Applying the Uncanny
Hyde is described as a "damned Juggernaut," moving without human emotion. This term describes a human acting like a machine.
What is Automatism?
Throughout the book, characters like Lanyon and Jekyll provide these physical objects that cannot be opened until a later date, stalling the truth.
What are Letters (or Sealed Envelopes)?
If we analyze the book specifically to find Robert Louis Stevenson's personal fears, we are practicing this "type" of criticism.
What is the Biographical/Author-focused)?
Hyde’s handwriting is identical to Jekyll’s but slanted differently. This uncanny mirroring falls under which concept?
What is The Double (or Repetition)?
Utterson waits outside the door for nights just to see Hyde's face. This technique creates suspense by doing what to the narrative?
What is delaying the event?
Jekyll's "secret pleasures" that he kept secret for years are the classic definition of this Freudian concept.
What is Repression?
When Jekyll looks at his own hand and sees Hyde’s "corded and hairy" hand instead, he experiences the uncanny because the Familiar has been replaced by what?
What is the Unfamiliar (or Alien)?
For most of the book, the reader doesn't know Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. This "hidden secret coming to light" is a definition by which philosopher?
Who is Schelling?
Stevenson’s father was a strict Calvinist who warned of hellfire. In Freud’s model, this "internalized view of morality" that represses wishes is known as the what?
What is the Censor?
In the final chapter, the "contorted and still twitching" body of Hyde is found on the floor. This creates an uncanny feeling by blurring the line between these two states.
What is animate and inanimate / lifeless (life and death)?
Because the nature of evil in Hyde is never fully explained, the book remains this type of suspenseful text.
What is an Open Text?
Stevenson claimed the plot came to him in a dream. Freud would argue the story is an "imagined fulfillment" of these, which are usually prohibited by social standards.
What are Wishes?
Despite the explanation at the end, the physical dread Hyde inspires remains unspeakable. This makes the text 'Open' because it refuses to resolve this specific uncanny element.
What is Silence (or The Unsaid)?
By making Hyde indescribable and unknowable, Stevenson forces the reader to use their own imagination, which creates suspense through this.
What is The Fear of the Unknown?
Stevenson was a "respectful son" by day and visited brothels by night. Using this personal history to explain Jekyll’s duality is which type of psychoanalytic criticism?
What is using author’s personality to interpret the work?