Year 11 - English
'Jekyll and Hyde': repression and fragmented identities
'Jekyll & Hyde': the dark side of the Industrial Revolution
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils explore 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' within the context of the Industrial Revolution. They first look at the importane of technology and industrialisation within the period and novella, before looking at the social consequences and implications of the Industrial Revolution.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explore how and why Stevenson presents Jekyll as losing control of his fragmented identity.
Key Notes
- The Indutrial Revolution saw an increase in psychological conditions (anxiety, depression and feelings of alienation).
- Strict moral codes of behaviour often led Victorians to live double lives, leading to a fragmentation of identities.
- Many believed psychological conditions signified weakness or moral failure.
- Dr. Jekyll's battle between good and evil reflects the Victorian ideas of repressed desires and loss of self-control.
- After his initial transformation, Jekyll begins to lose control over Hyde and grows weaker while Hyde gains strength.
Vocabulary To Learn
- fragmented: broken into smaller parts, often referring to something once whole or unified
- repression: unconscious suppression of desires, thoughts, or emotions, often due to societal or personal pressures
- efficacy: the ability to produce a desired or intended result; effectiveness of something
- psychoanalysis: a therapeutic method for exploring unconscious thoughts, developed by Freud
- alienation: feeling isolated or from others, society, or one's own identity
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- There were lots of treatments available to Victorians to help them recover from psychological conditions.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
The Indutrial Revolution saw an increase in psychological conditions (anxiety, depression and feelings of alienation). Strict moral codes of behaviour often led Victorians to live double lives, leading to a fragmentation of identities.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'fragmented'
broken into smaller parts, often referring to something once whole or unified.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: There were lots of treatments available to Victorians to help them recover from psychological conditions. Correction: While there were lots treatments available, many showed serious misunderstandings about human psychology. They were ineffecive, some were inhumane and many left patients with long-term psychological damage.
More Lessons In This Unit
- 'Jekyll and Hyde': a critique of unchecked scientific ambition Study Guide
- 'Jekyll and Hyde': moral decay and respectability Study Guide
- 'Jekyll and Hyde': progress versus primal instincts Study Guide
- 'Jekyll and Hyde': technology and dehumanisation Study Guide
- 'Jekyll and Hyde': urbanisation and social divisions Study Guide
- Writing an extended response about 'Jekyll and Hyde' Study Guide
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