Source: https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/2-1-1-dr-henry-jekyll

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# Dr Henry Jekyll

English Lit: AQA GCSE Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, topic 2.1.1

## Jekyll and Society

Dr Henry Jekyll is a well-respected doctor and friend of Lanyon, a fellow physician, and Utterson, a lawyer.

### Charitable and social

![Charitable and social](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-04/f3618647-e2da-4c8b-87e1-b1f4030854b3/shutterstock_572884603.jpg)

- Jekyll is a **“charitable man”**, and a sociable man compared to Utterson and Enfield. 
- He holds dinner parties and he is well-known in the community for his reputable character. He behaves in a socially acceptable way, and he is very aware of how other people see him, especially amongst the upper class.
- He is described as carrying **“his head high”** in public and he seeks approval from others.

### Façade

![Façade](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-04/9c2ff50a-cee5-4e6e-a922-cf050e091c72/shutterstock_245916370.jpg)

- Jekyll has always tried to put on a façade for his society - he worries about his hidden desires. 
- He over-dramatises how bad his desires are because his inner desires contrast to the character he appears to be. He puts on **“a more commonly grave countenance before the public”**.

### Guilt and shame

![Guilt and shame](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-04/93c24f85-9936-45c9-88f2-b2c3402214f0/shutterstock_326212550.jpg)

- Jekyll’s hidden desires cause him to feel guilt, so he tries to repress these desires and he feels a **“morbid sense of shame”** - this shows how he feels he has dishonoured the society that he lives in, and he feels embarrassed of his secret activities.

### Guilt and shame - Christianity

![Guilt and shame - Christianity](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-04/1561553e-e32b-4f5c-92ed-f3bdf5015354/shutterstock_764111191.jpg)

- His engagement with science, and his guilt thereafter, is often linked to the rigorous Christian ideals that citizens were expected to uphold, causing guilt and shame for those who did not conform to the Victorian ideals prescribed to them. 
- As a result of his dual interests, Jekyll finds himself committed **“to a profound duplicity of life”** which is why making a potion to split his two sides appeals to him so much, and he pursues the transformation into Hyde as a result. 
- **"Duplicity"** means to be disloyal, or to be unfaithful- so this implies that Jekyll is disloyal to the Christian upper-class community he lives in.

## Jekyll, Science and Religion

Jekyll is a man of science who wants to experiment with the human psyche.

### Context

![Context](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-04/5c07c660-3de8-4ad2-b0f1-6024e6146bcb/shutterstock_406565428.jpg)

- During the 1800s, science challenged religious ideas and beliefs. 
- Jekyll’s science challenges the religious belief that humans should try to lead a life free from sin. 
- Stevenson wanted to show the audience that it is impossible to do so, and that repression only leads to excessive corruption.

### Revolutionary research

![Revolutionary research](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-04/9c833fb7-4d30-4999-92ac-e703cb6f40e5/shutterstock_368080166.jpg)

- Jekyll decides he wants to experiment to divide the two sides of the human psyche. He experiments on himself. Jekyll’s experiments in **“transcendental medicine”** show that he is a revolutionary scientist, who is not afraid to pursue controversial research.
- Jekyll believed that **“man is not truly one but truly two.”**
- Jekyll is so desperate to split the two sides of the human psyche that he **“risked death”** to transform into Hyde. However, the experiments do not go as planned: he only succeeds in releasing his bad side, and he remains undivided as he was before - with both good and bad qualities.

### Contempt of Jekyll

![Contempt of Jekyll](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-04/581e1b0b-8b1f-43be-b287-5ebb627dcd6c/shutterstock_175547297.jpg)

- Jekyll and Lanyon do not agree on their scientific theories, and Dr Lanyon refers to Jekyll’s science as **“unscientific balderdash”**. 
 - This means that his theories are nonsense and pollute the field of material medicine with the supernatural and mystical theories that Lanyon and other doctors at the time shunned with resentment.

## Jekyll's Transformation

When Jekyll transforms into Hyde, he feels immense pleasure. The long-term effects of transforming into Hyde cause him to feel shame.

### Pleasure

![Pleasure](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-04/4334edc1-3670-4ee1-96a9-39e670bc6603/shutterstock_262734242.jpg)

- Jekyll gains pleasure from transforming and he is unable to tear himself away from his darker side once the experiments begin. 
- He says: **“There was something strange in my sensations, something indescribably new and, from its very novelty, incredibly sweet. I felt younger, lighter, happier in body; within I was conscious of a heady recklessness”** (10).
- This quote suggests he enjoys the transformations, and he feels released from the heavy restraints of the external society.

### Shame

![Shame](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-04/789d0376-c7d6-46d1-a3b3-950b16c9b985/shutterstock_756911104.jpg)

- Jekyll writes in chapter 10 how his experiments have failed, and he is ashamed of his failures. 
- His former self cannot be recreated, because we cannot exist without having both good and evil within us: **“Both sides of me [good and evil] were in dead earnest; I was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame, than when I laboured, in the eye of day, at the furtherance of knowledge or the relief of sorrow and suffering"**.

## Test yourself on Dr Henry Jekyll

- Which of these best describe Jekyll?
- Which word in the following quote suggests that Jekyll is being disloyal to his upper-class Christian community?"A profound duplicity of life”
- Which of these quotes describe and characterise Jekyll?
- Who calls Jekyll's science **“unscientific balderdash”**?
- Which of these are true of Jekyll?

[Practise this topic for free](https://app.senecalearning.com/classroom/course/d84e51a0-3ca2-11e8-aa2a-6f57cfa13a6c/section/bc576b30-3d6f-11e8-9b07-931de75ad155/session)

- Previous topic: [1.1.7 End of Topic Test - Chapters 7-10](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/1-1-7-end-of-topic-test-chapters-7-10.md)
- Next topic: [2.1.2 Jekyll - Name & Quotes](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/2-1-2-jekyll-name-and-quotes.md)

## English Lit: AQA GCSE Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde contents

### 1 Plot Summary
- 1.1 Chapters 1-10
  - [1.1.1 Chapters 1 & 2](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/1-1-1-chapters-1-and-2.md)
  - [1.1.2 Chapters 3 & 4](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/1-1-2-chapters-3-and-4.md)
  - [1.1.3 Chapters 5 & 6](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/1-1-3-chapters-5-and-6.md)
  - [1.1.4 Chapters 7 & 8](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/1-1-4-chapters-7-and-8.md)
  - [1.1.5 Chapters 9 & 10](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/1-1-5-chapters-9-and-10.md)
  - [1.1.6 End of Topic Test - Chapters 1-6](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/1-1-6-end-of-topic-test-chapters-1-6.md)
  - [1.1.7 End of Topic Test - Chapters 7-10](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/1-1-7-end-of-topic-test-chapters-7-10.md)

### 2 Characters
- 2.1 Jekyll & Hyde
  - [2.1.1 Dr Henry Jekyll](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/2-1-1-dr-henry-jekyll.md)
  - [2.1.2 Jekyll - Name & Quotes](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/2-1-2-jekyll-name-and-quotes.md)
  - [2.1.3 Mr Edward Hyde](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/2-1-3-mr-edward-hyde.md)
  - [2.1.4 Jekyll/Hyde Quotes - Chapters 1-9](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/2-1-4-jekyllhyde-quotes-chapters-1-9.md)
  - [2.1.5 Jekyll/Hyde Quotes - Chapter 10](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/2-1-5-jekyllhyde-quotes-chapter-10.md)
  - [2.1.6 End of Topic Test - Jekyll & Hyde](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/2-1-6-end-of-topic-test-jekyll-and-hyde.md)
  - [2.1.7 Exam-Style Questions - Mr Hyde](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/2-1-7-exam-style-questions-mr-hyde.md)
- 2.2 Other Characters
  - [2.2.1 Mr Gabriel John Utterson](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/2-2-1-mr-gabriel-john-utterson.md)
  - [2.2.2 Dr Hastie Lanyon](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/2-2-2-dr-hastie-lanyon.md)
  - [2.2.3 Minor Characters](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/2-2-3-minor-characters.md)
  - [2.2.4 End of Topic Test - Other Characters](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/2-2-4-end-of-topic-test-other-characters.md)

### 3 Gothic Genre
- 3.1 Gothic Elements
  - [3.1.1 Gothic Conventions](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/3-1-1-gothic-conventions.md)
  - [3.1.2 Gothic Settings & Symbolism](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/3-1-2-gothic-settings-and-symbolism.md)
  - [3.1.3 End of Topic Test - Gothic Conventions](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/3-1-3-end-of-topic-test-gothic-conventions.md)

### 4 Key Themes
- 4.1 Key Themes & Quotes
  - [4.1.1 Science](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/4-1-1-science.md)
  - [4.1.2 Dual Nature of Man](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/4-1-2-dual-nature-of-man.md)
  - [4.1.3 Religion & Sin](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/4-1-3-religion-and-sin.md)
  - [4.1.4 Violence & Horror](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/4-1-4-violence-and-horror.md)
  - [4.1.5 Victorian Gentlemen](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/4-1-5-victorian-gentlemen.md)
  - [4.1.6 End of Topic Test - Key Themes & Quotes](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/4-1-6-end-of-topic-test-key-themes-and-quotes.md)

### 5 Context & Author
- 5.1 Context & Author
  - [5.1.1 The Victorian Era](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/5-1-1-the-victorian-era.md)
  - [5.1.2 Deacon Brodie & Freud](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/5-1-2-deacon-brodie-and-freud.md)
  - [5.1.3 End of Topic Test - Context & Author](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/5-1-3-end-of-topic-test-context-and-author.md)

### 6 Literary Techniques
- 6.1 Literary Techniques
  - [6.1.1 Language](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/6-1-1-language.md)
  - [6.1.2 Structure & Form](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/6-1-2-structure-and-form.md)
  - [6.1.3 End of Topic Test - Literary Techniques](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/6-1-3-end-of-topic-test-literary-techniques.md)

### 7 Grade 9 - Key Character & Theme Questions
- 7.1 Key Character & Themes - Linked Questions
  - [7.1.1 Grade 9 - Key Characters & Themes](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/7-1-1-grade-9-key-characters-and-themes.md)
  - [7.1.2 Extract Analysis - Jekyll](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/7-1-2-extract-analysis-jekyll.md)
  - [7.1.3 Extract Analysis - Duality](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/7-1-3-extract-analysis-duality.md)

### 8 Recap: Main Quotes
- 8.1 Characters Quotes
  - [8.1.1 Dr Henry Jekyll](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/8-1-1-dr-henry-jekyll.md)
  - [8.1.2 Mr Edward Hyde](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/8-1-2-mr-edward-hyde.md)
  - [8.1.3 Mr Edward Hyde 2](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/8-1-3-mr-edward-hyde-2.md)
  - [8.1.4 Utterson & Lanyon](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/8-1-4-utterson-and-lanyon.md)
  - [8.1.5 Poole, Enfield & Mr Guest](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/8-1-5-poole-enfield-and-mr-guest.md)
- 8.2 Text Structure - Quotes
  - [8.2.1 Jekyll's House & London](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/8-2-1-jekylls-house-and-london.md)
  - [8.2.2 Victorian Repression](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/8-2-2-victorian-repression.md)
  - [8.2.3 Religion](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/8-2-3-religion.md)
  - [8.2.4 Violence](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/8-2-4-violence.md)