| Quote #4 And then all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman. The old gentleman took a step back, with the air of one very much surprised and a trifle hurt; and at that Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth. And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the roadway. (4.1) |
Mr. Hyde is unpredictably and excessively violent. His violence is repeatedly likened to animalistic savagery.
| Quote #5 The most racking pangs succeeded: a grinding in the bones, deadly nausea, and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death. (10.4) |
Transforming between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is not a smooth and seamless process, but rather immensely violent. This signifies the enormity of change that is occurring.
| Quote #6 I was conscious, even when I took the draught, of a more unbridled, a more furious propensity to ill. It must have been this, I suppose, that stirred in my soul that tempest of impatience with which I listened to the civilities of my unhappy victim; I declare, at least, before God, no man morally sane could have been guilty of that crime upon so pitiful a provocation; and that I struck in no more reasonable spirit than that in which a sick child may break a plaything. But I had voluntarily stripped myself of all those balancing instincts by which even the worst of us continues to walk with some degree of steadiness among temptations; and in my case, to be tempted, however slightly, was to fall. (10.18) |
Mr. Hyde has absolutely no scruples or morals; beating Sir Danvers to death is like a child breaking a plaything – an act of no consequence.