Capturethatcaprice

Jekyll's Description (CH10)

“I felt younger, lighter, happier in body; within I was conscious of a heady recklessness, a current of disordered sensual images running like a mill race in my fancy, a solution of the bonds of obligation, an unknown but not an innocent freedom of the soul. I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought, in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine. I stretched out my hands, exulting in the freshness of these sensations; and in the act, I was suddenly aware that I had lost in stature.”

“Now the hand of Henry Jekyll (as you have often remarked) was professional in shape and size: it was large, firm, white and comely. But the hand which I now saw, clearly enough, in the yellow light of a mid-London morning, lying half shut on the bed clothes, was lean, corded, knuckly, of a dusky pallor and thickly shaded with a swart growth of hair. It was the hand of Edward Hyde.”

“...it had seemed to me of late as though the body of Edward Hyde had grown in stature, as though (when I wore that form) I were conscious of a more generous tide of blood;”

“I looked down; my clothes hung formlessly on my shrunken limbs; the hand that lay on my knee was corded and hairy.”

“Thenceforward, he sat all day over the fire in the private room, gnawing his nails;”

Summary:

Significantly younger than Jekyll, at least enough to feel it. I’d say somewhere in his 30s, personally. (Jekyll is said to be 50 at the beginning of chapter III)

“Lighter” could be referring to multiple different things. Weighing less (thinner and shorter), less aches from old age (and that general feeling of being old), or the new freedom from this alternate identity. Personally, at this point, I interpret it as the first two.

Significantly shorter than Jekyll.

Lean (Skinny? But slightly muscular…)

Hands are veiny (“corded”). I assume the rest of his body would be somewhat veiny as well, wherever possible. (arms, neck, etc.)

Boney. Knuckly implies he’s boney. (In my opinion.)

“Dusky” means darker; “pallor” means pale skin. I don’t interpret this as him being more tanned, just with that almost-sickly purplish color people get sometimes??? I can't explain it well. (Example image below) (That color also goes hand-in-hand with being veiny! You can see the veins pretty well! Although, it’s a bit different from the veininess of someone who is “corded.”)

Source

Thick hair on his hands. Presumably on the rest of his body as well.

In the end, “grown in stature” is interesting. Either it’s a supernatural magical potion thing where he literally got taller or he stopped slumping as much. (Perhaps due to Hyde getting more confident!)

Also at the end, he has better blood flow, apparently.

Hyde’s limbs are a lot thinner than Jekyll’s.

Has a nail-biting problem! Super messed up nails!

Utterson's Description

"Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice;”

“'Your master seems to repose a great deal of trust in that young man, Poole,' resumed the other musingly.”

Summary:

Pale, so yeah, not tan. (((Stop making the evil one darker!!!)))

He is NOT visibly "deformed" or egregiously unattractive. Personally, I interpreted this like that one page of The Twits (view below).

He smiles weirdly 🥺🫶

This was meant to be a more serious post but I have nothing appropriate to say about that vocal description like HELLO 🤤