Literature: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is one of the GCSE English Literature 19th-century novels, covering Stevenson's use of narrative structure, character and Victorian context to explore the idea of a divided self hidden behind outward respectability. Exam questions give a printed extract for close analysis, then ask for discussion of a theme or character across the whole novella.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Read the printed extract closely, annotating language choices such as word choice, imagery and dialogue before planning your answer.
- Identify two or three techniques with a clear, explainable effect, rather than simply listing quotations.
- Move outward from the extract to the whole novel, choosing moments that develop or contrast with what the extract shows.
- Link analysis to context, such as Victorian anxieties about respectability, science and the divided self, where it genuinely deepens the point.
- Use precise subject terminology, such as frame narrative, foil and epistolary structure, accurately rather than for decoration.
- Plan a clear structure, with an introduction stating your line of argument, points through the extract then the novel, and a brief conclusion, before writing.
Worked example
Early in the novel, Mr Enfield describes Hyde trampling a child in the street: 'the man trampled calmly over the child's body and left her screaming on the ground... it wasn't like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut.' Explain how this description presents Hyde as monstrous.
- Identify the adverb 'calmly': the lack of any emotional reaction to injuring a child is deeply unsettling and suggests an absence of normal human conscience.
- Note the simile 'like some damned Juggernaut': comparing Hyde to an unstoppable, crushing force strips him of individual humanity, presenting him as an impersonal force of destruction.
- Explain the effect of 'damned': the religious and moral connotation frames Hyde as evil in a spiritual as well as physical sense.
- Consider structure: the report comes secondhand, through Enfield's shocked retelling, distancing the reader from Hyde and building suspense before he is fully seen.
- Final answer: The calm cruelty and the dehumanising Juggernaut simile present Hyde as monstrous by stripping him of ordinary human feeling and framing him as an unstoppable, almost supernatural force of destruction.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1Who is the respectable doctor whose 'full statement' reveals the truth about Jekyll and Hyde at the end of the novel?Show answer
Answer: Dr Henry Jekyll, in his own written confession.
Q2Name the lawyer who investigates the mystery of Jekyll and Hyde throughout the novel.Show answer
Answer: Mr Utterson.
Q3Identify the technique in the repeated vague phrases 'something wrong... something displeasing... something down-right detestable.'Show answer
Answer: Repetition and listing, building vagueness and unease without giving a specific physical description.
Q4What does Hyde's smaller, younger appearance compared with Jekyll suggest?Show answer
Answer: That Hyde represents an undeveloped, primitive or lesser side of Jekyll's full self.
Q5True or false: the novel reveals the Jekyll-Hyde connection near the very beginning.Show answer
Answer: False - the truth is withheld until Jekyll's final written statement near the end.
Q6Give one piece of evidence that Jekyll loses control over his transformations later in the novel.Show answer
Answer: He begins to change into Hyde involuntarily, without taking the potion, for example while asleep or unexpectedly while awake.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a English exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
State four things you learn about Hyde from the account of him trampling the child, in the worked example above.
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Explain how Stevenson presents Hyde as monstrous in the description in the worked example above: 'the man trampled calmly over the child's body... it was like some damned Juggernaut.'
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'Hyde is more frightening because he is described secondhand, through other characters, rather than shown directly.' To what extent do you agree?
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Nothing ticked yet - 5 available
See real English past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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