Considering doors and windows as key motifs in Stevenson's 'Jekyll and Hyde'
I can analyse the significance of doors and windows in ‘Jekyll and Hyde’.
Considering doors and windows as key motifs in Stevenson's 'Jekyll and Hyde'
I can analyse the significance of doors and windows in ‘Jekyll and Hyde’.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Windows and doors are motifs in ‘Jekyll and Hyde’, linking to themes of liminality, duality and secrecy.
- The door used by Hyde is “blistered” which suggests the degradation and corruption that character represents.
- The door to Jekyll’s home is opened by a well dressed servant in keeping with his role as a proper Victorian gentleman.
- Windows provide an ambiguous motif in that they look transparent, but they can be made into a barrier.
- The door to Jekyll’s room has to be forced open showing how hard it is to arrive at the truth.
Common misconception
That Stevenson presents good and evil as complete opposites.
Remind students how easily Hyde and Jekyll blur into one.
Keywords
Duality - The term duality refers to the state of combining two different things.
Threshold - A threshold is the point between two rooms or the level at which something starts.
Liminal - We describe things as liminal when they exist in an uncertain space between two distinct spaces.
Respectable - If you are respectable, your character, appearance or behaviour is socially acceptable.
Equipment
You will need access to a copy of 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' by Robert Louis Stevenson for this lesson.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).
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