So you now know the novel – but how do you structure your essay?

This clean & simple new guide from Accolade Press will walk you through how to plan and structure essay responses to questions on Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. By working through seven mock questions, these detailed essay plans will show you how to go about building a theme based answer – while the accompanying notes will illustrate not only how to masterfully structure your response, but also how to ensure all AQA's Assessment Objectives are being satisfied.

R.P. Davis has a First Class degree in English Literature from UCL, and a Masters in Literature from Cambridge University. Aside from teaching GCSE English (which he's done for nearly a decade now), he has also written a string of bestselling thriller novels.

Shopping options: you can purchase a paperback copy via any good online book store, such as one of the following:

Alternatively, you can purchase and download an electronically delivered PDF directly from us here.

SAMPLE FROM THE GUIDE

Foreword

In your GCSE English Literature exam, you will be presented with an extract from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and a question that asks you to offer both a close analysis of the extract plus a commentary of the novel as a whole. Of course, there are many methods one might use to tackle this style of question. However, there is one particular technique which, due to its sophistication, most readily allows students to unlock the highest marks: namely, the thematic method. 

To be clear, this study guide is not intended to walk you through the novel scene-by-scene: there are many great guides out there that do just that. No, this guide, by sifting through a series of mock exam questions, will demonstrate how to organise a response thematically and thus write a stellar essay: a skill we believe no other study guide adequately covers!

I have encountered students who have structured their essays all sorts of ways: some by writing about the extract line by line, others by identifying various language techniques and giving each its own paragraph. The method I’m advocating, on the other hand, involves picking out three to four themes that will allow you to holistically answer the question: these three to four themes will become the three to four content paragraphs of your essay, cushioned between a brief introduction and conclusion. Ideally, these themes will follow from one to the next to create a flowing argument. Within each of these thematic paragraphs, you can then ensure you are jumping through the mark scheme’s hoops. 

So to break things down further, each thematic paragraph will include various point-scoring components. In each paragraph, you will quote from the extract, offer analyses of these quotes, then discuss how the specific language techniques you have identified illustrate the theme you’re discussing. In each paragraph, you will also discuss how other parts of the novel further illustrate the theme (or even complicate it). And in each, you will comment on the era in which the novel was written and how that helps to understand the chosen theme.

Don’t worry if this all feels daunting. Throughout this guide, I will be illustrating in great detail – by means of examples – how to build an essay of this kind.

The beauty of the thematic approach is that, once you have your themes, you suddenly have a direction and a trajectory, and this makes essay writing a whole lot easier. However, it must also be noted that extracting themes in the first place is something students often find tricky. I have come across many candidates who understand the extract and the novel inside out; but when they are presented with a question under exam conditions, and the pressure kicks in, they find it tough to break their response down into themes. The fact of the matter is: the process is a creative one and the best themes require a bit of imagination. 

In this guide, I shall take seven different exam-style questions, coupled with extracts from the novel, and put together a plan for each – a plan that illustrates in detail how we will be satisfying the mark scheme’s criteria. Please do keep in mind that, when operating under timed conditions, your plans will necessarily be less detailed than those that appear in this volume. 

Now, you might be asking whether three or four themes is best. The truth is, you should do whatever you feel most comfortable with: the examiner is looking for an original, creative answer, and not sitting there counting the themes. So if you think you are quick enough to cover four, then great. However, if you would rather do three to make sure you do each theme justice, that’s also fine. I sometimes suggest that my student pick four themes, but make the fourth one smaller – sort of like an afterthought, or an observation that turns things on their head. That way, if they feel they won’t have time to explore this fourth theme in its own right, they can always give it a quick mention in the conclusion instead. 

* * *

Before I move forward in earnest, I believe it to be worthwhile to run through the four Assessment Objectives the exam board want you to cover in your response – if only to demonstrate how effective the thematic response can be. I would argue that the first Assessment Objective (AO1) – the one that wants candidates to ‘read, understand and respond to texts’ and which is worth 12 of the total 34 marks up for grabs – will be wholly satisfied by selecting strong themes, then fleshing them out with quotes. Indeed, when it comes to identifying the top-scoring candidates for AO1, the mark scheme explicitly tells examiners to look for a ‘critical, exploratory, conceptualised response’ that makes ‘judicious use of precise references’ – the word ‘concept’ is a synonym of theme, and ‘judicious references’ simply refers to quotes that appropriately support the theme you’ve chosen.

The second Assessment Objective (AO2) – which is also responsible for 12 marks – asks students to ‘analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.’ As noted, you will already be quoting from the novel as you back up your themes, and it is a natural progression to then analyse the language techniques used. In fact, this is far more effective than simply observing language techniques (personification here, alliteration there), because by discussing how the language techniques relate to and shape the theme, you will also be demonstrating how the writer ‘create[s] meanings and effects.’ 

Now, in my experience, language analysis is the most important element of AO2 – perhaps 8 of the 12 marks will go towards language analysis. You will also notice, however, that AO2 asks students to comment on ‘form and structure.’ Again, the thematic approach has your back – because though simply jamming in a point on form or structure will feel jarring, when you bring these points up while discussing a theme, as a means to further a thematic argument, you will again organically be discussing the way it ‘create[s] meanings and effects.’ 

AO3 requires you to ‘show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written’ and is responsible for a more modest 6 marks in total. These are easy enough to weave into a thematic argument; indeed, the theme gives the student a chance to bring up context in a relevant and fitting way. After all, you don’t want it to look like you’ve just shoehorned a contextual factoid into the mix.

Finally, you have AO4 – known also as “spelling and grammar.” Technically speaking, there are no AO4 marks up for grabs in this particular section of the paper. That said, I would still suggest that you take care on this front. The examiners are human beings, and if you are demonstrating a strong grasp of spelling and grammar, most examiners (whether rightly or wrongly!) will still be more inclined to mark your paper more generously.

* * *

My hope is that this book, by demonstrating how to tease out themes from an extract, will help you feel more confident in doing so yourself. I believe it is also worth mentioning that the themes I have picked out are by no means definitive. Asked the very same question, someone else may pick out different themes, and write an answer that is just as good (if not better!). Obviously the exam is not likely to be fun – my memory of them is pretty much the exact opposite. But still, this is one of the very few chances that you will get at GCSE level to actually be creative. And to my mind at least, that was always more enjoyable – if enjoyable is the right word – than simply demonstrating that I had memorised loads of facts.

Essay Plan One

Read the following extract from Chapter 1 (Story of the Door) of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and then answer the question that follows.

This extract is the first paragraph of the novel and introduces the reader to Mr Utterson.

Mr Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which never found its way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these silent symbols of the after-dinner face, but more often and loudly in the acts of his life. He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove. “I incline to Cain’s heresy,” he used to say quaintly: “I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.” In this character, it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men. And to such as these, so long as they came about his chambers, he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour.

No doubt the feat was easy to Mr Utterson; for he was undemonstrative at the best, and even his friendship seemed to be founded in a similar catholicity of good-nature. It is the mark of a modest man to accept his friendly circle ready-made from the hands of opportunity; and that was the lawyer’s way. His friends were those of his own blood or those whom he had known the longest; his affections, like ivy, were the growth of time, they implied no aptness in the object.

Starting with this extract, explore the extent to which Stevenson presents Utterson as an outsider.

Write about:

• how Stevenson presents Utterson as an outsider in this extract.

• how Stevenson presents Utterson as an outsider in the rest of the novel.

Introduction

The formula I tend to suggest for writing introductions is as follows: first, offer some (very brief!) historical context, so you are scoring AO3 marks off the bat; next, hint at the themes your essay will be exploring, since this will warm the examiner up to start awarding you AO1 marks (the marks reserved for conceptual understanding).

“Since polite Victorian society was governed by an overwhelming pressure to conform to societal mores, the fear of the outsider – be it the Irish Fenian, or the outlawed homosexual – was all the more pronounced.1 Stevenson’s portrait of a hyper-reserved Utterson demonstrates how the pressure on men to conform to a stoic paradigm paradoxically functioned to detach them from mankind. That said, Utterson’s tendency to tangle with more blatant outsiders (not least, Jekyll-cum-Hyde) suggests that he can alternatively be construed as explicitly residing on the peripheries of polite society.”2

Theme/Paragraph One: In this extract, Utterson is portrayed as lacking (or perhaps reticent to deploy) the ordinary tools of expression that would allow him to communicate with his fellow man, thereby leaving him outside of human discourse.

• As the reader is given a précis of Utterson’s personality, what is perhaps most striking is his lack of expressiveness.3 That the reader is informed in the opening sentence that Utterson’s ‘countenance...was never lighted by a smile’ signals not only Utterson’s reticence to engage in non-verbal communication, but also, through the structural choice of opening with this observation, that this reticence is key to understanding his personality: it functions as a kind of epigraph for Utterson the man.4 [AO1 for advancing the argument with a judiciously selected quote; AO2 for the close analysis of the language and discussing how structure shapes meaning].

• Moreover, although the reader is informed that, when drinking, ‘something eminently human beaconed from [Utterson's] eye,’ what is more interesting is the notion this something ‘never found its way into his talk.’ Implicit here is the notion that Utterson’s words lacked humanity, or could even be construed as inhuman. This redoubles the sense that Utterson’s hobbled expressive capabilities place him outside regular human discourse. Tellingly, while he enjoys the theatre – an art-form that embodies expressiveness – he had not visited one in ‘twenty years,’ and he is explicitly described as ‘undemonstrative.’ [AO2 for the close analysis of the language].

• Elsewhere in the novel: The notion that Utterson’s muted expressiveness utterly detaches him from mankind is not borne out in the novel: after all, while often solitary, he still socialises with other men (Enfield on walks; Jekyll and Lanyon at dinner) and displays a range of emotions. Indeed, even this extract hints that he is still to be considered somewhat social: it refers to his ‘ready-made’ friendship ‘circle.’ In any case, Stevenson seems to be suggesting that if Utterson is to be considered an outsider for his repressed ways, then so too should Victorian middle class men en masse – all of whom, due to societal pressure to manifest stoicism and decorum, wind up excluded from much of the human experience. [AO3 for invoking historical context that helps to decode the text].

Theme/Paragraph Two: While Utterson might be considered an outsider insofar as he embodies Victorian male repression, he might also be considered an outsider for his tendency to seek the company of more blatant outsiders, which in fact puts him at odds with polite society.

• There is an interesting paradox at play in the narrator’s observation that Utterson frequently found himself ‘the last reputable acquaintance... in the lives of down-going men.’ After all, the fact that Utterson chooses to associate with ‘down-going men’ implicitly threatens to compromise his stated reputability. The phrase ‘down-going men’ conjures an image of physical descent: a motif that appears persistently in Gothic fiction to connote transgression, and thus functions to emphasise the aberrant behaviour of Utterson’s associates.5 [AO1 for advancing the argument with a judiciously selected quote; AO2 for the close analysis of the language].

• Elsewhere in the novel: The idea that Utterson’s association with outliers might alter his identity is broached when Utterson resolves to investigate Mr Hyde, and tellingly decides that: “If he be Mr Hyde... I shall be Mr Seek.” The turn of phrase renders Utterson as a dopplegänger to Hyde – the novel’s prime outsider – thereby ensuring that Utterson’s identity is defined in relation to Hyde.6 The use of the dopplegänger to link the supposedly respectable to the outlier is seen in other Gothic texts: in Mary Shelley’s early Nineteenth Century novel, Frankenstein, the eponymous doctor’s dopplegänger is the monster himself.7 [AO1 for advancing the argument with a judiciously selected quote; AO3 for invoking historical-literary context].

Theme/Paragraph Three: Utterson is characterised as someone who exists beyond the urge to judge and the urge to meddle; though this characterisation is subverted as the novel unfolds.

• Throughout the extract, Utterson is portrayed as existing beyond the desire to judge, or meddle in the business of, others: he is described as having an ‘approved tolerance for others,’ and as following a laissez-faire dictum: ‘I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.’8 As a result, Utterson positions himself as an individual who takes care to remain outside the affairs of others – be it judging those affairs, or seeking to impact upon them. [AO1 for advancing the argument with a judiciously selected quote].

• Elsewhere in the novel: However, while Utterson may be positioned as an outsider to other people’s affairs in this extract, this is thoroughly subverted as the book unfolds. Indeed, the chapter seven sequence in which Utterson and Poole forcefully break into Jekyll’s chamber – as Jekyll-cum-Hyde begs him to relent (‘Utterson... for God’s sake, have mercy!’) – symbolically encapsulates Utterson’s refusal to remain on the peripheries of other people’s affairs. [AO1 for advancing the argument with a judiciously selected quote].

Theme/Paragraph Four: Although Utterson is a central presence in the novel – the reader discovers things at the same pace as Utterson – the fact that all passages relating to him are rendered in the third person positions him as an outsider to the reader.

• Although this extract marks Utterson out as a protagonist, the fact it is written in the third person positions him as an outsider to the reader: the reader is not given direct access to his thoughts. The narrative draws attention to this by domiciling a few first-person phrases within this paragraph – “I incline to Cain’s heresy” – thus implicitly inviting the reader to consider an alternative narrative mode, one Stevenson eschews, that would not have placed Utterson beyond the reader. The density of the text in this extract – there is just a single paragraph break – allows the mise-en-page to mirror Utterson’s impenetrability.9 [AO1 for advancing the argument with a judiciously selected quote; AO2 for the close analysis of the language and discussing how form shapes meaning].

• Elsewhere in the novel: Furthermore, while the reader experiences things at the same time as Utterson, Utterson is rarely at the centre of the action. Generally, the action has already taken place, and Utterson, detective-like, is piecing it together afterwards. For the duration of the novel’s final two chapters (‘Lanyon’s Narrative;’ ‘Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case’) Utterson is reading along with the reader, and is locked out of the action.

• It should not go unnoticed that Jekyll-cum-Hyde, the book’s more obvious outsider, is given a first person narrative at the end of the novel, and that Utterson is never granted such intimate treatment. In terms of narrative, Utterson is arguably a greater outsider than Jekyll-cum-Hyde. [AO2 for discussing how form shapes meaning].

Conclusion

This has wound up being a meaty, four-themed essay, so I am pretty confident we are adequately satisfying the exam board’s AO1 criteria. As a result, I am going to lace my conclusive remarks with literary and historical context, in order to mop up any remaining AO3 marks that may be going spare.

“In Gothic fiction, the monstrous outsider is frequently used as a vehicle to expose the flaws and contradictions of mainstream society; that is, the outsider paradoxically captures the essence of the mainstream. The way Utterson straddles the mainstream and outsider worlds – one ‘reputable’ and Jekyllian, one ‘down-going’ and Hydian – hints at the secret symmetry between them. Indeed, the latter is not truly on the outside, but is in fact lurking in the heart of the former. This was true of Victorian London, where, beneath a respectable veneer, prostitution and violence ran rampant.”

1 The Irish Fenians were fighting for independence from British rule and were outsiders insofar as they were outlaws who engaged in terrorist activities.

Homosexual acts between men were illegal right up until 1967, the year which saw the passing of the Sexual Offences Act – the legislation that decriminalised homosexuality in the UK.

2 ‘Cum’ in ‘Jekyll-cum-Hyde’ is a Latin phrase. It is usually used to describe two characteristics about a certain individual – for example, Barack Obama is a lawyer-cum-politician.

Of course, the situation with regards to Jekyll and Hyde is somewhat more complex. However, as G. K. Chesterton observed in his fantastic essay on the novel, ‘the real stab of the story is not the discovery that the one man is two men; but in the discovery that the two men are one man.’ He then observes that when one dies, both die – that is, ultimately there is always just ‘one man born and only one man buried.’ As a result, when I write Jekyll-cum-Hyde, it is an acknowledgement that these two men are ultimately one man, and it is thus a useful technique to allow me to discuss this hybrid individual.

If you’re curious, you can read more of Chesterton’s essay at the following URL:

http://platitudesundone.blogspot.com/2010/09/jekyll-and-hyde.html

3 “Précis” is a French word that has entered the English language. It means a summary.

4 An epigraph is a short quote at the beginning of a work of literature that hints at the themes and concepts that will be discussed.

5 To transgress means to go beyond the limits, and is often used to describe behaviour that goes either beyond the law or beyond moral conduct. However, we can also talk about physical transgressions – that is, when someone gains entry to a forbidden space.

6 The word doppelgänger is in fact German and it is kind of like a spooky double. However, the doppelgänger doesn’t necessarily have to be a physical double. It could instead reflect some other characteristic in the person in question.

7 The word eponymous is used to describe a situation in which the title of a text is named after the main character.

8 Laissez-faire is a French expression which has entered English usage. It means “to leave alone.”

9 The mise-en-page – yet another French expression! – refers to the way the text appears on the page.

Alternatively, you can purchase and download an electronically delivered PDF directly from us here.

Customer Reviews

This book is unlike any revision guide I’ve seen out there. As it states in the foreword, it isn’t designed to accompany the text while reading or to quiz students on plot. It takes students through the thought process of essay writing without patronising them. The tone reads as though it is aimed at the higher ability student, but it does talk to them informally too. I also like that it teaches a loose structure in crafting an essay but does not utilise an acronym so allows scope for originality. This is a useful guide for students who, after studying the novella, need to move onto the next step of compiling their thoughts logically. As a teacher who hasn’t taught this text before, it was a really helpful overview of themes and will be fantastic exemplar material for my students. I’ve bought a few revision guides to supplement my own understanding of texts in the past, and these have been left on the shelf due to their simplicity (which is great for students) but this is different in that it teaches the method of essay writing as well as a thematic approach to an exam response. It is more accessible for higher ability students but there are few texts available for this cohort and I think this guide has a place for them.

This was so incredibly helpful for both my year 10 and 11 children. It explained the syllabus clearly and really helped their grades go up. I don't normally write review but cannot thank you enough! It really helped them understand, revise and understand what was required. Thank you!

Another excellent resource . The essay plans provide great detail and variation. When used correctly can help to achieve high level grades. I would highly recommend this to other teachers.

Of all the books we have bought to assist our children in their English work, none have focused on the actual essay writing quite like this guide. Definitely a 'gap in the market' & very useful. Look forward to my year 10 child making full use of it in the coming months.

I obtained a copy of this guide for my son who will shortly be studying Jekyll & Hyde at GCSE. The guide takes you through a 'Thematic Method' for the English literature exam with extracts and analysis of quotes, and offers some commentary on the era, and comparable gothic fiction, around when the book was written for historical context. It is not a typical, explanatory guide of the book itself that is often found to support students.

The examples of essay planning around 3 or 4 themes in order to successfully pick up marks are very useful and pull focus to the sections that show depictions of evil, violence, fear, etc. found in Jekyll & Hyde and relevant extracts that support these themes.

I would recommend this guide for those studying the book that would benefit from support in essay writing.

I think this guide is great! A lot is taught in English, however essay writing should definitely be focused on more. It is an advanced skill in itself. As a Year 10, having a guide that actually teaches you how to craft assessment pieces correctly is invaluable and a great relief - it is one thing coming up with ideas, and another being able to write it all down. I also really like the fact that the guide shows you actual essay plans, rather than just giving you ‘instructions’. The simplified notes page at the end covering all the chapters is nice to have too! Overall, I would definitely recommend this guide to others and can see it being really helpful for my GCSE’s.

The initial outline of the guide is very helpful as it explains how it gives examples of how to answer exam questions. It is not a way to avoid reading the actual book as it is an essay guide rather than a study guide!... This is a very technical guide and is brilliant for those working towards a high grade. The note section at the back is particularly useful as it explains complex words and phrases used within the guide.

This study guide is extremely good. I really enjoyed the perspective of explaining how the essay style questions should be tackled. The layout of the guide is extensive and covers each theme very nicely. This is a very good study guide and beneficial for students and teachers.

Any questions or feedback? Need support? Want to purchase our resources on behalf of a school? Get in touch with our team at info@accoladetuition.com, and we shall endeavour to reply within 48 hours.

Visit us on Twitter to hear the latest Accolade Press news. Also: we'd love to hear about your learning journey. Use the hashtags #AccoladeGuides and #revisiongcse to spread the word.

To learn about our tuition services, please click here.

Cookies are important. Please click here to review our cookie policy.

We value the privacy of our users: you can read our privacy policy here.