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GCSE English Literature · key term
The use of physical force to injure, damage or destroy. In the novella, violence also exposes cruelty and the fragility of civilised behaviour.
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Paper 1
Revise: ViolenceIn Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), violence is more than evidence that Hyde is dangerous. It raises a disturbing question: how secure are the manners and moral restraints that make people appear civilised? Hyde attacks vulnerable people, but the final revelation connects his brutality to the respected Dr Jekyll.
Paper 1, Paper 2
Physical force used to injure, kill or compel someone to act.
Move from what Hyde does to how Stevenson presents it: analyse a precise word, image or sentence pattern and connect it to violence.
Build each paragraph around an argument about violence or fear, supported by a short quotation or an accurate reference to an event. Relevant paraphrasing is credited.
Distinguish defensive violence against invading humans from violence used to silence fellow animals.
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In Animal Farm, violence initially helps explain why the animals want freedom. Later, Napoleon uses violence against those same animals to protect his authority. Fear is the connection between these stages: a ruler does not need to attack everyone if the threat of punishment makes everyone obey.
The use of physical force to harm someone or damage something; in the novella, it also exposes cruelty, failures of self-control and threats to social order.
Paper 1
The use of physical force to hurt, damage or kill; in the novel, violence also exposes cruelty and the failure of moral restraint.
Revise: ViolenceIn Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, violence is more than evidence that Hyde is dangerous. It tests the boundary between civilised behaviour and destructive impulses. Hyde attacks vulnerable people without a convincing motive, while Jekyll’s final confession reveals that this apparently separate criminal comes from within a respected doctor.
Component 2
Physical force used to injure, damage or destroy. In the novel, violence exposes cruelty and challenges the apparent security of civilised society.
Revise: ViolenceIn Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, violence does more than establish Hyde as dangerous. It raises a disturbing question: how secure are the kindness, self-control and moral responsibility that supposedly distinguish civilised people from beasts?
