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Everything you need to know about The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for OCR GCSE English Literature Paper 2, Section B — 19th Century Prose.
Paper 2: Exploring Effects and Impact
Section B — 19th Century and Modern Prose/Drama. You will answer one question on Jekyll and Hyde. The question is an essay question without an extract — you must write from memory. You have approximately 45 minutes.
Assessment Objectives
Chapters 1–2: The Door and the Search
Mr Utterson and Mr Enfield are walking in London when Enfield tells the story of a sinister man, Mr Hyde, who trampled a child in the street and paid compensation with a cheque signed by the respectable Dr Jekyll. Utterson, Jekyll’s lawyer, discovers that Jekyll’s will leaves everything to Hyde. Troubled, Utterson seeks out Hyde and is repulsed by his appearance, feeling an inexplicable sense of evil.
Chapters 3–4: Jekyll’s Dinner Party and the Carew Murder
Utterson raises his concerns with Jekyll, who dismisses them and asks Utterson to respect his privacy. Nearly a year later, Hyde brutally murders Sir Danvers Carew, a distinguished MP, beating him to death with a cane. Utterson leads police to Hyde’s Soho lodgings, but Hyde has vanished. Jekyll claims to have broken with Hyde and produces a letter - which Utterson’s clerk later suggests was forged by Jekyll himself.
Chapters 5–7: Jekyll’s Withdrawal
Jekyll appears reformed and becomes sociable and charitable. However, he suddenly withdraws from society. Dr Lanyon, a mutual friend, falls mysteriously ill after a shocking experience and dies, leaving Utterson a letter not to be opened until Jekyll’s death. Enfield and Utterson see Jekyll at his window; his expression changes to one of terror and he slams the window shut.
Chapter 8: The Last Night
Jekyll’s servant Poole comes to Utterson in distress, saying his master has locked himself in the laboratory and his voice has changed. They break down the door and find Hyde’s body, dead from poison, wearing Jekyll’s clothes. Jekyll is nowhere to be found. Utterson discovers letters from both Lanyon and Jekyll.
Chapters 9–10: The Revelations
Lanyon’s letter reveals that he witnessed Hyde transforming into Jekyll, and the shock destroyed his health. Jekyll’s own confession explains everything: he created a potion to separate his dual nature, becoming Hyde to indulge his darkest impulses without consequences. Over time, Hyde grew stronger and the transformations became involuntary. Unable to obtain more of the original chemical compound, Jekyll faces permanent transformation into Hyde and takes his own life.
Jekyll is a wealthy, respected doctor and scientist who represents the Victorian ideal of respectability. He is described as “a large, well-made, smooth-faced man,” known for his charity and social standing. However, beneath this respectable exterior, Jekyll feels constrained by the demands of Victorian morality.
His experiment to separate his dual nature is born from a desire to indulge his darker impulses without damaging his reputation. This makes him morally culpable — he does not stumble into evil but actively seeks it out. His eventual inability to control Hyde represents the danger of indulging repressed desires: once released, they consume the individual. Jekyll’s tragedy is that he created a monster he could not control, and his death is the ultimate consequence of his hubris.
Key character arc
Respectable but repressed → Creates Hyde to indulge desires → Enjoys the freedom → Loses control → Trapped by his own creation → Self-destruction
Hyde is the physical embodiment of Jekyll’s repressed evil. He is described as small, deformed, and repulsive — every character who meets him feels an instinctive revulsion. His appearance reflects Victorian physiognomy, the belief that physical features reveal moral character. His smaller stature represents the fact that Jekyll has suppressed his evil side for years, so it is “less exercised.”
Hyde is characterised by violence without conscience. He tramples a child, murders Sir Danvers Carew with savage glee, and shows no remorse. He grows stronger as Jekyll continues to use the potion, eventually becoming the dominant personality. Stevenson suggests that evil, once indulged, does not remain contained — it grows and eventually overwhelms the good.
Utterson is the novella’s primary narrator and viewpoint character. As a lawyer, he represents Victorian rationality, respectability, and discretion. He is loyal to Jekyll, cautious in his judgements, and determined to find the truth while protecting his friend’s reputation.
However, Utterson also embodies the Victorian culture of repression and secrecy that enables Hyde to exist. He suppresses his own pleasures (“He was austere with himself”), avoids asking difficult questions, and prioritises discretion over truth. Stevenson uses Utterson to show how the Victorian gentleman’s code of privacy and silence creates the conditions for hidden evil to thrive.
Lanyon represents conventional, orthodox science. He dismissed Jekyll’s research as “unscientific balderdash,” preferring traditional, rational approaches. His death after witnessing Hyde’s transformation symbolises the destruction of the rational Victorian worldview when confronted with truths it cannot accommodate.
Lanyon’s inability to survive the truth suggests that Victorian society could not cope with the reality of human duality. He represents those who would rather die than accept that respectable men harbour dark desires. His letter provides one of the novella’s two revelation chapters, giving the reader an external perspective on Jekyll’s transformation.
Sir Danvers Carew is an elderly MP whose brutal murder by Hyde marks the novella’s turning point. Described as “beautiful” and “innocent,” he represents the vulnerable victims of unchecked evil. His murder is the most violent scene in the novella and demonstrates that Hyde’s violence is escalating beyond control. The murder of such a prominent figure also brings the threat of public exposure, raising the stakes for Jekyll.
The novella’s central theme. Stevenson argues that every human being contains both good and evil, and that these forces are “commingled” inseparably. Jekyll’s experiment attempts to separate them, but this proves impossible — the result is not a pure good self and a pure evil self, but Jekyll (who retains his moral awareness) and Hyde (who is pure evil). Stevenson suggests that the human condition is defined by this internal conflict, and that attempting to deny or separate the two sides is catastrophic.
Victorian society demanded strict moral respectability, particularly from professional men like Jekyll. Stevenson exposes the hypocrisy of this system: the more strictly society represses natural desires, the more violently they emerge when released. Jekyll creates Hyde precisely because Victorian morality will not allow him to express his full humanity. The novella argues that repression does not eliminate evil — it concentrates and intensifies it.
Jekyll’s experiment represents science without moral restraint. He pursues knowledge for personal gratification, not for the benefit of humanity. The conflict between Jekyll and Lanyon mirrors a real Victorian debate between “transcendental” science (pushing boundaries) and “rational” science (staying within established limits). Stevenson suggests that science divorced from ethics is dangerous — a theme that resonated with Victorian anxieties about Darwinism, vivisection, and rapid technological change.
The novella is saturated with secrecy. Characters avoid asking questions, keep letters sealed until death, and prioritise reputation over truth. Enfield’s reluctance to “put questions” and Utterson’s cautious discretion reflect a Victorian gentleman’s code that valued privacy above all. Stevenson shows that this culture of secrecy enables evil: Hyde thrives in the spaces that respectable society refuses to examine.
Nothing in the novella is as it seems. Jekyll’s respectable exterior conceals dark desires. The two entrances to his house — the handsome front door and the sinister back door — symbolise his double life. Hyde’s physical deformity is the visible sign of an inner evil that other characters keep hidden. Stevenson challenges the Victorian assumption that a respectable appearance guarantees a virtuous character.
Hyde is associated with animalistic imagery: he is “ape-like,” moves with “monkey-like agility,” and his violence is savage and instinctive. This connects to Darwin’s theory of evolution (published 1859), which disturbed Victorians by suggesting humans were descended from animals. Hyde represents the primitive, animalistic self that civilisation has suppressed but not eliminated. Stevenson suggests that the beast within is always threatening to break free.
Stevenson employs Gothic conventions to create atmosphere and convey meaning. London is shrouded in fog, lit by gaslight, and filled with narrow, sinister streets. The setting mirrors the novella’s themes: the fog represents the obscuring of truth, the darkness represents hidden evil, and the labyrinthine streets represent the complexity of human nature. The supernatural transformation and the theme of the double (doppelgänger) are classic Gothic elements.
Learn these quotations for the closed-book exam. Each one can be applied to multiple themes and characters.
“Man is not truly one, but truly two”
Dr Jekyll (Chapter 10)
Jekyll's central revelation about human nature. Stevenson uses the adverb 'truly' twice to emphasise the fundamental duality of human nature. This challenges the Victorian belief in a single, unified moral self. Jekyll argues that everyone contains both good and evil - his experiment merely separates what already exists. This reflects emerging psychological theories about the unconscious mind.
“If he be Mr Hyde, I shall be Mr Seek”
Mr Utterson (Chapter 2)
Utterson's pun on the children's game 'hide and seek' introduces the novella's central dynamic of concealment and pursuit. The wordplay is uncharacteristically playful for the serious lawyer, revealing his determination. The pun also foreshadows the novella's structure - it is fundamentally a story about uncovering hidden truths. 'Hyde' as a name literally means 'hidden'.
“Satan's signature upon a face”
Mr Enfield (Chapter 1)
Enfield's description of Hyde associates him with the Devil, placing the novella within a Christian moral framework. The alliteration of 'Satan's signature' is hissing and sinister. The idea that evil can be read on the face reflects Victorian physiognomy - the pseudo-scientific belief that character could be determined from physical appearance. Hyde's repulsiveness is the outward sign of inner evil.
“He was trampling calmly over the child's body”
Mr Enfield (Chapter 1)
The oxymoron 'trampling calmly' is deeply disturbing. Trampling suggests violence and chaos, while 'calmly' implies indifference - Hyde feels no remorse or emotional response. The contrast encapsulates Hyde's nature: he is capable of violence without conscience. The child victim emphasises Hyde's moral depravity - he attacks the most innocent and vulnerable members of society.
“I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man”
Dr Jekyll (Chapter 10)
Jekyll describes his scientific and philosophical discovery. The adjective 'thorough' suggests the duality is complete and inescapable, while 'primitive' implies it is fundamental and ancient - predating civilisation and its moral codes. The word 'duality' became central to literary criticism of the novella. Stevenson suggests that the human condition is defined by internal conflict between civilised behaviour and primal instinct.
“All human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil”
Dr Jekyll (Chapter 10)
The verb 'commingled' means mixed together inseparably, suggesting that good and evil are not separate compartments but are blended within every person. The phrase 'as we meet them' emphasises that this applies to everyone without exception. This universalising statement is Stevenson's central theme - the respectable surface of Victorian society conceals the same capacity for evil that Hyde represents.
“The pleasures which I made haste to seek in my disguise were, as I have said, undignified”
Dr Jekyll (Chapter 10)
Jekyll's euphemistic description of Hyde's activities is deliberately vague. The word 'undignified' is a massive understatement for the violence and depravity Hyde commits. The phrase 'made haste' suggests urgency and appetite. Stevenson never specifies exactly what Hyde does - this ambiguity allows the Victorian reader's imagination to fill in the blanks, making the horror more personal and unsettling.
“I feel very strongly about putting questions; it partakes too much of the style of the day of judgement”
Mr Enfield (Chapter 1)
Enfield's reluctance to ask questions is characteristic of Victorian gentlemen who valued privacy and discretion above truth. The religious allusion to the 'day of judgement' suggests that asking questions is a form of moral scrutiny that gentlemen should leave to God. Stevenson critiques this code of silence - it is precisely this refusal to investigate that allows Hyde (and the hidden sins of respectable men) to flourish.
“If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also”
Dr Jekyll (Chapter 10)
Jekyll's self-description as 'chief of sinners' echoes St Paul's words in 1 Timothy 1:15, placing his story within a Christian framework of sin and suffering. The parallel structure ('chief of sinners... chief of sufferers') suggests that sin and suffering are inseparable - wrongdoing brings its own punishment. However, Jekyll's focus on his own suffering reveals a persistent selfishness; he is more concerned with his pain than with his victims'.
“the body of a self-destroyer”
Mr Poole (Chapter 8)
Poole's description of Jekyll/Hyde's death avoids the word 'suicide', which was a criminal offence and social taboo in Victorian England. The compound noun 'self-destroyer' captures the deeper truth: Jekyll has literally destroyed himself by splitting his identity. The ambiguity of who has died - Jekyll or Hyde - reinforces the idea that they were always one person. Self-destruction is the inevitable consequence of attempting to separate good from evil.
“I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse”
Dr Jekyll (Chapter 10)
The repetition of 'slowly' conveys the gradual, insidious nature of moral corruption. The contrast between 'original and better' and 'second and worse' initially seems to maintain a clear distinction, but the word 'incorporated' (literally, 'made into one body') reveals that Jekyll and Hyde are merging. Stevenson suggests that indulging evil gradually erodes moral resistance until the evil self becomes dominant.
“My devil had been long caged, he came out roaring”
Dr Jekyll (Chapter 10)
Jekyll's animalistic metaphor ('caged', 'roaring') presents Hyde as a beast that has been imprisoned by the restraints of civilisation. The word 'caged' suggests that Victorian respectability was a form of containment rather than genuine goodness. When released, the repressed desires emerge with violent force. This reflects Victorian anxieties about what lay beneath the surface of respectable society.
“He had always been known for charities... he was now no less distinguished for religion”
Narrator (Chapter 6)
After murdering Sir Danvers Carew, Jekyll appears to become more virtuous, not less. The irony is devastating: his public respectability increases even as his private evil deepens. Stevenson exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of Victorian society - outward charity and religious devotion can coexist with, and even mask, profound moral corruption.
“The large handsome face of Dr Jekyll grew pale to the very lips, and there came a blackness about his eyes”
Narrator (Chapter 3)
Jekyll's physical reaction when Utterson mentions Hyde reveals the emotional turmoil beneath his composed exterior. The colour draining from his face ('pale to the very lips') suggests shock and fear, while the 'blackness about his eyes' foreshadows the darkness within him. Stevenson uses physical description to hint at psychological truth - the body betrays what the mind tries to conceal.
“This was the shocking thing; that the slime of the pit seemed to utter cries and voices”
Mr Utterson (Chapter 10)
Utterson's reaction to Jekyll's confession uses Biblical imagery: 'the slime of the pit' evokes Hell. The word 'slime' connotes something primitive and repulsive. The shock is that this 'slime' can 'utter cries and voices' - evil is not mute and distant but articulate and human. Stevenson disturbs the reader by showing that evil is not an external threat but exists within ordinary, respectable people.
“It was Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty”
Dr Jekyll (Chapter 10)
Jekyll's attempt to distance himself from Hyde's actions reveals his continued self-deception. The phrase 'Hyde alone' tries to separate them into two distinct moral agents, but the novella has shown they are one person. Stevenson critiques the human tendency to deny responsibility for our darker impulses by projecting them onto an 'other'. Jekyll's refusal to accept his own guilt is itself a moral failing.
“Mr Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile... yet somehow lovable”
Narrator (Chapter 1)
The novella's opening description of Utterson establishes the Victorian ideal of restraint and repression. He suppresses emotion ('never lighted by a smile') yet maintains human connection ('somehow lovable'). The word 'somehow' suggests even the narrator cannot explain how warmth survives beneath such rigid self-control. Utterson embodies the tension between surface respectability and hidden feeling that defines the novella's world.
Understanding context is essential. Here are the key contextual areas to know for Jekyll and Hyde:
Victorian society placed enormous importance on public reputation, moral conduct, and social propriety, particularly for professional men. Gentlemen were expected to be rational, restrained, and morally upright. This created intense pressure to conceal any behaviour that deviated from the ideal. Jekyll’s double life is a product of this culture — he cannot be both respectable and free, so he creates Hyde to satisfy desires that respectability forbids.
Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871) shocked Victorian society by proposing that humans evolved from animals. This raised terrifying questions: if we are descended from beasts, is the beast still within us? Hyde’s ape-like appearance and animalistic behaviour represent Victorian fears of evolutionary regression — the idea that civilised humans could revert to a primitive state.
Although Freud’s major works were published after the novella (1886), the idea of the unconscious was emerging. Jekyll’s experiment can be read as an attempt to access the unconscious — the hidden part of the psyche where repressed desires are stored. Hyde represents the “id” (primitive desires), Jekyll the “ego” (the conscious, social self), and Victorian society the “superego” (the moral rules that constrain behaviour).
London in the 1880s was a city of stark contrasts. Wealthy, respectable areas existed alongside slums filled with poverty, crime, and vice. The novella was published in the same decade as the Jack the Ripper murders (1888), which terrified London and exposed the dark underside of the city. Stevenson uses London’s geography symbolically: Jekyll’s house has a respectable front entrance and a sinister back door leading to a different street, mirroring his double life.
The Victorian era saw increasing tension between scientific progress and religious belief. Jekyll’s experiment transgresses both scientific ethics and religious morality — he attempts to play God by altering human nature. Stevenson draws on the tradition of the “over-reacher” (like Frankenstein and Faustus) — figures who are punished for pursuing knowledge beyond human limits.
Stevenson grew up in Edinburgh, a city famous for its dramatic division between the respectable New Town and the disreputable Old Town. He was also aware of the case of Deacon Brodie, an 18th-century Edinburgh man who was a respected cabinet maker by day and a burglar by night. These influences are evident in the novella’s exploration of duality and hidden lives.
The OCR Jekyll and Hyde question does not give you an extract. You must write entirely from memory. Here is a recommended structure:
Introduction (3–4 sentences)
Address the question directly. State Stevenson’s overall message about the theme/character. Briefly reference the Victorian context and the concept of duality.
Paragraph 1: How the theme/character is introduced
Analyse the early chapters. Use a memorised quotation and explore language closely. Consider the narrative perspective and what is withheld from the reader.
Paragraph 2: Development through the middle chapters
How does the theme/character develop? Consider the escalation of violence, the deepening mystery, and the structural technique of withholding information. Link to context.
Paragraph 3: The revelations (Chapters 9–10)
How is the theme/character illuminated by the final revelations? Analyse Jekyll’s confession and what it reveals about Stevenson’s message. Consider why Stevenson saves the truth until the end.
Paragraph 4: Wider significance
What is Stevenson’s message about Victorian society? Consider alternative interpretations. How does the novella challenge the reader’s assumptions about human nature?
Conclusion
Final evaluative judgement. What is Stevenson’s overall message? Why does the novella remain powerful today? Link back to the question.
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