Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Dialectical Journal # 2 DUE DEC.

2, 2024

Directions: As you encounter Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde in your reading, note the diction, imagery, and details that create a mood
that the author uses to help characterize each side of the man.
Dr. Jekyll

Textual Evidence Is diction, What mood is created? How does the mood
Quotation with MLA citation imagery, or detail characterize Dr. Jekyll?
employed?

"But the words were hardly uttered, imagery/diction By describing Dr. Jekyll’s expression as one of “terror and
before the smile was struck out of his face despair”, a sense of horror is invoked into the characters
and succeeded by an expression of such and the readers. Stevenson also states that the sight of
abject terror and despair, as froze the very disheveled Dr. Jekyll, “froze the very blood of the two
blood of the two gentlemen below.” gentlemen below”, furthering the notion that this scene is
(Stevenson 23) meant to make the reader uncomfortable.

“I have brought on myself a punishment diction Jekyll describes himself as the “cheif of sinners”, there is
and a danger that I cannot name. If I am never a positive connotation when it comes to the word
the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sinners. It literally means someone who does something
sufferers also” (Stevenson 21) against the will of God, so by making the claim that he is
the chief of these wrongdoings, he is creating an
uncomforting narrative.

“There comes an end to all things; the diction The idea that the balance of Dr. Jekyll’s soul is destroyed
most capacious measure is filled at last; is an incredibly coarse narrative to push and the way it is
and this brief condescension to my evil described makes the scene almost hard to get through.
finally destroyed the balance of my soul.”
(Stevenson 44)

Mr. Hyde

Textual Evidence Is diction, What mood is created? How does the mood
Quotation with MLA citation imagery, or detail characterize Mr. Hyde?
employed?

“Particularly small and particularly Imagery; small wicked Mr. Hyde constantly being described as small gives it a
wicked-looking, is what the looking negative connotation. This causes the addition of the word
maid calls him,”(Stevenson 15) wicked to make him seem horrifying.

“All human beings, as we meet them, are diction Throughout the novel Mr. Hyde is known as evil by the
commingled out of good and evil: and people around him, this passage furthers this idea as
Edward Hyde, alone, in the ranks of Robert Louis Stevenson chooses to highlight how
mankind, was pure evil.” (Stevenson 39) depraved Edward Hyde is in this passage by calling him
“truly evil.”

“To cast it in with Hyde, was to die to a diction The language Stevenson uses makes it seem as if knowing
thousand interests and aspirations, and to Hyde would ruin the soul, and throughout the story we see
become, at a blow and forever, despised this fact is entirely true.
and friendless.” (Stevenson 42)
 Initially, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde seem like polar opposites, two people that couldn’t possibly be
friends, yet are. Mr. Hyde is utilized as a representation of the evil of human nature and Jekyll as the good,
but as the book goes on, you learn they aren’t as different as they might seem. At the beginning, scenes with
Dr. Jekyll were more lighthearted and happy, now his scenes are almost bone chilling. His expression is even
described as “one of abject terror and despair,” (Stevenson 23) and his abrupt mood change “froze the very
blood of the two gentlemen.” (Stevenson 23) He even goes on to describe himself as the “cheif of sinners”
(Stevenson 21) and the “cheif of sufferers,” (Stevenson 21) making the reader uncomfortable with the reality
of his evils. Unlike Dr. Jekyll, the character of Hyde starts the story as a known evil and ends the story evil.
He is constantly described by others as a “small” (Stevenson 15) giving the word a negative connotation, he
is also referred to as “wicked looking” (Stevenson 15) which causes him to seem horrifying. In the end, it is
revealed Hyde is Jekyll’s inner evil, morphing two characters who are seemingly different into the same
person.