Sir Carew

• Hyde / Jekyll


  It is unknown whether Hyde / Jekyll intentionally attacked Carew specifically. Hyde most likely attacked him because he was a good man, and evil preys on goodness. Carew's innocence serves to highlight Hyde's maliciousness
• Class comparison


  • There is a juxtaposition between the high class and wealth of Sir Danvers Carew and the working class appearance of Hyde. Hyde's violent murder of Carew can be seen to represent a violent uprising of the proletariat
• Sir Danvers Carew is used to display the incredible acts of violence that Hyde is capable of committing
• Character

  • Sir Danvers Carew
• Sir Danvers Carew's murder in chapter four solidifies the reader's opinion of Hyde as a formidable and destructive character
• Key moment in Chapter 4


  Carew is clubbed to death by Hyde, witnessed by a maid through a window. This act of violence symbolizes Hyde's general disregard for conventional authority, using Carew as a victim
• London crime: '"London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim"'
• Utterson


  Implied that Utterson knew or knew of Carew well enough to identify him at the police station
• Context of the Whitechapel Murders

  • The Jack the Ripper murders occurred in 1888, after the publication of the novel, some people believed that the murder of Carew in the novel inspired the killings
• Sir Danvers Carew is an MP, described as "an aged and beautiful gentleman with white hair"
• Kindness description


  Juxtaposes with the evil embodied by Mr. Hyde, emphasizing Carew's age and implying a harsher current culture compared to predecessors
• Carew's description

  Feminized, perpetuating the view that females are helpless in the novella
• Interaction between characters


  Older man bows and accosts the other with a very pretty manner of politeness
• First reference to Carew

  • Mentioning his "high position" would shock a Victorian readership, reflecting the hierarchical and classist society of Victorian London
  • Introduced as a victim, heightening the mystery/thriller genre of the novella
  • Animalistic connotations of "ferocity" place Carew as prey and Hyde as predator
• Carew's description

  • "Aged and beautiful gentleman with white hair"
• Reaction to surprise and hurt

  Increases tension surrounding his death, leading the reader to assume he was unaware of Hyde's intentions, reinforcing the idea that Carew serves as more of a plot device rather than a three-dimensional character
• Character of Carew

  • Emphasizes vulnerability, heightening the magnitude of violence committed by Hyde against him
  • Sets Carew up as a Victorian Gentleman with a "very pretty manner of politeness"
• White hair


  Symbol of distinguishment and purity, perpetuating Carew's presentation as a victim in the plot
• Speaker: 'Quote'