GCSE English Literature

Dr Jekyll Quotes13 essential quotes with full analysis.

Complete collection of Dr Jekyll's most important quotes for GCSE English Literature, including his confession and key quotes about duality and repression.

About Dr Henry Jekyll

Dr Henry Jekyll is a respected scientist and physician in Victorian London. He appears successful and respectable, but secretly harbours desires that conflict with his public image. His experiment to separate good from evil within himself creates Mr Hyde - the embodiment of his repressed dark side.

Jekyll's tragedy is that he cannot control what he has unleashed. His confession reveals that Hyde grew stronger with each transformation, eventually taking over without the potion. Jekyll represents Victorian society's fatal flaw: the belief that evil can be hidden or controlled rather than acknowledged and integrated.

DualityRepressionScienceRespectabilityGuilt

All Dr Jekyll Quotes

“man is not truly one, but truly two”
Dr JekyllChapter 10
DualityRepressionScience vs Nature

Context: Jekyll explains his theory of human duality in his final statement.

Analysis

This is the novella's central thesis. Jekyll articulates the Victorian struggle between public respectability and private desire. His scientific framing suggests duality is a natural fact, not a moral failing - though his experiments prove disastrous.

Language Techniques:

AntithesisScientific languagePhilosophical statement

Exam Tip

This is perhaps the most important thematic quote. Use it to discuss the central theme of duality and Jekyll's rationalization of his experiments.

“I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man”
Dr JekyllChapter 10
DualityScience vs NatureRepression

Context: Jekyll reflects on his discovery about human nature.

Analysis

The word "primitive" connects to Darwin - duality is ancient, pre-civilized. "Thorough" suggests it permeates all aspects of humanity. Jekyll frames this as scientific discovery, yet his own inability to control it suggests nature cannot be so easily mastered.

Language Techniques:

Scientific registerAdjectivesFirst-person confession

Exam Tip

Link this to Victorian scientific optimism and its limits - Jekyll thinks he can control duality but ultimately cannot.

“I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse”
Dr JekyllChapter 10
DualityGood vs EvilRepression

Context: Jekyll describes Hyde taking over his identity.

Analysis

The slow process suggests addiction - once evil is indulged, it grows stronger. The comparative adjectives "better" and "worse" show Jekyll still sees moral hierarchy, even as he loses control. "Incorporated" literally means "made into one body" - they are becoming inseparable.

Language Techniques:

Repetition of "slowly"Comparative adjectivesFirst-person reflection

Exam Tip

Use this to discuss how the novella shows evil as addictive and consuming - once released, it cannot be controlled.

“I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end”
Dr JekyllChapter 10
DualityGood vs EvilScience vs Nature

Context: The final line of Jekyll's confession.

Analysis

Jekyll refers to himself in third person, showing complete dissociation. The tragic finality emphasizes the consequences of tampering with nature. "Unhappy" summarizes Jekyll's existence - his respectability brought no joy, only repression that led to disaster.

Language Techniques:

Third-person self-referenceTragic endingFormal register

Exam Tip

The ending shows that attempting to separate good and evil fails catastrophically - they cannot be divided.

“My devil had been long caged, he came out roaring”
Dr JekyllChapter 10
RepressionDualityViolence

Context: Jekyll explains why Hyde emerged with such ferocity.

Analysis

The metaphor of caging suggests Victorian repression stores rather than eliminates dark impulses. "Roaring" like a beast connects to animal imagery throughout. The longer desires are suppressed, the more violently they emerge - a critique of Victorian morality.

Language Techniques:

Extended metaphorAnimal imageryPersonification

Exam Tip

Crucial for discussing repression. Stevenson suggests Victorian morality's suppression of desire makes eventual release more violent, not less.

“I concealed my pleasures”
Dr JekyllChapter 10
RepressionVictorian HypocrisySecrecy

Context: Jekyll admits to hiding his indulgences even before the experiments.

Analysis

This reveals Jekyll was already living a double life before Hyde existed. Victorian society demanded public respectability while tacitly permitting private vice - as long as it remained hidden. Jekyll's shame about ordinary "pleasures" shows how restrictive this society was.

Language Techniques:

ConfessionEuphemismFirst-person narrative

Exam Tip

Use this to argue that Hyde is not created by science but released - Jekyll's dark side already existed; the potion just gave it freedom.

“The pleasures which I made haste to seek in my disguise were, as I have said, undignified”
Dr JekyllChapter 10
RepressionVictorian HypocrisySecrecy

Context: Jekyll describes what Hyde did during his nocturnal outings.

Analysis

The vagueness of "undignified" is deliberate - readers must imagine what vices Jekyll means. This ambiguity made the novella more unsettling to Victorians, who could project their own forbidden desires. The word "disguise" emphasizes Hyde as mask, not separate being.

Language Techniques:

EuphemismAmbiguityFirst-person confession

Exam Tip

The vagueness is key - Stevenson forces readers to confront their own interpretation of what Jekyll's "pleasures" might be.

“that child of Hell had nothing human”
Dr JekyllChapter 10
Good vs EvilDualityViolence

Context: Jekyll describes Hyde after the murder of Carew.

Analysis

Religious imagery positions Hyde as demonic, yet he came from Jekyll himself. The paradox is that this "child of Hell" is also Jekyll's child - born from his experiments. "Nothing human" suggests total loss of humanity, yet Hyde is human nature unrestrained.

Language Techniques:

Religious imageryMetaphorHyperbole

Exam Tip

Use this to discuss Jekyll's self-deception - he distances himself from Hyde, but Hyde IS Jekyll without conscience.

“I felt younger, lighter, happier in body”
Dr JekyllChapter 10
DualityRepressionGood vs Evil

Context: Jekyll describes the sensation of first becoming Hyde.

Analysis

The positive physical sensations are disturbing - evil feels good. "Younger" suggests regression to a less civilized state. "Lighter" implies freedom from moral burden. This reveals how repression weighs heavily; releasing it brings relief, however destructive.

Language Techniques:

Rule of threeComparative adjectivesFirst-person sensation

Exam Tip

This shows the seductive nature of evil - giving in to dark impulses feels liberating, which makes Hyde addictive.

“there was something strange in my sensations, something indescribably new and, from its very novelty, incredibly sweet”
Dr JekyllChapter 10
DualityRepressionScience vs Nature

Context: Jekyll describes the first transformation.

Analysis

The language of pleasure and novelty treats moral transgression like a drug. "Indescribably" echoes others' inability to describe Hyde. "Sweet" gives evil sensory appeal. Jekyll's scientific curiosity becomes indistinguishable from sinful desire.

Language Techniques:

Sensory languageSemantic field of pleasureFirst-person confession

Exam Tip

The sweetness of transformation explains why Jekyll continues despite dangers - evil is pleasurable, which is its danger.

“Henry Jekyll stood at times aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde”
Dr JekyllChapter 10
DualityGood vs EvilRepression

Context: Jekyll reflects on Hyde's increasingly violent behaviour.

Analysis

The use of full names emphasizes their separateness, yet they share one body. "Aghast" shows moral horror, but it's passive - Jekyll watches rather than prevents. This illustrates how splitting good from evil doesn't eliminate evil; it removes restraint.

Language Techniques:

Third-person self-referenceJuxtapositionDramatic irony

Exam Tip

Jekyll's horror at Hyde's acts while continuing to become him shows addiction and self-deception - he's complicit, not innocent.

“the moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr Hyde”
Dr JekyllChapter 3
DualityScience vs NatureRepression

Context: Jekyll reassures Utterson that he can control his relationship with Hyde.

Analysis

This confident assertion proves tragically ironic. Jekyll's belief in control reflects scientific hubris - the assumption that nature can be mastered. The novella systematically dismantles this confidence, showing desire cannot be rationally controlled.

Language Techniques:

Dramatic ironyForeshadowingHubris

Exam Tip

Essential for discussing hubris. Jekyll's confidence that he controls Hyde is his fatal flaw - he underestimates evil's power.

“It was Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty”
Dr JekyllChapter 10
DualityVictorian HypocrisyGood vs Evil

Context: Jekyll attempts to absolve himself of responsibility for Hyde's crimes.

Analysis

This self-justification reveals Jekyll's moral failure. He denies responsibility for his own actions by claiming Hyde is separate. Yet the novella shows they are one person. This excuse mirrors how Victorians blamed the "lower" self for sins.

Language Techniques:

Self-deceptionMoral evasionDramatic irony

Exam Tip

Use this to critique Jekyll - he never accepts responsibility. His final confession blames Hyde, not himself, for everything.

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