Jekyll’s front house

• “ancient, handsome houses, now for the most part decayed” reflects Jekyll’s dual nature
• neighbourhood occupied by “shady lawyers and the agents of obscure enterprises - shows that Jekyll lives on the edge of evil and secrecy
• “Jekyll’s front house wore a great air of wealth and comfort” = displaying prosperity but hiding the backhouse

Duality in light and dark

“the lamp…drawing a regular pattern of light and shadow” - duality between light and dark foreshadowing duality of Jekyll’s personality

“plunged in darkness except for the fanlight”

great field of lamps of a nocturnal city”

“labyrinths of lamplighted city” lamps are used as a motif in the novella to create an unsettling tone, hinting at a lurking danger (Hyde is mostly only seen during the night). The lamps provide a fractured landscape of light and shadow reflecting the fractured truths in the novella and duality. Unnatural for light during the night

Trampling of the child was during a “black, winter morning” where there was “nothing to be seen but lamps”

Duality in Fire

23 REFERENCES TO FIRE

Fire for Hyde is his uncontrollable rage and passion which causes destruction

• "great flame of anger” = uncontrollable rage
• Lanyon describes Hyde as “on fire with sombre excitement”
• “the cheval glass… was so turned as to show them nothing but the… fire sparkling in a hundred repetitions along the glazed front of the presses = The repetition suggests something overwhelming and uncontrollable, almost like the fire is multiplying on its own, creating unease

Fire for Jekyll is a hidden evil representing Hyde

• “seemed to read a menace in the flickering of the firelight”, “uneasy starting of the shadow” = where there is light, there is darkness close behind + hidden evil
• Jekyll “sat on the opposite side of the fire” = fire representing Hyde and they are opposites?

Utterson at first uses the fire as comfort, sees the fire in Jekyll’s house as welcoming

• Utterson sits “close by the fire” - provides warmth, comfort
• “bright open fire” in Jekyll’s hall = welcoming, transparency of truth

Then Utterson sees the hidden evil

• “Like a fire in a forest” - meant to show that the street is shining and pleasant, but fire in a forest connotes destruction (duality)
• “seemed to read a menace in the flickering of the firelight”, “uneasy starting of the shadow” = where there is light, there is darkness close behind + hidden evil