Exploring Literature - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1) - "a dreadful shipwreck"

How can students write better about literature?  I'm often asked this question as an English tutor, and this new series of posts will look at another common GCSE literature text, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

In a previous series, I have given some tips about exploring literature texts in general, which you can read here (1. Overview), here (2. Characters) and here (3. Quotations and Analysis)

With the text of 'Jekyll and Hyde', it's actually the final chapter that is one of the best places to look in for key quotations.  It's a quotation from this chapter which is the focus for this post:

"I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: 

that man is not truly one, but truly two"

Students need to be able to respond to language and linguistic devices to do well at literature exams at both GCSE and A Level.  This quotation presents us with the metaphor of a shipwreck.

What does a shipwreck suggest to you?  And what does it have to do with the character of Jekyll/Hyde and the themes of the book?

I'll let you think about the answers to those questions for the moment!

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