Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Reading overview

Setting

  • The setting of this novel is in London England during the Victorian era
  • This era was perfect for this kind of story.
  • The Victorian era was very mysterious and helped set the mood of the whole story with Dr. Jekyll being secluded and a mysterious character.

Characterization

1. Utterson

  • Utterson is the character that sets the personality of the era.
  • he is what we expect to see if we were to go back in time to this era.
  • Utterson is a lawyer
  • Utterson is put in charge of Jekyll's will. With this it shows how caring Utterson is but at the same time it shows how in the era that it was not respected if you snoop around in others business. Utterson is a great example of this because he is greatly distressed about Jekyll's will and how all of his belongings go to Mr. Hyde one of the most disliked people in the town. Utterson however doesn't try to change the fact that it bothers him and rather just blows it off.

2. Jekyll

  • Jekyll is the mysterious character that people like and want to help.
  • He is a person that seems well off and wealthy but he also comes across as charitable and nice.
  • However he secretly has had a dark side since he was younger.
  • throughout the book he slowly tries to make his dark side what he is all the time and make it his permanent personality.

3. Mr. Hyde

  • Mr. Hyde is like the dark side of Dr. Jekyll. he is very disliked.
  • Hyde has deformities and is very mean and unfriendly.

Point of View

This story is told from a outside narrator. This narrator follows Utterson though. In the story we are able to know what is in Utterson's mind. This is a key thing to understand because it really helps with the story in the fact that we get the outside view with inside information.

Mood and Tone

  • The mood of this has two sides it is dark and creepy but also its bright and happy at the same time. The author has to show both of these moods depending on which character they are looking at. If its Hyde its dark and creepy but if its Jekyll its more so light until the end when he slowly drifts to be completely evil like Hyde.
  • The tone of the author is a objective tone giving the reader the facts and not forming a opinion for the reader but instead letting the reader form their own opinion.

Theme

I believe the theme of this novel has to do with good versus evil. The whole story of Jekyll and Hyde is a struggle between the good behaviors of Jekyll and the evil tendencies of Hyde.

Metaphors/Allegories

This story in a sense is on big metaphor. The metaphor is comparing two very different sides. It compares Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde two characters with very contradicting behaviors. The two characters although very different go hand and hand and almost need each other. Without the good side of Jekyll there is no way that Hyde could exist and vice versa.

Credits:

Created with images by summonedbyfells - "DEACON BRODIE'S HOUSE" • cdrummbks - "dr. jekyll and mr. hyde"

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