Overview and Key Scenes

• Mr Utterson


  • Respectable lawyer
  • Symbolises honesty
  • Acts as the moral compass of the novella
• Dr Jekyll


  • Seemingly reputable doctor
  • Symbolises repression
  • Symbolises insatiable curiosity
• Mr Hyde


  • Dr Jekyll's evil doppelganger
  • Symbolises man's basal instincts
• Dr Lanyon


  • Well respected member of the scientific community
  • Symbolises respectability
  • Acts as a foil to Dr Jekyll
• Poole


  • Dr Jekyll's butler
  • Symbolises loyalty
• Sir Danvers Carew


  • MP
  • Member of high society
  • His death symbolises Hyde's disregard for conventional authority
• Mr Enfield


  • Mr Utterson's cousin
  • Key to the theme of repression and silence
• Plot summary


  1. Mr Enfield tells Mr Utterson about a young girl being violently trampled by an evil looking man, Mr Hyde

  2. He later discovers that his friend, Dr Jekyll is Mr Hyde's friend

  3. Utterson visits their mutual friend, Dr Lanyon to ask his opinion. Lanyon tells Utterson that he no longer speaks to Jekyll over scientific differences

  4. A year later, a maid witnesses Sir Danvers Carew, an MP, be beaten to death by Mr Hyde in an unprovoked attack

  5. Lanyon gives Utterson a letter with instructions to not open it before Jekyll is dead, Lanyon soon dies from shock soon after

  6. Poole visits Utterson and they decide that they will break down the door of Jekyll's laboratory. They do so and find Hyde's body along with a letter written by Dr Jekyll to Mr Utterson

  7. Lanyon's letter says that Hyde came to his house and then drank a potion which caused him to transform into Jekyll

  8. Jekyll's letter contains his confession that he developed a drug which caused him to transform into Hyde, his evil side. He then found himself less able to turn back into Jekyll and later ran out of his original drug which he could not recreate. He knows that after writing the letter he will no longer be able to turn back into Jekyll
• Scene 1


  • Our first introduction to Hyde
  • Introduces key themes to the reader
• The street shone out in contrast to its dingy neighbourhood

  Establishes the theme of duality
• Damned Juggernaut


  Satanic connotations juxtaposed against omnipotent connotations, implies that Hyde is unrestricted by conventional ideas of religious morality
• Something displeasing, something downright detestable


  Repetition of "something" implies that Hyde is more of a thing than a being, harsh "d" consonants introduce Hyde as a force of evil
• Giving a strong feeling of deformity


  Ambiguity creates an impression of uncertainty surrounding Hyde
• All of Jekyll's possessions were to pass into the hands of his 'friend and benefactor Edward Hyde'


  Links Hyde and the death of Jekyll from the outset, foreshadowing Jekyll's ruin
• Scene 3


  • Lanyon reveals his opinions of Jekyll, further intriguing Utterson as well as the reader
• Lanyon living in "Cavendish square, that citadel of medicine"


  Contrasts with the earlier description of Jekyll living closer to a less reputable part of London, establishes Lanyon as a reliable source
• Lanyon refers to Jekyll's "unscientific balderdash"


  Reflects the contentious scientific views at the time, foreshadows the significance of their argument
• Hyde's "ape-like fury"


  Simile has animalistic connotations and alludes to Darwin's work
• "this will make a deal of noise"

  Metaphorical language shows how Hyde has disregarded Carew's high status in his act of violence, reflects Victorian society's preoccupation with rank
• "He had his death-warrant written legibly upon his face"


  Fatalistic connotations create an impression of foreboding, metaphor fulfils gothic convention
• "Utterson could not trust his eyes"


  The idea of characters being betrayed by their senses is a typical gothic trope and adds to the mysteriousness of the scene
• A dismal screech, as of mere animal terror, rang from the cabinet


  Auditory imagery of "screech" connotes an owl, reducing both Jekyll and Hyde to a creature of instinct
• "the body of a man sorely contorted and still twitching"


  Harsh consonants in "contorted" and use of continuous verb "twitching" show his discomfort in death
• "like a man restored from death - there stood Henry Jekyll!"


  Religious connotations of resurrection contrast with the previous scenes which emphasises the amoral content of the novel
• "my soul sickened"


  Alliterative sibilance shows the horrific consequences of Jekyll's revealment to Lanyon
• "compound man's dual nature"

  Links to theme of repression and shows Jekyll's awareness of the duality present in human nature
• "Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil"


  Shows that Hyde is the embodiment of all of the evil in Jekyll's character, links to the theme of isolation and suggests that Jekyll felt isolated in his role as the stereotypical Victorian gentleman
• Dramatic structure


  • Exposition
  • Rising action
  • Climax
  • Falling action
  • Denouement
• By placing Jekyll's account at the end of the novella, Stevenson causes the reader to feel sympathy towards Jekyll
• Detective fiction


  • The title suggests a scientific detective case, but the story revolves around people's lives and friendships, subverting the reader's expectations
  • Similar to a conventional detective novel, with a crime committed at the beginning which is eventually solved
  • Stevenson manipulates the genre by revealing the name of the criminal from the outset but leaving his true identity a secret
• Narration


  • Chapters 1-8 focus on the perspective of Mr Utterson, written in the third person which creates the impression of a reliable narrator
  • Chapter 9 is in the form of a letter written by Dr Lanyon in the first person, indicative of an unreliable narrator
  • The text ends with a first person letter written by Jekyll, emphasising the non-linear narrative form
• Epistolary form


  • Stevenson's use of documents such as Jekyll's will and the letters at the end increases tension by adding to the impression of the book being an investigation
  • The documents cause the reader to question Mr Utterson's narrative as they could be seen as more trustworthy
  • The 'officiality' of the documents is enforced because they concern three reputable members of society