dr jekyll and mr hyde essay plans

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✓ Scientific Development (Duality, Curiosity)

SETTING: Jekyll’s house has a lab connected to it

“Dingy windowless structure”

“Old dissection room”

IDEA: The idea that Jekyll’s science is ridiculous

Lanyon’s dismissal of Jekyll’s Science “ such unscientific balderdash” “i wish to see or hear no more of Dr Jekyll (...) whom i regard as dead”

Lanyon dies from the horrors of Jekyll’s science in chapter 6 as he “had his death warrant written legibly upon his face” and in “less than a fortnight he was dead” after his mind was “submerged in terror” after witnessing the transformation of Hyde into Jekyll

EVENT: Lanyon is skeptical of the chemicals in Jekyll’s room and frightened by the transformation

“I loaded an old revolver (...) for self defense”

“Sprung” to his feet

“Leaped” back against a wall

“Arms raised to shield” himself

His “Mind submerged in terror”

Lanyon is left in the distressed state of some feeble animal

SETTING; Jekyll was clearly up to some sort of experiment by the state of his room and belongings

Powders that were of “Jekyll’s private manufacturer”

A “pungent” “phial” filled with “blood red liquor”

In a ‘diary’ of Jekyll’s with “several hundred entries” the phrases “double” and “total failure!!!” were repeated throughout

IDEA: Jekyll represents the outcast of society as he was experimenting with science to please his duality and to contribute to helping society to enquire against religious restrictions

His “scientific discoveries” and beliefs were that “man is not truly one, but truly two”

Despite having “risked death” and suffered “racking pangs” he was determined for his two sides to be “housed in separate identities”

Despite feeling “younger, lighter, happier” he knew that he had failed as his new self had not an “innocent freedom of the soul” as he had just created a man “tenfold more wicked” as he describes he “sold a slave to my original self”

✓ Duality (Science, Repression, Appearance, Curiosity, Secrecy, Deceit, Violence)

SETTING; duality of Jekyll’s house and Hyde’s house

The back of Jekyll’s house reflects the Hyde that he hides. It is described as a ‘dingy windowless structure’ with a ‘blistered’ door that promoted ‘sordid negligence’ . This reflects hyde as being odd and out of place. The cabinet is described as ‘gaunt’

The front of jekyll's house represents the ‘Jekyll’ that he shows to society. It has a ‘great air of wealth and comfort’ being one of the most ‘pleasantest rooms’ in London’. This shows Jekyll’s personality and being welcoming. The fact that it has a great deal of ‘wealth’ shows Jekyll's position in society.

Hyde lives in Soho which is described as being poor with ‘many ragged children’ with being in a ‘dingy’ street. We associate hyde's personality as being dark, however his ‘furnished with luxury and good taste’ rooms juxtaposes the area he lives in and comes as quite a shock to us as the reader, which instantly causes skeptical about how he was able to afford all this wealth.

IDEA,EVENTS; Jekyll plans to separate his …

• English Literature
• The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Jekyll and Hyde

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Lesson Plan for 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde': Writing Prompts & Essay Questions

• Donna Cosmato
• Categories : High school english lesson plans grades 9 12
• Tags : High school lesson plans & tips

Lesson Overview

Students discuss and develop essay topic ideas for Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Grade: High School, duration: 30 – 60 minutes

Objective: Students review basic writing process for essays and brainstorm ideas for essay topics. The emphasis for this lesson is writing compelling thesis statements, holding reader attention, and organizing and writing top-notch essays.

Prior Knowledge: This lesson builds on information gained during unit lesson plans on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde regarding vocabulary, character analysis, and group discussions of the short story.

Teaching Method

Procedure: Excellent essays contain key elements. Start the lesson by reviewing briefly the main elements of essay writing. Here are some suggested topics to cover:

• Selecting topics: topic ideas are specific rather than general with a main idea and two supporting ideas.
• Compelling headline: the thesis statement is like a movie trailer. It hooks the reader into the subject matter.
• Introduction: tells the reader what the essay is about, makes or breaks the essay depending on how interesting or how boring it is. Comparing it to sound bites of information on radio or television helps students visualize the importance of a provocative introduction.
• Outlining research materials: all the research in the world is useless if students cannot organize it and produce a finished essay. This part of the lesson plans shows students how to take notes, and organize materials to prepare for writing an outline format.
• Writing outlines and rough drafts: for this part of the lesson plan, review outlining and rough draft process. Remind students every essay must have a summary to tie information together for the reader.
• Creating the finished essay and proofreading: discuss the writing process and emphasis the importance of proofing essays prior to submitting them. A good tip is to suggest students read the essays out loud to catch grammatical errors.

Writing Prompts and Essay Questions

Try these writing prompts and essay questions in your classroom to help students get started on their essays. Copy the information on the board and brainstorm ideas for other creative essay topics for papers on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

• Describe the relationship between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
• How is the relationship between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde important in conveying the theme of duality?
• How does Stevenson portray the hypocrisy of Victorian society in the novella?
• Dr. Jekyll’s final fate is determined by what events?
• How does Stevenson use descriptive language and suspense to create a mood of terror?
• Why did Stevenson tell the story in third person rather than the first person? How effective is that?
• Analyze the progress of Dr. Jekyll experiments and transformations. How does his character change during the experiments?
• How does Jekyll view his relationship with Hyde? Is his analysis accurate or flawed? Why or why not?
• Analyze the role of the supporting characters. What is their importance and how do they impact the progress of the novel?

By the end of the lesson students should understand the writing process for completing interesting essays. They have selected their topics and started developing thought-provoking thesis statements. Results of the lesson are assessed based on the quality of the students’ essays.

Stevenson, R. L. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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The duality of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

An essay planning and writing frame for exploring duality in  The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde .

This pair of worksheets includes a table to complete with evidence and explanations, as well as an essay scaffold to support students in writing a full essay response.

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Jekyll and Hyde essay plan

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

11 December 2011

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — Jekyll and Mr Hyde Moral

Jekyll and Mr Hyde Moral

• Categories: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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Published: Mar 20, 2024

Words: 503 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, moral ambiguity, psychological implications, societal reflection, relevance to contemporary society.

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Dr jekyll and mr hyde setting essay.

Choose a novel in which setting is an important feature.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a novel in which setting plays an important feature. In the book Dr Jekyll represents good and Mr Hyde represents evil, yet they are technically the same person and come to symbolise the good and evil in all of us. The novel is set in London but draws heavily on Stevenson’s knowledge of his hometown Edinburgh to create a chilling setting which emphasises the themes of good and evil.

Setting is most important as a symbol for the characters of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Jekyll owns a fancy town house with a tumble down lab on the back. The town house is described as having an ‘open fire’ in the front hall. This represents Jekyll as it is warm and inviting and hugely welcoming – all things that match Jekyll’s character. The fact that he can build a fire in his front hall and not just his main rooms suggests he is wealthy and likes to display his wealth. Again it is a symbol for the man himself. We are also told that the street on which his house sits is filled with similar houses – his though is the only one kept clean and tidy and whole, the rest have become slightly messy. This is in keeping with Jekyll’s character as we know he is concerned with his reputation and making himself look good to other people which his house certainly does. Hyde on the other hand is a secretive creature who doesn’t so much lurk in the shadows as lives only in the night. He doesn’t hide from other people but he doesn’t really interact with them either, or encourage interactions. The lab door sums up his character perfectly. Unlike the main house it juts out on an alley street, its windows are covered and the door bears no knocker and hasn’t been cleaned for entry. The windows emulate Hyde’s private nature, he doesn’t want people prying into his business. The lack of a knocker shows he doesn’t want or expect guests. The untidiness of the doorway similarly keeps people from visiting. The text also describes the lab as a ‘sinister block of buildings’ – there is something off about them, just like we are told there is something off or ‘deformed’ about Hyde’s appearance. Setting here, in the form of the house, serves to reinforce the characters of Hyde and Jekyll and further highlights the theme of good versus evil.

The Victorian London setting is important because it is what pushes Jekyll into making Hyde. Stevenson had apparently considered setting his tale in Edinburgh, with its sordid, poverty-stricken old town and glossy, illustrious new town making clear allusions to Jekyll and Hyde’s personalities again. However, in high London society a man’s reputation was everything and he had to behave. It is far easier to explain Jekyll’s actions against the backdrop of London society than Edinburgh’s. Jekyll is repressed by his lifestyle as a rich doctor, it is only as Hyde that he can do what he actually wants and so he creates Hyde. The setting is important here because it is what forces Jekyll’s hand into making an alternative persona for himself.

Setting is important in the initial chapters where Utterson’s dream makes the minotaur and his maze a metaphor for Hyde and his London. We have already had descriptions of Hyde as a ‘juggernaut’ something huge and threatening. This image is built up further with his comparison to the minotaur, a monstrous beast that was used to control and terrorise the Greek town of Minos. Hyde similarly terrorises the occupants of London as he will trample and destroy any who get in his way – the little girl and Sir Carew. London’s twisting medieval streets and fogged new streets become the maze in which the minotaur was kept. You never know when the minotaur or Hyde might appear to hurt you. Setting then becomes a metaphor for the playground of evil.

Setting is also important as Stevenson often uses dramatic epithet to show a change in the mood of a scene to show that something is about to happen. We are often told about the ‘rolling fog’ in the streets of London. It hides Hyde literally and cloaks the shady characters of the night. In the final chapters of the novel the fog becomes a horrible storm, rain lashes and the streets are empty. This adds a sense of foreboding as we know something is going to happen the streets are too physically quiet of people as if something bad is about to happen. Utterson is then escorted by Poole to Jekyll’s house and we finally discover that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. Setting here was used to suggest and hint that the plot was about to take a turn for the worst.

22 thoughts on “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde setting essay”

Hello, Ms Davidson. I have found your essay about the setting in ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ as I searched for ways to help two Yr11 students with their impending GCSE English Literature exams. What you have written is eminently readable, and so I hope it is OK by you that I copy and paste it into a Word document for the boys to read. I will, of course, acknowledge you as the author, and refer to the name of the website. Kind regards.

I’m happy to have been some help!

Ms Davidson

I also found this really helpful and shared with my class.

Really helpful and understandable thankyou x

I’ve got an upcoming exam and these points are amazing! I hope you do not mind me taking some revision notes from this amazing essay

That’s what its here for! Revise away!

just like the book

Thank you so much for your insightful essay. My students will appreciate alternative points of view which you have laid out so clearly. Thank you and I will acknowledge your essay in my discussions of the novel.

Glad it was helpful!

Rahhhhh this is mad as a student I was reading this to aid with revision and this was absolutely amazing I never knew setting was so important thanks

Happy to help!

Incredibly helpful! Thank you!

i needed to write a book report, and was looking at examples. this one was by far the most helpful! thanks!

Glad it helped!

Pretty lit 🔥🔥🔥

Are you Ruth Davidson, the Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019, and has served as Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Edinburgh Central since 2016?

If I was that would have been extremely impressive to be moonlighting as an English teacher! We simply share a last name that is popular in Britain.

Thank you so much, your points are fantastic, they helped me a lot. Best regards

You’re welcome!

Cheers my g

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