General

Question 1

What time period was Jekyll and Hyde set and written in?

Answer 1

Victorian era.

Question 2

What are the strict values of Victorian society?

Answer 2

People were expected to be restrained and appear respectable at all times.

Question 3

What is the message of Jekyll and Hyde?

Answer 3

It is about human nature - everyone has good and evil inside them.
If people explore their dark side, it can lead to problems - but hiding or denying it leads to problems too.

Question 4

What was Stevenson influenced by as a child?

Answer 4

The strict Christian beliefs of his nanny, Alison Cunningham.

Question 5

What was Stevenson interested by as an adult?

Answer 5

In the behavior of Victorian gentlemen - the way they maintained an outwardly respectable appearance, but secretly indulged in immoral behavior.

Question 6

Who was Stevenson especially fascinated by?

Answer 6

Deacon Brodie, a respectable cabinet maker who led a secret life as a robber.

Question 7

What did Stevenson and his father quarrel over?

Answer 7

Religion - his father was upset that Stevenson had become and atheist.

Question 8

What was important in Victorian middle and upper-class society and what did this lead to?

Answer 8

To look respectable and to uphold reputation - as a result people hid their true feelings, especially if these were immoral or improper.

Question 9

Describe Mr. Utterson.

Answer 9

• wealthy
• well-respected
• lawyer
• reserved
• inspires a strange fondness in those who know him
• never abandons a friend whose reputation had been sullied or ruined

Question 10

Summaries Chapter 1.

Answer 10

• Utterson and Enfield go on a walk
• they approach an out-of-place, neglected building
• Enfield relates a story in connection with it
• he was walking in the same neighborhood late one night
• he sees a shrunken, misshapen man crash into and trample a young girl
• a crown (including Mr. Enfield) threaten to ruin the man’s good name unless he made amends
• the man paid them 100 pounds
• the check bore the name of a very reputable man
• Enfield thought the ugly man had blackmailed the reputable man
• Enfield reveals that the ugly mans name was Hyde and Utterson says he can guess the name on the cheque

Question 11

Summaries chapter 2.

Answer 11

• Utterson goes home to study a will that he drew up for his close friend Dr. Jekyll
• it says that everything Jekyll owns will go to Hyde immediately in the event of his death or disappearance
• he’s convinced Hyde has some sort of power of Jekll
• Utterson goes to talk to Dr. Lanyon, a friend of Jekyll’s
• but Lanyon doesn’t know anything about Hyde and has fallen out with Jekyll as a result of a professional dispute
• Utterson has nightmares about a faceless man
• Utterson begins to spend time around the run-down building where Enfield say Hyde enter
• Hyde finally appears, Utterson asks to see his face and is appalled and horrified
• Utterson visits Jekyll and we learn that the run-down building that Hyde frequents is a laboratory attached to Jekyll’s townhouse
• Poole tells Utterson that Jekyll is not home
• Poole tells Utterson that Hyde has a key to the lab. and that all servants have orders to obey Hyde

Question 12

Summaries chapter 3.

Answer 12

• 2 weeks later, Jekyll throws a well-attended dinner party
• afterwards Jekyll and Utterson chat about the will
• Jekyll tells Hyde of his intentions not to change anything

Question 13

Summaries chapter 4.

Answer 13

• 1 year later a maid sees Mr. Hyde murder Sir Danvers Carew
• Hyde beats him to death with his stick
• the police find a letter addressed to Utterson on the dead body
• Utterson takes the police to Hyde address
• they find the murder weapon and Hyde burned checkbook
• the police can’t find Hyde or any relatives or friends

Question 14

Summaries chapter 5.

Answer 14

• Utterson calls on Jekyll, whom looks deathly ill
• Jekyll claims that Hyde has left and their relationship has ended
• Jekyll shows Utterson a letter from Hyde describing his departure
• Utterson asks Jekyll about the will and Jekyll confirms that Hyde dictated the terms
• Poole never saw a letter enter enter from Hyde
• Utterson talks to his clerk Mr. Guest who compares the handwriting of the letter and says it’s the same as Jekyll’s

Question 15

Summaries chapter 6.

Answer 15

• After Hyde’s disappearance Jekyll seems to get a lot better
• Jekyll holds a dinner party which Utterson and Lanyon attend
• a few days later Utterson calls on Jekyll, Poole reports that his master is receiving no visitors
• this repeats throughout the week
• so Utterson goes to visit Lanyon who is in very poor health, pale and sickly, with a frightened look in his eyes
• Lanyon doesn’t want to talk about Jekyll
• Lanyon promises that after his death Utterson will learn the truth about everything
• Utterson writes to Jekyll who responds saying he won’t see anyone whilst he suffers a punishment that he cannot name
• Lanyon dies and Utterson opens the letter for after his death inside is another letter for after Jekyll dies
• Jekyll still receives no visitors

Question 16

Summaries chapter 7.

Answer 16

• On their walk Utterson and Enfield pass Jekyll’s house where they see Jekyll at the window
• Jekyll refuses to go on a walk with them
• a look of terror seizes his face and he slams the window shut and vanishes
• Utterson and Enfield depart in shocked silence

Question 17

Summaries chapter 8.

Answer 17

• Poole visits Utterson very worried about Dr. Jekyll
• he brings Utterson to Jekyll’s house
• when they call inside to the laboratory a strange voice responds saying he can receive no visitors
• they are confused by the voice and why that person is there
• Poole describes how the voice has sent him on constant errands to chemists
• Poole says he saw the man and he looked nothing like Jekyll
• Utterson suggests a disease
• Poole says the man was smaller and looked like Mr. Hyde
• Utterson decided to break into the lab.
• they can tell it’s Hyde by his voice
• once inside they find Hyde’s body lying on the floor with a crushed vial in his hand
• they can’t find a trace of Jekyll
• they find an envelope addressed to Utterson
• inside the envelope is a will replacing Hyde with Utterson, a note to Utterson, and a sealed packet
• he then goes home to read Lanyon’s letter and the sealed packet

Question 18

Summaries chapter 9.

Answer 18

• Lanyon’s letter to Utterson that was meant for after Lanyon and Jekyll died
• saying after Jekyll’s last dinner party, he received a strange letter from Jeyll
• that asked him to go with Poole to break into Jekyll’s cabinet of his lab.
• then too bring a specific draw and it’s contents to Lanyon’s house
• and wait for a man to claim it at midnight
• Lanyon found several vials in the draw and a notebook
• the notebook had a years worth of experiments in it
• at midnight Hyde appeared
• Hyde mixed the contents from the draw and then asked Lanyon whether he should leave before taking it
• Lanyon claimed he wanted to see
• Hyde transformed into Jekyll
• Lanyon ends his letter stating he will soon die

Question 19

Summaries chapter 10.

Answer 19

• the letter Jekyll leaves for Utterson in the lab
• Jekyll talks about his early life and it’s respectability hiding his more frivolous and indecent side
• by the time he was fully grown he lead a dual life
• his scientific interests led to mystical studies as to the divided nature of man
• he says he dreamed of separating the good and evil nature
• he says he eventually found a chemical solution
• at first he says taking the chemical made him feel incredible pain and nausea but later he felt vigorous and filled with recklessness and sensuality
• he had become Hyde
• he didn’t feel guilty for Hyde’s exploits
• however two months later he involuntarily turned into Hyde whilst asleep
• this persuaded him to stop taking the drug
• but two months later he took it again and so long repressed it emerged wild and vengefully savage
• which led to him beating Carew to death, which Hyde delighted in
• this convinced Jekyll never to turn again
• again he involuntarily turned into Hyde far from home, so he sent the letter to Lanyon
• from then on he had to take a double dose of the potion every six hours to avoid spontaneous transformation
• the potion stops working and he knows he has lost control of Hyde and uses the last of the potion to write the letter to Utterson knowing that Jekyll will be no more