8.2.1
Jekyll's House & London
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Jekyll's House
Jekyll’s house symbolises his character in the following ways:
“Sense of strangeness”
- Jekyll’s house shows both sides of his character: the Hyde half has a “sense of strangeness”.
- Jekyll’s house is divided, like his character - with the laboratory representing the shame and the hidden unconscious desires that Jekyll represses.
- This is why the door is “blistered and distained” which indicates the decay that Jekyll hides from society.
"Barred with iron"
- Jekyll’s house is described as “three dusty windows barred with iron”. The windows are blacked out, which could represent the unconscious part of his mind that he has suppressed and crushed from releasing.
“Dingy windowless structure”
- The laboratory is also described as a “dingy windowless structure”, which further suggests that his house is sinister.
"Voluntary bondage”
- As Hyde becomes more powerful, this increases.
- The house becomes a “house of voluntary bondage”, which shows that Jekyll has chosen to lock himself in the house. Just as he has tried to hide from Hyde emerging, so the house has become a vessel for harbouring his unconscious and hidden self.
London
London is presented as a threatening place.
“Some city in a nightmare”
- Soho is described as “a district of some city in a nightmare”.
- The streets are often empty, creating a sense of silence and mystery.
- Hyde’s attacks take place there, and there is therefore a nightmarish atmosphere around London’s streets.
- This is also emphasised by the use of pathetic fallacy (when weather is used to reflect the mood) and metaphors that describe the fog and the streets as frightening places.
“Embattled vapours”
- The lack of characters makes the streets seem isolated and mysterious. Instead of being highly populated, there is a movement of “embattled vapours”.
- We also hear: “a fog rolled over the city in the small hours”.
- These dynamic metaphors suggest that there are clandestine (secret) forces working within London, and these sinister forces of evil manifest in the weather and the conditions of fog and vapours in the air.
1Plot Summary
2Characters
2.1Jekyll & Hyde
3Gothic Genre
4Key Themes
5Context & Author
6Literary Techniques
6.1Literary Techniques
7Grade 9 - Key Character & Theme Questions
7.1Key Character & Themes - Linked Questions
8Recap: Main Quotes
Jump to other topics
1Plot Summary
2Characters
2.1Jekyll & Hyde
3Gothic Genre
4Key Themes
5Context & Author
6Literary Techniques
6.1Literary Techniques
7Grade 9 - Key Character & Theme Questions
7.1Key Character & Themes - Linked Questions
8Recap: Main Quotes
Practice questions on Jekyll's House & London
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- 1Quotes describing Jekyll/Hyde's house:Fill in the list
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5Quotes conveying London as a threatening place:Fill in the list
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