Jekyll and Hyde Character + Plot Revision Notes
Chapter
1
Story of the
Door
Characters
Mr Utterson
Character Analysis
Portrayed as rational and
reliable- ‘rugged countenance’
He is also seen as a charitable
man- ‘Lost reputable
acquaintance’ and ‘Lost good
influence’ as he wants to help
others
Mr Enfield
Mr Enfield is a ‘well-known man
about town’
He has a sense of curiosity within,
‘It is connected in my mind’
His whereabouts are unknown
Both Utterson and Enfield have a
mutual distaste for Mr Hyde
Enfield’s perspective of Hyde- ‘No
gentlemen but wishes to avoid a
scene’ yet it’s ironical as the
‘gentleman’ being Jekyll had
trampled over the girl
Mr Hyde
Hyde is indescribable and no-one
knows what he really looks like,
‘It wasn’t like a man; it was some
damned Juggernaut’ (said by
Enfield)
At present in this chapter, we
only see a small section of his
character which will grow
throughout the novella.
Everything he does at present is
secretive and quite sinister‘something displeasing,
Plot
Mr Utterson
and Mr
Enfield pass
a door on
one of their
walks.
Enfield tells
the story of
an incident
he
witnessed
when a
strange
man walked
over a child.
Enfield and
others
blackmailed
the manthe cheque
used to pay
£100 was in
the name of
Dr Henry
Jekyll.
We learn
that female
characters
are
represented
generally as
victims e.g.
the girl
trampled by
Hyde
something downright detestable’
(said by Enfield)
- Alliteration of hard ‘d’
sound makes it harsh
2
Search for Mr Mr Utterson
Hyde
He is completely immersed in
finding Hyde.
He is a close friend of Jekyll’s and
has more knowledge about him
than anyone else as he has made
Jekyll’s will, ‘you and I must be
the two oldest friends that Henry
Jekyll has’
Utterson feels troubled by the
contents of the will as it offends
him- all his possessions will go to
someone that is barely even
known of when dead
Utterson’s curiosity sparks, ‘If he
be Mr Hyde, I shall be Mr Seek’
being a pun
Dr Lanyon
Mr Hyde
Utterson can’t find any reason or
relation between Jekyll and Hyde
at this point and wants to find out
more about it
Dr Lanyon describes Jekyll’s
science as ‘wrong in the mind’
and also being ‘such unscientific
balderdash’
Dr Lanyon practices science in a
more traditional way rather than
experimental like Jekyll
He is described as animalistic and
primitive- ‘pale and dwarfish’,
‘deformity’, ‘hissing intake of
breath’
‘nausea and distaste of life’
Hyde is in all of everyone, but the
point is that the bad can be
controlled, which doesn’t happen
with Hyde
Mr Utterson
looks at Dr
Jekyll’s will
and
discovers
that Mr
Hyde
named as
the sole
benefactor.
Mr Utterson
meets Mr
Hyde and
gets his
address.
3
Dr Jekyll was
quite at ease
Dr Jekyll
We see his welcoming and
respectable qualities in this
chapter by arranging this dinner,
showing his generosity, ‘the
doctor gave one of his pleasant
dinners to some five or six old
cronies’
However, when speaking with
Utterson, he is quite conservative
due to the fact that he doesn’t
say everything about the will and
eventually becomes agitated
when Utterson persistently
interrogates him about it, ‘My
will? Yes, certainly I know that,
said the doctor, a trifle sharply.’
4
The Carew
Murder Case
Mr Hyde
Mr Utterson
5
Incident of
the Letter
Dr Jekyll
Jekyll thinks Lanyon is too
conservative and stuck up in his
ways to fully understand Jekyll's
ideas. However, Jekyll actually
has a degree of resentment
against Lanyon and, for this
reason, gets overly excited talking
about him to the point of calling
him a ‘hidebound pedant’
It is an oxymoron, showing that
Jekyll is probably confused in his
nature of duality
Now we see the other side of
‘Jekyll’ in his primitive nature as
he murders Danvers Carew- ‘apelike fury’
Utterson reflects on how odd it is
that a man who lives in such
squalor is the heir to Henry
Jekyll’s fortune
He has finally admitted that Hyde
dictated the contents of the will,
‘the doctor seemed seized with a
qualm of faintness; he shut his
mouth tight and nodded.’
Jekyll has now lost his control
over Hyde as Utterson sees him in
Mr Utterson
visits Dr
Jekyll in
order to talk
about Mr
Hyde and
the will. Dr
Jekyll
reassures
Mr Utterson
and asks
him not to
mention the
matter
again.
ill health, where Jekyll speaks in a
frantic, desperate, pleading
language, ‘Utterson, I swear to
God…I swear to God I will never
set eyes on him again’
(Blasphemy)
‘he did not like his friend’s
feverish manner’
Plus, a lot of repetition is used
with several phrases that Jekyll
says
Mr Utterson
6
The
Remarkable
Incident of Dr
Lanyon
7
Incident at
the Window
8
The Last
Night
9
Dr Lanyon’s
Narrative
10
Henry Jekyll’s
Full
Statement of
the Case
He becomes quite suspicious of
the letter, ‘Rather quaint’ as the
notes seem the same and he is
alarmed by it and tells Guest that
he shouldn’t disclose this
information to anyone