Character profile- Dr Hastie Lanyon

Question 1

one quotation to describe Lanyon as faithful

Answer 1

“i felt bound to do as he requested”

Question 2

one question to describe Lanyon as friendly

Answer 2

“welcomed him with both hands”

Question 3

one quotation to describe Lanyon as conventional

Answer 3

“Jekyll became too fanciful for me”

Question 4

how is Lanyon described as an upper-class gentleman

Answer 4

at first described as a “hearty, healthy, dapper, red-faced gentleman” who is friendly and sociable. when Utterson goes to see him he “sprang up from his chair and welcomed him with both hands”

Question 5

describe how Lanyon is a rational scientist

Answer 5

• lot in common with Jekyll, both doctors and well respected men, were also “inseparable friends”
• have different view on science, Lanyon deals with rational science in material world while Jekyll experiments with science of a mystical or supernatural nature
• Lanyon regards this as “unscientific balderdash”, and Jekyll thinks Lanyon is an “ignorant blatant pedant” for being so sceptical. as result they aren’t as close as they were

Question 6

describe how Lanyon can’t cope with Jekyll’s supernatural secret

Answer 6

Lanyon finds Jekyll’s letter asking him to retrieve his drugs strange - as a man of reason he concludes that Jekyll is suffering from a “cerebral disease”. Lanyon allows himself to watch Hyde take potion, saying he’s “gone too far” not too find out the truth

Question 7

describe how Lanyon is effected by seeing Hyde turn into Jekyll

Answer 7

Jekyll shows Lanyon evidence of supernatural that he can’t ignore . Lanyon can’t cope with the truth of what Jekyll has done- his whole world view turned upside down. his “soul sickened” . he dies because he can’t recover from such a revelation