Dr Henry Jekyll (Scottish Highers English): Revision Notes
Dr Henry Jekyll
Jekyll's public persona
Dr Henry Jekyll presents himself as a moral and well-regarded member of Victorian society. He engages in charitable work and studies religious texts, activities that establish his reputation as a virtuous man. He moves among wealthy social circles, hosting dinner parties and maintaining friendships. Stevenson describes him with "every mark of capacity and kindness", presenting him as both intelligent and compassionate.
Jekyll's public behaviour reflects his acute awareness of social expectations. He carries his "head high" when among others and is "fond of the respect" that people show him. This careful attention to appearances reveals how deeply he values his social standing. The phrase "fond of" suggests an active pleasure in maintaining his reputation, indicating that respectability is not simply a duty for Jekyll but something he actively pursues and enjoys.
Jekyll's reputation is built on a carefully constructed public image that combines intellectual achievement, social standing, and moral virtue. His behaviour shows he doesn't just accept respectability as a duty—he actively pursues and enjoys it.
Jekyll's character can be understood through three qualities:
- Ambitious: described as having "every guarantee of an honourable and distinguished future", suggesting his potential for professional success
- Respectable: known as "well known and highly considered", emphasising his social standing
- Troubled: ultimately declares "I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end", revealing the psychological torment beneath his respectable exterior
The false nature of Jekyll's respectability
Jekyll's outward respectability masks a deeper psychological conflict. He has always presented what he calls "a more than commonly grave countenance before the public", meaning his public face is more serious and proper than most people's. The phrase "more than commonly grave" indicates excess, suggesting that Jekyll's respectability is not natural but performed, taken to an extreme level.
This excessive concern with appearance stems from his hidden desires. Jekyll believes these desires are far worse than they actually are, a distortion caused by his obsession with maintaining a respectable image. He experiences what Stevenson describes as an almost morbid sense of shame about these desires. The word "morbid" suggests something unhealthy and diseased, indicating that Jekyll's shame is not proportionate or reasonable but has become pathological.
Jekyll's shame is described as "morbid"—meaning it has become unhealthy and diseased. His guilt is not a natural response to wrongdoing but a distorted reaction created by Victorian society's unrealistic expectations of moral perfection.
Jekyll's guilt creates what he calls a "deeper trench" between his good and bad sides compared to most people. This metaphor of a trench suggests:
- A deliberate excavation or creation of division
- A deep separation that cannot be easily crossed
- A defensive structure, as trenches protect one side from another
The result is that Jekyll lives in a state of profound duplicity of life. Duplicity means deceitfulness or deliberately presenting a false front. The word "profound" emphasises how deeply this deception runs through Jekyll's entire existence. He is not occasionally dishonest but fundamentally divided, constantly maintaining a false public identity while hiding his true desires.
Stevenson's Social Commentary
Stevenson may be criticising the pressures that Victorian society placed on individuals to appear respectable. Jekyll's excessive guilt over what he sees as his "faults" reflects the unrealistic moral standards of his time, which required people to suppress natural human impulses to maintain social standing.
Jekyll as an ambitious scientist
Jekyll's work in transcendental medicine demonstrates his brilliance as a scientist but also marks him as controversial. The term "transcendental" indicates that his research goes beyond ordinary physical science, reaching into questions of consciousness, identity and the soul. This makes him a brilliant but unconventional researcher who has lost the respect of Dr Lanyon, who dismisses his work as "unscientific balderdash".
Jekyll's research is considered disreputable because it crosses the boundary between the material world of conventional science and the supernatural and mystical realms. In the 1800s, scientific discoveries sometimes challenged religious beliefs. Jekyll uses science to challenge the religious principle that people should strive to live free from sin. By attempting to separate good from evil through chemistry rather than moral effort, he substitutes scientific intervention for spiritual discipline.
Jekyll's "transcendental medicine" represents a dangerous crossing of boundaries between science and spirituality. In the Victorian era, this would have been seen as both scientifically questionable and morally transgressive—an attempt to use chemistry to solve what should be addressed through moral effort and religious faith.
Jekyll's motivation for creating the transformation potion reveals both his ambition and selfishness. He wants to rid himself of what he calls the curse of mankind—the fact that human good and bad sides are bound together in one body. The word "curse" suggests something inevitable and undeserved, as if humans are victims of their dual nature rather than responsible for managing it.
Jekyll is motivated by a selfish desire to be "relieved of all that was unbearable"—specifically, his guilty conscience. This reveals that his experiment is not primarily about advancing scientific knowledge or helping humanity but about escaping personal discomfort. He wants to enjoy his desires without experiencing guilt.
Jekyll's desperation is evident in his willingness to risk death by drinking the potion he creates. The phrase "risked death" shows the extreme lengths to which his ambition drives him. However, his experiment fundamentally fails in its purpose. Instead of splitting his good and bad sides equally, creating two balanced identities, he only succeeds in releasing his bad side while his good side remains unchanged.
The Failure of Jekyll's Experiment
Jekyll remains divided as he always was. Like everyone else, he continues to be made up of both good and bad qualities. The experiment does not resolve his internal conflict but worsens it by giving his bad side physical form and freedom. This outcome suggests that Stevenson views the dual nature of humanity as fundamental and inescapable, not something that can be eliminated through science or will.
Key Points to Remember:
-
Jekyll presents an excessively respectable public face while hiding desires he considers shameful, living in what Stevenson calls a profound duplicity of life.
-
His work in transcendental medicine challenges Victorian boundaries between respectable science and the supernatural, causing him to lose professional respect.
-
Jekyll's experiment is motivated by selfish ambition—a desire to be "relieved of all that was unbearable" rather than genuine scientific progress.
-
The experiment fails to achieve its goal: Jekyll remains divided between good and bad, but now his bad side exists as a separate physical being.
-
Stevenson uses Jekyll to criticise Victorian society's unrealistic moral expectations, which created an "almost morbid sense of shame" around natural human impulses.