Strange case of jekyll and hyde

• Mr. Utterson is going for a walk with his friend and relative Mr. Enfield
• Mr. Enfield tells Utterson a scary story about Mr. Hyde
• Mr. Utterson (Dr. Jekyll’s laywer) finds out that in the event of Dr. Jekyll’s death or disappearance, his entire estate is to be given to Mr. Hyde
• Mr. Utterson finds this extremely suspicious and tries to get to the bottom of this mystery

• Utterson hunts down Mr. Hyde, but when he is question about the arrangements he refuses to comment

Nearly a year later:

• Mr. Hyde is accused of murder and everyone tries to catch him, without success
• Meanwhile, Dr. Jekyll is in great health; he entertains his friends, gives dinner parties…
• Two months later, both Dr. Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll fall terribly ill
• Dr. Lanyon dies (leaving mysterious documents in Mr. Utterson’s possession which he can only open if Dr. Jekyll dies or disappears)
• Dr. Jekyll remains in seclusion
• Finally, one evening, Dr. Jekyll’s butler visits Mr. Utterson and persuades him to return to Dr. Jekyll’s house
• There they find Mr. Hyde dead
• Mr. Utterson finds several documents left to him
• We discover:

• By using a potion, Dr. Jekyll was able to transform into Mr. Hyde
• Mr. Hyde became more and more powerful and took over the control

Dr. Henry Jekyll:

• respected doctor
• friend of Lanyon and Utterson
• (in science) driven by a profound curiosity and perfectionism
• greedy for knowledge
• self-centred
• lacks self-control
• doesn’t seem to care very much about the “bad” things he did as Mr. Hyde
• finds the result of his experiment personally rewarding
• seems to “enjoy” evilness to some extent
• he is a hypocrite (=Heuchler)
• he is vain (=eitel)

Mr. Hyde

• Strange man
• violent and cruel
• ugly and deformed
• Hyde is Jekyll’s dark side

Themes:

• Duality of Human Nature

• Jekyll-Hyde relationship 
• Jekyll believes:

• “man is not truly one, but truly two,” 
• human soul as the battleground for an “angel” and a “fiend,” each struggling for mastery

• Appearances / Reputation

• Jekyll wants to keep up a façade of respectability

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