Essay 4

INTRODUCTION

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde portrays the repressed and secretive nature of nineteenth century society.¹ The Victorian era was moulded by an obsession with reputation, morality and respectability which filtered into the everyday lives of its citizens. As such, many concealed their immorality through intricate examples of secrecy and deception, fictionalised in this text through Jekyll’s mysterious friendship with the villainous Hyde. Through his use of setting, narrative form, and character development,² Stevenson effectively explores how society hides its darkest truths, presenting secrecy and deception as necessities to hide that which society views as immoral or disreputable.³

1. This immediately frames the novel in terms of societal behaviour rather than plot, which is an effective way to begin. In your own introductions, prioritise ideas over narrative detail (and save specific textual evidence for your body paragraphs where you can earn marks by analysing it).

2. This clearly signposts the key textual features this essay will analyse. This creates a roadmap for the essay and helps maintain focus across paragraphs.

3. The final sentence of this introduction articulates a clear, arguable claim about secrecy being a necessity. Strong introductions often frame themes as debatable rather than one-sided to allow room to unpack ideas in the rest of the essay.

PARAGRAPH 1

One of the primary ways in which Stevenson explores secrecy and deception is by using the novella’s setting and motifs as embodiments of these themes.⁴ The text is located in London, infamous during this period for the contrast between its opulent upper classes and the supposed lower class underground crime.⁵ When Utterson first encounters Hyde, his mind is left “toiling” as the meeting triggers vivid and spectral nightmares of Hyde moving through “wider labyrinths of lamplighted city.” Stevenson uses the image of the “labyrinth,” a structure of weaving and complex paths which often create confusion, to embody Utterson’s own uncertainty⁶ as well as the puzzle of London itself as a location, highlighting the ways in which meaning can be construed or truth lost on its streets. By centring the plot in a disorienting locale, Stevenson mirrors the concealment of the truth within his words and within the narrative, thereby creating an atmosphere of secrecy and deception.⁷ Furthermore, Stevenson uses the motif of the laboratory door⁸ to explore these themes. When Utterson first examines this door whilst walking with Enfield, the narrator notes its unseemly appearance: The door, which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distanced.” The construction of “neither... nor” maintains a parallel and emphasises how the door differs from a typical entrance as there is no way for someone to announce their presence, suggesting that the owner does not want anyone to enter the laboratory. The motif of the door then symbolises the hidden secret of Jekyll’s experiments and transformation into Hyde, concealing the truth of Hyde’s evil from public scrutiny. Through this, Stevenson communicates the necessity of secrecy and this barrier to the truth to protect wider society from the harsh and brutal reality of evil and its consequences, providing the modern reader with a deeper understanding of Victorian sensibilities and culture.⁹

4. This topic sentence effectively combines thematic concerns with textual evidence. Aim to structure paragraphs around how Stevenson constructs meaning, not just what that meaning is.

5. This contextualises the setting in a way that supports interpretation.

6. This is effective metaphor analysis as we explain the imagery, then connect it to character psychology and meaning.

7. This explicitly links our analysis back to the essay’s central theme to keep the argument cohesive so the marker knows what we’re writing is relevant.

8. Identifying recurring objects as motifs shows awareness of structural patterning. Look for repeated symbols when revising, and consider how different instances of these motifs can communicate similar or different ideas. For example, how are readers meant to feel about the door in chapter 1 compared to later in the novella after uncovering some of the Gothic horror behind it?

9. This last sentence broadens the focus to Victorian sensibilities and reader understanding. Effective paragraphs often end by scaling up from detail to broader meaning.

PARAGRAPH 2

Similarly,¹⁰ Stevenson explores deception through Jekyll’s desire to hide his darker impulses. The reader is shown that secrecy is implicit in Jekyll’s nature, as he details his habitual activity where he “concealed” his pleasures,¹¹ saying “I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of shame.” Stevenson’s word choice of “concealed,” connoting a covering up or obscuring of something, suggests that Jekyll actively hid his pleasures, whilst “morbid” demonstrates the unhealthy or macabre embarrassment he felt in doing so. This communicates both Jekyll’s duplicitous nature and tendency for deception, whilst also illustrating the Victorian pressure to hide immoral acts¹² and on men like Jekyll to repress their true natures. Jekyll’s interactions with his friends further emphasises his secretive character. When Utterson questions his friend on his connection to Hyde, fearing for Jekyll’s safety, the doctor confidently reassures him that he has control over the situation, asking him not to mention it again: “this is a private matter, and I beg of you to let it sleep.” The reference to the matter as “private” underscores the intimate nature of his situation and works to deter Utterson’s interest as privacy was one of the great pillars of Victorian society.¹³ This demonstrates Jekyll’s manipulation of his friendship with Utterson to avoid any more questioning into the true nature of Hyde’s presence, thereby highlighting how Jekyll uses deception to maintain his double life. Utterson himself upholds the importance of reputation throughout the text: after discovering Hyde’s body, Utterson discusses with Poole how they may “at least save his [Jekyll’s] credit.” The word “credit” creates associations with merit and worth,¹⁴ demonstrating the link between reputation and admiration within Victorian society, and how Utterson’s role in the text of restoring balance binds him to the maintenance of his friend’s good name. Through the character of Henry Jekyll, Stevenson exposes Victorian the strict standards of reputation within his own society and the lengths that one will go to in order to keep their secrets hidden, even from those they care for.¹⁵

10. The transition word clearly links this paragraph to the previous one. Use such signposting to show logical progression in your argument.

11. “Here, we focus on a single verb and unpack its implications. Word-level analysis like this is central to strong essays.

12. Notice how we are consistently connecting character behaviour to social expectation, reinforcing the relevance of context.

13. This quotation is well chosen to show secrecy in dialogue. Including speech alongside narration can diversify evidence and demonstrate a strong grasp of the novella as a whole. We also explain why the language works in its historical context as well as our contemporary one.

14. Terms relating to reputation, value, or morality often carry significant thematic weight in this text.

15. This last sentence synthesises character, theme, and context into a single evaluative statement. Aim to pull strands together rather than introducing new ideas at paragraph endings.

PARAGRAPH 3

Another way in which Stevenson explores secrecy and deception is through the narrative form itself.¹⁶ Using an omniscient third person narrator, Stevenson establishes a distance from the story itself, keeping the reader at arm’s length¹⁷ as we are told of Utterson’s quest to uncover the truth. Telling the story from Utterson’s perspective allows Stevenson to withhold and prolong the revelation of Jekyll’s investigation, creating an atmosphere of secrecy and suspense. Using an epistolary form¹⁸ for the last two chapters, Stevenson gives readers the first-hand accounts of two characters who have maintained secrecy throughout the text: Lanyon and Jekyll. Even as he recounts his witnessing of Hyde’s transformation into Jekyll, Lanyon does not reveal all of the truth, cryptically stating “I saw what I saw, I heard what I heard, and my soul sickened.” The repetition of “I saw [...] I heard” mimics Lanyon’s attempt to understand what he has experienced,¹⁹ whilst the word choice of “sickened” suggests a nauseating and bodily repulsion,²⁰ thereby communicating the profound and morally disturbing this has had upon his very being, irreversibly causing his sickness and later death. This illustrates the devastating consequences of Jekyll’s scientific experiment upon the structures of Victorian society and notions of identity, thereby engaging with contemporary anxieties and posing the question of whether the truth should always be revealed. Stevenson poses the use of secrecy and deception as tools which have been used to protect sensibilities and conceal the true base nature of humanity, exposing the hypocrisy of Victorian society which has in turn been concealed through the guise of respectability.²¹

16. Shifting to narrative form shows range in your analysis. High-level responses often explore how the story is constructed by the author, not just what happens to the characters within the world of the text.

17. Remember that you can analyse things like narrative voice and other structural features, not just quotes, as textual evidence that has an effect on readers.

18. Here, we are linking Stevenson’s choice of form to the delayed revelation of Jekyll and Hyde’s truths. This demonstrates an understanding of structure as a thematic tool.

19. Here, we focus on repetition to explore uncertainty. Structural patterns like repetition often underscore a psychological impact or can be used to analyse aspects of character’s thoughts or feelings.

20. For this quote, we are connecting physical reaction to moral disturbance. This is effective when analysing Victorian anxieties around science and identity.

21. Our final sentence for this paragraph returns to hypocrisy and respectability, reinforcing thematic coherence. Revisiting key ideas helps unify the essay.

CONCLUSION

Thus, throughout Jekyll and Hyde, Stevenson explores how secrecy and deception can be necessary but dangerous.²² Through his characters, setting and narrative form, the author shows how and why the truth is concealed from others, hiding the reality of man’s duality. Ultimately, the reader is asked to consider the benefits of such secrecy and is forced to recognise the disadvantages as Stevenson critiques Victorian obsession with reputation, warning of the dangerous impact this deception may have upon our everyday lives.²³

22. This synthesises our main analytical strands clearly. This is preferable to re-listing quotations. We also foreground reader response, reminding the marker that we understand that literature prompts reflection beyond its context.

23. Finally, we end by applying Victorian critique to broader human behaviour. Ending with relevance beyond the text strengthens the overall argument.