Chapter Summaries Flashcards
chapter 1
While taking a walk one Sunday, Mr. Utterson and his friend, Mr. Enfield, pass through a quiet London neighborhood. Enfield points out a door and tells Utterson a story involving that door. One evening, Enfield says, he was walking home at 3 a.m. and saw two people in the otherwise deserted neighborhood. One was a small man walking quickly, and the other was a young girl running down a cross street. They ran into each other at the corner, and the man trampled the little girl and left her lying there screaming. Enfield, the girl’s family, and a doctor confronted the man and blackmailed him into paying 100 pounds to the girl and her family as compensation for what he’d done.
The man led them to a doorway, entered, and returned with 10 pounds in gold and a check for the other 90. The group doubted the check was good, but the man stayed with them until the bank opened the next morning. To everyone’s surprise, the check was good. Utterson asks some follow-up questions, but Enfield hadn’t investigated further. Enfield has, however, studied the door and says it is strange. It isn’t clear where it leads or how many rooms are associated with it. There’s some confusion about where one building stops and the next one starts. Utterson asks the name of the man who trampled the child. It was Hyde. Utterson doesn’t ask whose name was on the check because, he says, he already knows it.
chapter 2
Once he is home Mr. Utterson reviews Jekyll’s will. It leaves everything to Edward Hyde and says that if Jekyll disappears for three months or more, Hyde gets all Jekyll’s possessions. Utterson worries the will might indicate madness or a personal disgrace on Jekyll’s part. He visits Dr. Lanyon, a friend to both Utterson and Jekyll. He finds that Lanyon and Jekyll have fallen out of contact because of a clash over one of Jekyll’s theories that Lanyon finds “unscientific balderdash.” Utterson is relieved: he can dismiss it as a scientific disagreement rather than a more serious ethical or medical concern. After the two men part, Utterson dreams of Hyde trampling the child and wishes he could see Hyde’s face. He commits himself to finding Mr. Hyde so he can see him for himself.
Whenever he finds time, Utterson plants himself near the door where Hyde went to retrieve money to pay the blackmail. When he finally sees Hyde approaching the door, Utterson taps him on the shoulder. Hyde is momentarily frightened but talks to him. During this conversation, Utterson learns some facts about Hyde, like his address in Soho. This conversation also signals to readers that Hyde is closer to Jekyll than his old friend Utterson is. He knows what Jekyll would and wouldn’t have said, and he calls Utterson on a lie.
Once Utterson sees Hyde’s face, he speculates on what makes it so distasteful. He concludes that it bears “Satan’s signature” and is marked by “something troglodytic.” Utterson then goes to visit his friend Henry Jekyll who lives close by, but Jekyll’s servant, Poole, tells him Jekyll isn’t home. Utterson tells Poole he saw Hyde enter through the “dissecting room door” and asks if it is okay. Poole tells Utterson it is common: Hyde has a key. This troubles Utterson and makes him more certain than ever that something is wrong in Jekyll’s life, and he wonders whether “the ghost of some old sin” has returned to haunt Jekyll. For that to happen, Jekyll would have to have committed some serious sin in the past. This foreshadows the final chapter when Jekyll admits his history of immoral acts.
chapter 3
Two weeks later Jekyll has a dinner. When the other guests leave, Utterson remains in order to talk to Jekyll about his will. Jekyll doesn’t want to talk about it, but he does say Lanyon is as upset by his will as Utterson is. When Utterson explains that he has learned things about Hyde, Jekyll asks him to drop the subject. “I am painfully situated,” Jekyll explains. And when Utterson pressures Jekyll to tell him the whole story, Jekyll responds that he’d tell Utterson if he could tell anyone, but he can’t—and as soon as he can get rid of Hyde, he will. Utterson agrees to drop the subject, and Jekyll asks one more thing of Utterson. If he disappears, he wants Utterson to take care of Hyde and make sure he gets “his rights.” Utterson doesn’t like the request, or Hyde, but he agrees.
chapter 4
A year passes without incident, but then a savage murder occurs. A young maid servant is looking out the window at the moon when she sees a white-haired gentleman and Mr. Hyde meet on the street outside. She recognizes Hyde because he had once visited her employer. The two men talk, and then Hyde suddenly beats the older man to death with his cane. The maid calls for help, but Hyde is long gone when the police arrive. It wasn’t a robbery, they note, because they find money and a gold watch on the victim as well as an envelope with Mr. Utterson’s name on it. When the police take the envelope to Utterson, he accompanies them to view the body and identifies it as Sir Danvers Carew, a respected gentleman. Utterson then guides the police to Hyde’s home located in a disreputable part of town.
When they knock on the door, the housekeeper answers and tells them she hasn’t seen Hyde for two months until yesterday. Utterson and the inspector search Hyde’s house and find that Hyde uses only two rooms, leaving the rest of the house empty. Those two rooms are expensively furnished, however, and are in a chaotic state as if they have been “ransacked.” A number of papers are partially burned in the fireplace. They find his checkbook and the broken end of the cane that has been used to kill Carew. They then visit Hyde’s bank and find that he still has thousands of pounds there. This encourages the inspector, who thinks he’s sure to come get the money.
chapter 5
Utterson visits Jekyll, who receives him in his laboratory, to ask if Jekyll has heard about Carew’s murder. When Jekyll acknowledges he has, Utterson tells him he was Carew’s lawyer as well as Jekyll’s and asks Jekyll if he is hiding Mr. Hyde. Jekyll swears he is not and promises Utterson that he’ll never hear from Hyde again. He then gives Utterson a letter, saying he does not know if he should give it to the police, and asks Utterson for his opinion. When Utterson reads it, he’s relieved. It seems to indicate that Hyde has repaid Jekyll for his help and left the area. Utterson asks Jekyll if Hyde dictated the particular clauses in Jekyll’s will, but the doctor goes pale and does not answer. Jekyll does say, though, that he’s learned a powerful lesson.
As Utterson leaves, he asks Poole who had delivered the letter, but Poole insists no letter was received. This makes Utterson worried. Once back in his office, Utterson asks his chief clerk, Mr. Guest, to read the letter and offer his opinion on what to do with it. Guest notices something odd about the handwriting. When a servant delivers a note from Dr. Jekyll, Guest compares the handwriting to that of Mr. Hyde’s letter and says they are the same, except they slant in different directions. Utterson concludes that Jekyll forged the letter for Hyde.
chapter 6
Two months pass without news of Hyde, and Jekyll settles into a routine, spending time with friends and engaging in religious and charitable activities. Utterson becomes accustomed to seeing Jekyll regularly, but then unexpectedly and without explanation Jekyll shuts Utterson out. At a loss Utterson visits Dr. Lanyon and finds his old friend very changed. He looks older and unwell. Lanyon says he’s had a shock and might not recover. Utterson tells him Jekyll is unwell, too, and asks if Lanyon has seen him. The question upsets Lanyon, who asks his friend not to mention Jekyll: they’ve had a split, and Lanyon regards Jekyll as dead.
When Utterson gets home, he writes Jekyll, asking why he has barred him from his home and broken with Lanyon. He receives a reply the next day. Jekyll doesn’t blame Lanyon for the end of their friendship and agrees it must be over. He further asks Utterson not to be surprised if Jekyll often refuses to see him.
A few weeks later Lanyon dies. Utterson then opens an envelope Lanyon had left to be opened after he was dead. Inside is another envelope, labeled to be opened only if Jekyll dies or disappears. Upon reflection Utterson locks this envelope in his safe. After Lanyon’s death he tries repeatedly to visit Jekyll, but Jekyll refuses to see him. Utterson’s visits become less frequent over time.
chapter 7
One Sunday Utterson and Enfield go for a walk. As they pass by the door into which Hyde had gone in the first chapter, the conversation turns to Hyde. Enfield suggests they will never see him again. Both men explain how meeting Hyde filled them with revulsion. Enfield then admits he feels foolish that he didn’t know the door led to Jekyll’s home, at which Utterson says he’s worried about Jekyll and suggests they step into the courtyard. From there they view Jekyll sitting at a window. They invite him out and, since he looks unhealthy, suggest that getting outside will be good for his health. Jekyll turns them down, saying it is impossible for him to come out just then. Nevertheless, they agree to talk where they are, and everyone is happy. Suddenly, however, Jekyll looks terrified. The window slams shut, and Jekyll disappears without a word. His two friends walk away, silent for a time but very disturbed.
chapter 8
Some time later Utterson is sitting home alone when Jekyll’s butler, Poole, visits him. Poole is afraid something has happened to Jekyll, though he won’t say what. He asks Utterson to come with him to investigate. They leave immediately, and when they arrive at Jekyll’s, the rest of the servants are assembled and are frightened.
Poole guides Utterson to the laboratory door and calls in to Jekyll, telling him Utterson is there to visit. Jekyll refuses to see Utterson, and Poole does not insist but instead guides Utterson away so they can talk in private. Poole insists that it is not Jekyll’s voice and that someone did away with Jekyll eight days ago. When Utterson challenges this story, Poole gives his evidence. Jekyll sometimes left written orders for his servants. That’s the only way this strange person in the lab has been communicating. Poole shows Utterson one of the notes, written to a chemical merchant. The tone of the note is demanding, even desperate. In addition Poole has caught one actual glimpse of the man in the lab. The figure is too small to be Jekyll, and the person wears a mask. Poole is sure Jekyll has been murdered. Poole and Utterson conclude that it must be Hyde in the lab, and they agree to break down the door. They send two servants around back with sticks to capture the man if he tries to run that way. Utterson arms himself with a fireplace poker while Poole gets an axe. Then Utterson demands to see Jekyll or he will break down the door. Whoever is inside begs them not to insist, but they hold firm, and Poole chops through the door. Once it is down they find Edward Hyde. He has poisoned himself and is dying. Poole and Utterson search, but they can’t find any trace of Dr. Jekyll. They do find some chemicals, which Poole identifies as the drug he brought Jekyll. On another table they find an envelope addressed to Utterson. Inside there is a copy of Jekyll’s will, which has been changed to leave everything to Utterson instead of Hyde, and a letter to Utterson from Jekyll. It is brief and says mainly that Jekyll has disappeared and Utterson should read the enclosed accounts.
chapter 9
The narrator changes abruptly as this chapter opens, with Dr. Lanyon picking up the story. He begins by explaining how he came in possession of a letter from Jekyll. The letter, dated the previous month, follows. In it Jekyll begs Lanyon to come as soon as he gets the letter, no matter what he’s doing. When he gets there, Lanyon will find Poole waiting with a locksmith. Lanyon is to force the door to Jekyll’s cabinet and remove the contents of the drawer labeled “E,” which holds some powders and papers. He is then to return to his residence and wait for someone who will arrive to pick up the contents of the drawer.
After the letter Lanyon’s account continues. As directed, he went to Jekyll’s and gathered the materials. The tincture is something Jekyll made, and the papers are records of his experiments. Lanyon concludes that Jekyll is fighting some form of mental illness. He starts to worry and arms himself with a pistol.
Shortly after midnight someone knocks on the door. It is a small, disturbing man wearing clothes that are too big for him. Lanyon recounts that his appearance should be funny but is, in fact, revolting. The man pressures Lanyon for the things he got from Jekyll’s, but Lanyon insists on an introduction first. The man introduces himself as Mr. Hyde. Satisfied, Lanyon shows him where the contents of the drawer are. Hyde asks for a “graduated glass” and uses it to mix the salts. The mixture bubbles, smokes, and changes color. The visitor then asks Lanyon if he should leave with the glass, or if “the greed of curiosity” has caught hold of Lanyon. Lanyon insists that he wants to see what happens next, even if it seems unbelievable. Hyde drinks the tincture, and transforms into Henry Jekyll.
“My life is shaken to the roots,” Lanyon concludes as the chapter draws to an end.
chapter 10
Dr. Jekyll narrates this final chapter by way of a letter explaining what he did and why. It starts with a brief biographical sketch in which he admits that he has led a dishonest life, acting one way in public and another in private. His scientific studies align with this personal reality, showing him that the individual is not just one person but two. Jekyll then sets out to split these two identities. Through research Jekyll formulates a drug that creates a second body and face with its own half of the original personality. He puts off testing the potion for a long time because he knows he is risking his life to use it. Eventually, however, he tries it and finds it to be agonizingly painful. But it works. It leaves him feeling “younger, lighter,” and “happier in body.” As Edward Hyde, Jekyll is free to be “tenfold more wicked” than he has been in his original combined self. Hyde is smaller than Jekyll because he has not exercised this part of his personality to the same degree. Therefore, the body is not as developed. As he examines the evil face of Hyde for the first time, Jekyll realizes that his intention has determined the result of his experiment. If he has followed good intentions, the drug would have changed him for the better.
Jekyll embraces the reality of having a second self. He tells his servants that Hyde has access to the house, and he revises his will in Hyde’s favor. He then begins to enjoy being Hyde. In this persona, he starts with “undignified” pleasures and moves on to “monstrous” ones. About two months before the Carew murder, something disturbing happens: he falls asleep as Jekyll but awakens as Hyde. This marks a shift in general balance. Early on, the challenge had been to “throw off” Jekyll’s body, but now Hyde seems to be the more natural state. Jekyll explains that he and Hyde share a memory, so he has full knowledge of Hyde’s activities. But all other faculties and emotions are unevenly shared.
Jekyll then puts Hyde aside for two months. When he lets him emerge again, his passions are more intense. That’s when he murders Carew. Once everyone is looking for Hyde, Jekyll uses that threat to keep Hyde contained, and the ploy works for a while. Jekyll tries to make up for his past sins with good deeds, but Jekyll’s drug has ruined his balance, and he eventually changes to Hyde while he is conscious and in public and without using the drug at all. At this point Jekyll’s fear changes. He used to be afraid of being executed for murdering Carew, but now he is afraid of living as Hyde.
Fearing for his life, Hyde writes letters to Poole and Lanyon. He then appears at Lanyon’s, where he changes back to Jekyll. Exhausted, he goes home to sleep. When he wakes up he has breakfast and then spontaneously changes to Hyde again. Hyde’s power seems to grow as Jekyll weakens—and Hyde’s hatred for Jekyll grows as well. He tries to make a new batch of the drug, but it doesn’t work. He eventually concludes that some mysterious impurity in the original batch is what has allowed it to work its transformation. Jekyll takes the last of his original batch to give him some control for a time, but he ends his letter unsure what will happen.
