? Do they share memory? What does Jekyll say about handwriting?
7. Jekyll manuevers uncomfortably whenever he must describe Hydes actions: He, I sayI cannot say I (94). Consider the interplay of personae in Jekylls narrationhow Hyde is both I and he.
8. Examine and categorize the metaphors that Jekyll, Enfield, Utterson, and Poole apply to Hyde (religious, zoological, etc.).
9. A maid whose master Hyde visited (and who therefore can recognize Hyde) witnesses Hyde killing a client of Uttersons with a cane that Utterson gave to Jekyll. The implausibility of these coincidences is less interesting than the question of what the coincidences might suggest. Often novelists violate probability in order to spotlight some crucial theme. How do these coincidences make Utterson look?
10. What is the relation between Jekylls undignified diversions and Hydes drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture to another (62)?
11. Consider who Hyde chooses as his victims. What patterns do you see?
12. Like Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown, Stevenson came from a Calvinist background. Calvinism emphasizes human depravity. Does The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde express a pessimistic, Calvinist worldview? Is evil stronger than good in this novel?
Source: http://dbooks.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/books/PDFs/504229740.pdf
