Dr Lanyon

Question 1

“I felt bound to do as he requested”

Answer 1

This shows Dr Lanyon is a faithful friend to Jekyll, despite falling out over scientific difference

Question 2

“Welcomed him with both hands”

Answer 2

Initially, suggests his character is kind and respectful and symbolic of a Victorian gentleman. It also shows him to be​ a warm character.

Question 3

“Jekyll became too fanciful for me”, “unscientific balderdash”

Answer 3

Hints that Dr Lanyon is traditional and remains stanch in the reason, rationale and integrity of traditional science. He is used to demonstrate the extremes that exist in the realm of scientific research. His role within the text is as ​a foil to Jekyll​ and he is used to highlight the absurdities in some of Jekyll’s experimentation. It also ​foreshadows​ the end of the novella, when Hyde becomes all-consuming and Jekyll can no longer control him. The fricatives​ employed in ​“fanciful”​ creates a​ harsh tone​ to his rejection of Jekyll.

Question 4

“I put him back, conscious at his touch of a certain icy pang along my blood. ‘Come, sir,’ said I. ‘You forget that I have not yet the pleasure of your acquaintance. Be seated, if you please.’ And I showed him an example, and sat down myself in my customary seat and with as fair an imitation of my ordinary manner to a patient, as the lateness of the house, the nature of my preoccupations, and the horror I had of my visitor, would suffer me to muster.”

Answer 4

Demonstrates Lanyon is shaken and shocked by his encounter with Hyde shown by the metaphor​ ​“icy pang among my blood”​ as Hyde doesn’t obey custom as Lanyon does.

Question 5

“Hearty, healthy, dapper, red-faced gentleman”

Answer 5

Initially, Lanyon is a rosy man meaning he was full of life.

Question 6

“Inseparable”

Answer 6

Like Jekyll, he is an honorable London doctor. He used to be good and “inseparable” friends with Jekyll.
· But Jekyll and Lanyon disagree and take a different stance with their scientific theories. Jekyll embraces mysticism (belief that there is hidden meaning in life or that each human being can unite with God), and believes that science can alter the state of consciousness. Lanyon embraces rationalism and science based on facts and tangible evidence

Question 7

“Cerebral disease”

Answer 7

Lanyon does not suspect the truth about Jekyll and Hyde - instead he suspects Jekyll is suffering from a “cerebral disease”.

Question 8

“soul sickened”

Answer 8

Lanyon can’t cope with the truth of what Jekyll has done. His life’s work disproving such theories is diminished by the proof that Jekyll presents to him when he asks him to retrieve his drugs to help him transform back. Lanyon suffers from a breakdown and shock once he sees Hyde - this is evidence of the supernatural that he can’t ignore. Lanyon is “soul sickened” at the sight of Hyde, and his world is disrupted at the thought of this unpleasant truth.

Question 9

“deathly pale”

Answer 9

Lanyon dies as a result of this shock - as he turns “deathly pale”, his condition deteriorates. Lanyon’s death could represent the death of his medical theories, and the start of new medical possibilities that Jekyll represents.

Question 10

“He’s gone too far”

Answer 10

Lanyon witnesses the transformation of Jekyll to Hyde, saying he has “gone to far” because Lanyon is a rational, traditional scientist he is unable to ignore the supernatural occurrence and dies. This leaves the reader with an impression of how horrific the death may be if it affects Lanyon to the point of causing his death, perhaps this is because he does not want to live in a world where the supernatural and mystical sciences are real as this meant his whole life was lie.

Question 11

“The Doctor was confined to the house”

Answer 11

Both Jekyll and Lanyon, hide themselves away because the magnitude secret is too much- what they have experienced and witnessed is too awful.

Question 12

‘Death-warrant written legibly upon his face’

Answer 12

‘Death-warrant written legibly upon his face’ a metaphoric phrase emphasising the effect on Dr Lanyon’s physical appearance after seeing something so unbelievably shocking, this phrase also infers his psychological and emotional state has been disturbed by the traumatic experience

Question 13

“Rosy man had grown pale”

Answer 13

Lanyon is a rosy man meaning he was full of life now he is pale which suggests he has seen something other worldly (Hyde). There is clearly a change in Lanyon and its seems he is in some great shock as his mind is in some deep seated terror. Terror is an extreme version of fear so whatever he has seen must be extreme to cause such emotion. He is affected mentally as well as physically this could show the affects of Hyde on people and that Jekylls truth is extreme and disgraceful it causes the death of people.

Question 14

“But Lanyon’s face changed, and he held up a trembling hand. “I wish to see or hear no more of Dr. Jekyll,” he said in a loud, unsteady voice. “I am quite done with that person; and I beg that you will spare me any allusion to one whom I regard as dead.”

Answer 14

Stevenson presents Lanyon’s emotions very clearly in this section - one of Jekyll’s oldest friends views him as ‘dead’ due to what he has done. The language Stevenson uses is charged with passion and emotion. The repetition of “I”illustrates that Lanyon feels he is in control of the situation and has control over Jekyll.

Question 15

“Greed of curiosity”

Answer 15

Curiosity was one of Jekyll flaws which forced him to make Hyde, Lanyon is curious to see this experiment- he has a need for more.

Question 16

“O God”

Answer 16

Lanyon a man prided for his rational science, screaming to God for mercy/help for the abomination he has just seen.

Question 17

“He began to go wrong, wrong in mind; and though of course I continue to take an interest in him for old sake’s sake, as they say, I see and I have seen devilish little of the man. Such unscientific balderdash,” added the doctor, flushing suddenly purple, “would have estranged Damon and Pythias.”

Answer 17

Lanyon fails to respect the near-magical nature of Dr. Jekyll’s experimenting. Lanyon dismisses Jekyll’s current work as “unscientific,” and indeed, Jekyll’s potion is almost magical in its power (it’s capable of transforming Jekyll into Hyde). In short, Lanyon could be said to embody the 19th century spirit of enlightenment and logic, while Jekyll, via his experiments, embodies the “dark side” of the era– emotion, violence, and cruelty.

Question 18

“I have had a shock,” he said, “and I shall never recover. It is a question of weeks. Well, life has been pleasant; I liked it; yes, sir, I used to like it. I sometimes think if we knew all, we should be more glad to get away.”

Answer 18

Lanyon seems unafraid of death–in fact, he implies that he’s glad to be at the end of his life, since he’s come upon some important and disturbing information recently. What Lanyon doesn’t say (and what we don’t know yet) is that he’s discovered Dr. Jekyll’s secret: Jekyll is Mr. Hyde. Lanyon has accidentally stumbled upon the secret that Jekyll was hiding, and now that he’s aware of the truth, he can’t bear to live any longer. Lanyon’s observation about “knowing all” reinforces the novel’s themes of repression and secrecy, suggesting that human happiness hinges on our ignorance of the world around us, and of ourselves. Inside each one of us lurks a Mr. Hyde–once we become aware of such a thing (as Lanyon must be), it becomes difficult to go on living normally, or living at all.

Question 19

“My life is shaken to its roots; sleep has left me; the deadliest terror sits by me at all hours of the day and night;”

Answer 19

Lanyon is haunted all day and all night, as what he has seen challenges his entire life’s beliefs. It challenges him as a traditional scientist and challenges the norms and decorum of Victorian society.

Question 20

“I sometimes think if we knew all,” he tells Utterson, “we should be more glad to get away.”

Answer 20

Lanyon argues that if everyone knew the truth they would all want to die. Death is a better prospect than knowing that man is not one but two and we all have this duelity within us, as we have this darker, sinister side of us waiting to be released- having the potential to commit inhumane crime such as murder.

Question 21

“such unscientific balderdash would have estranged Damon and Pythias “

Answer 21

Both are doctors and men of science, but Dr. Lanyon believes that Henry Jekyll became isolated by radical views, straying too far from the orthodoxy of their scientific profession.
Lanyon equates Jekyll’s unconventional pursuits with a preoccupation with irrational matters.
Lanyon’s reference to the legendary friendship of Damon and Pythias indicates he once felt close to Jekyll.
( theme of friendship )
Lanyon is a foil to Jekyll showing the extremes of metaphysical scientific practice.

Writers intention: debates science
Reader’s response: Jekyll and Hyde was written in 1885 and Darwin’s scientific theory of evolution was published in 1859. People’s scientific views at the time were a contentious issue but a contemporary reader would be aware of the significance of Lanyon’s distaste towards Jekyll.

Question 22

“hide- bound pedant for all that, an ignorant blatant pedant”

Answer 22

Jekyll’s guilt leads him lash out at Lanyon - instead of looking to himself.
Metaphor - ‘Hidebound’ epithet originates from starving cattle being only covered with a thin layer of skin to hold them together so there is no substance underneath. Jekyll is graphically saying that Lanyon is encased in society’s conventional attitudes, without having any actual independent ideas of his own. He is too conservative in his ethical practice of science to understand Jekyll’s ideas.
Repetition of ‘pedant’ adds to the scathing criticism as he suggests Lanyon is hard to like.

Writers intention: to show the effect that nature vs supernatural has on people
Reader’s response: we can see the emotional consequences he experiences as a result of his experiment and the study of psychology was in its fancy when the novel was published.