Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde Quote Close Reading

He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point. He’s an extraordinary-looking man, and yet I really can name nothing out of the way. No, sir; I can make no hand of it; I can’t describe him.

And it’s not want of memory; for I declare I can see him this moment.

Evolutionary theory of Darwin was unsettling to the people of the Victorian era because it dissolved the boundary between human beings and animals. Followers of Darwin also believed in the opposite of evolution, “degeneration,” basically, going from a higher being to a lower life-form. This idea influences Victorian ideas of criminality in that the brains of criminals are visibly different, more primitive, and hold a higher tendency for violence than those of others.

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It inspired many well-known characters, including that of Mr. Hyde. This influence shows in the Chapter 1 quote above, where Mr. Enfield is describing to Mr. Utterson the hideous, seemingly sub-human, appearance of Mr. Hyde. The quote shows that Mr. Enfield can’t come up with a clear description of Mr. Hyde’s appearance other than the fact that he is horribly deformed in some unclear way, and no one else throughout the novel can offer a clear description of his deformity either.

Perhaps Stevenson does not offer a clear description of Hyde from the beginning of the novel so it becomes up to the reader’s imagination to conjure up their own depiction of a misshapen monster. Since this novel is so well-known, it is understood that Hyde represents evil, but before this is established in the story, what makes him so scary and unlikeable to the other characters and readers? Hyde is unanimously and immediately disliked by all who set eyes on him due to his exterior. The physical appearance of Mr. Hyde is one of the major themes of the novel.

His ugly exterior parallels his moral foulness. Readers during Stevenson’s time probably immediately caught on to the idea that Mr. Hyde is meant to be a representation of evil due solely to the way his appearance is described because during this time period, many people were strong believers in the science of physiognomy, which is the assessment of a person’s character from his or her outer appearance. By this logic, a deformed person is more likely to be a criminal, and implies the idea that evil is something that is physically visible.