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Analysis of Mr Edward Hyde as a character
AQA English Literature resource for GCSE A full 2 pages of the character analysis of Mr Edward Hyde Includes quotes and analysis of Mr Hyde from specific chapters
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Analysis of Mr Edward Hyde as a characterQuotes are in red.
Notations of where each quote is from are in purple.
Links to context are in blue.
Hyde is Like an Animal:
The word Hyde is almost the same as the old English word
“hydan” which means the ‘skin of an animal’ this can link to him
being presented as zoomorphic and him having animal tendancies.
Can also link to the word “hide” which can mean:
Prevent someone or something being seen
Prevent an emotion or fact being apparent or known
Conceal oneself
Use someone or something to protect oneself from criticism
or punishment, especially in a way considered cowardly
Can also be described as “hairy” and “ugly” which are very simple
adjectives linking back to the ape-like description we get a number
of times throughout the novella. Links to Darwin’s theory of
evolution. The word “ugly” also suggest people can’t describe him
properly. Utterson, Lanyon and the maid only give generic
description such as the quotes above and “deformed”.
“Hyde shrank back with a hissing intake of breath” Chapter 2
(When Utterson begins to talk to Hyde in the street) “hissing”
reminds us of a snake - linked to temptation and the garden of
Eden. This was believed to have corrupted all of mankind and the
natural world.
“The fall seemed natural” Chapter 10 (Henry Jekyll’s full statement
of the case) Jekyll becomes Hyde because he wanted to live out
sin, desire and pleasure. He is tempted into the darker workings of
life and man’s desires. Again, Eve was also tempted in the garden
of Eden by the snake to eat the apple. Temptation and the desire
to sin gets mankind thrown out of the garden of Eden and they
“fall” from heaven.
Utterson describes him as something “hardly human! Something
troglodytic” Chapter 2 (Search for Mr Hyde) which can either be an
animal living underground or a person of primitive, degraded or
brutal character. An animal living underground is hidden. Hyde
hides, the fact he only comes out at night, he’s only seen in the
dark.
“He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of
deformity” Chapter 1 (story of the door when Enfield relates to
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