This video offers those of you who have yet to begin revision a crash-course in the story of Jekyll & Hyde. Use it as a gateway to further study!
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Here are the table images from the theme revision lesson. You may need to zoom in to see the comments in full.
A Study in Dualism is an article on the NCBI website that explores the themes of the novel in detail. It's an excellent piece of research reading if you're preparing for the whole-text question. Consider some of the author's ideas and explore your own interpretations.
This is an extremely enlightening and interesting article that explore the themes, characters and settings of the novel from an academic perspective. If you're aiming from Band 5 then you must familiarise yourself with a wider range of academic analyses than those you find on SparkNotes and Shmoop. Taken from The Guardian: Among the many screen adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson's novella "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" is a seven-minute Tom and Jerry film made by Hanna-Barbera in 1947. Here, a saucer of milk spiked with moth balls and bug powder is enough to transform an ordinary, decent soul - the mouse - into a monster. After a few sips, Jerry swells into supermouse, terrorising Tom, who normally holds the upper paw. At the end of "Dr Jekyll and Mr Mouse", Tom tries lapping up the milk - only to be reduced to the size of a fly. The pair exit with Jerry in pursuit, wielding a swatter. This is important. Taken from an article at www.tor.com: And when I say everybody, I mean everybody. Not just most people today don’t understand the original story—though that’s true—but every retelling of the story, from the earliest stage plays to Steven Moffat’s otherwise brilliant miniseries Jekyll, misses a key point of Robert Louis Stevenson’s original story: There has been some fervent discussion (and an argument!) about Hyde's living arrangements in the novel. Of course, Hyde's only real place of abode is inside Jekyll's head - for he is not a person, as many assume - he is Jekyll himself - though when Jekyll is in Hyde form, he does indeed tend to 'live' in Jekyll's laboratory, behind the 'red baize door' (symbolism alert!). However, there is a small frame of time around the Carew murder where 'Hyde' takes on a different apartment in a shady area of Soho - this is where Utterson finds the broken cane and so is where he begins to make links between Hyde and the murders that have taken place. The apartment is described as dull and dank - not a place resplendent in luxury, as Jekyll is accustomed to. As the cab drew up before the address indicated, the fog lifted a little and showed him a dingy street, a gin palace, a low French eating-house, a shop for the retail of penny numbers and twopenny salads, many ragged children huddled in the doorways, and many women of different nationalities passing out, key in hand, to have a morning glass; and the next moment the fog settled down again upon that part, as brown as umber, and cut him off from his blackguardly surroundings. This was the home of Henry Jekyll’s favourite; of a man who was heir to a quarter of a million sterling. This apartment dwelling could symbolise Hyde's role in Jekyll's life. When Hyde begins to commit violent acts like murder, Jekyll almost 'removes' him by placing him in a different location, a place where he occasionally visits when in Hyde form. He is almost in denial, treating Hyde as a different person rather than simply him in another form. It could well be that Jekyll is trying to separate his evil side from the life he knows and loves by placing it in a separate location altogether. However, after the Carew murder, Hyde returns to Jekyll's quarters and 'lives' in the laboratory, which is connected to the house by a secret walkway. This symbolises the closing gap between Jekyll's good side and his evil 'Hyde' persona. The British Library often features interesting explorations into a range of novels from throughout history. At the moment, they've got a brilliant feature on this novel, exploring the theme of duality. It's a long read, but if you're aiming for the top bands, it's really important. Click the link to read: https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/duality-in-robert-louis-stevensons-strange-case-of-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde
This is a really helpful video I found on YouTube that has pinpointed key quotes from each chapter of the novel.
I find that selecting some, writing them on Post-It notes and sticking them to the toilet door (or somewhere else you can't help but look at) usually helps to get them stuck in your brains. Try to memorise a number of them - I know most of you have done so already.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an unusual novel in that it has multiple narrative viewpoints - we have:
Mr Bruff discusses the importance of these below. My mind was blown by the reasons he gives for Utterson's chapters being a third-person narrator and not Utterson himself!
Mr Bruff plays another blinder in this video focusing on the novel's structure.
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In a Nutshell...Mr Utterson, the lawyer, is concerned when his friend Dr Jekyll leaves everything in his will to the mysterious, and often violent, Mr Hyde. Whilst trying to uncover a suspected murder plot, he ends up finding out that the truth is actually far, far worse... ArchivesCategories
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