Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Chapters Flashcards
What happens in Chapter 1:
The story of the door?
Mr Utterson and Mr Enfield pass the house on a street which is sinister and run down. This reminds Mr Enfield of the time where he met the owner of the house- Mr Hyde, who trampled over a little girl a while back. In compensation, Mr Hyde hands over a cheque to the family, however, who the cheque was signed by is NOT disclosed by Enfield to Utterson, which creates mystery for Mr Utterson. They then promise to not talk about this disreputable affair again.
What happens in Chapter 2:
The search for Mr Hyde?
Utterson has his friend Henry Jekyll’s will- which says that if Jekyll dies or disappears for longer than 3 months, all his possessions should go to Edward Hyde- a man whom Utterson has recently found out is a fiend. He suspects Jekyll is being blackmailed. Utterson decides to visit close friend Dr Lanyon, and discovers that Lanyon and Jekyll have fallen out over Jekyll’s “unscientific balderdash.” Utterson leaves still knowing nothing about who Hyde is and why Jekyll is so interested in him. Utterson then has nightmares of a man with no face, and he realizes he needs to behold the features of Hyde in hopes the “mystery would lighten.”
Utterson begins to haunt the door where Enfield first saw Hyde- its night time and the street is silent before Hyde appears. He speaks to Utterson, giving him his address and showing his face. When Hyde asks how Utterson knows of him, he can’t say he knew from Enfield/ Utterson’s will, so instead he claims that Jekyll told him (Which we know to be false as they are one and the same.) Hyde protests strongly against this as correctly accuses Utterson of lying before rushing into his laboratory. It turns out that the building Hyde has entered is a lab attached behind Jekyll’s house. Jekyll’s servant Poole tells Mr Utterson they all servants have orders to obey Mr Hyde.
What happens in Chapter 3:
Dr Jekyll was quite at ease?
Two weeks after Utterson’s run in with Hyde, Jekyll has a party at his house, inviting Utterson and other guests. When Utterson arrives, he questions Jekyll about the will, treating this mystery as a case that can be solved rationally. However, Jekyll tries to hide the fact that he doesn’t want to discuss it and changes subject to talk about Lanyon. Jekyll believes Lanyon is “ignorant” for dismissing his (Jekyll’s) work. Jekyll does all he can to avoid taking about the will- he says he in a strange situation that “cannot be mended by talking.” He also tells Utterson that he has a “very great interest” in Hyde; again, he won’t reveal why. Jekyll also claims that “the moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr Hyde” (But we later find out that this isn’t true.) Utterson is just trying to get Jekyll out of trouble; he’s more interested in preserving Jekyll’s reputation, however, as a true Victorian gentleman, he’d rather not know the details of Jekyll’s affairs so he stops asking about Hyde.
What happens in Chapter 4:
The Carew Murder Case?
This chapter begins nearly a year later. This is written in the account of a Maid’s eye witness report in a police statement. Sir Danvers Carew, an “innocent”, old man full of “old-world kindness” is walking along the street when he bumps into Mr Hyde. Hyde then attacks Carew for no reason whatsoever, trampling him with “ape-like fury.” A lot of gruesome details are given: Hyde “clubbed” Carew, “trampling” him and giving him a “storm of blows” so that his body “jumped upon the roadway.” Hyde leaves Carew for dead, “incredibly mangled.” At this point, the Maid fainted. After news of the death spreads around London, Utterson, (Whom Danvers Carew was one of his clients) leads the police to Hyde’s house, which Hyde gave him the address to earlier on, but Hyde is nowhere to be seen.
What happens in Chapter 5:
Incident of the Letter?
Utterson visits Jekyll shortly after Carew’s murder; however, Jekyll is behaving rather oddly. Jekyll looks “sick” and speaks in a “feverish manner”- showing how agitated he is about the murder. He’s determinedly be rid of Hyde, swearing to God that he’ll never see him again. Although, Jekyll is still holding back information. He says he has “grounds for certainty” that Hyde will not return” ; but he “cannot share with anyone” what these are, further increasing the mystery. Jekyll tells Utterson that Hyde sent him a letter, which he hands over in fear of his reputation being tarnished. Initially Utterson is convinced the letter is authentic, but when Poole tells him that no post has arrived that day, he starts to have doubts. Utterson takes the letter home and his clerk realizes that Hyde’s writing looks very similar to Jekyll’s. Utterson “struggled” with himself before asking for more information; seemingly showing he is reluctant to uncover ‘the truth.’
Utterson comes to the conclusion that Jekyll has forged the note for Hyde to protect him, and believes Jekyll is being blackmailed. He leaps to the wrong conclusion.
What happens in Chapter 6:
The Remarkable Incident of Dr Lanyon?
Time passes and it’s as if Hyde “never existed.” A new life begins for Jekyll; he holds dinner parties with Utterson and Lanyon, whom he has made peace with. He acts like he did in the old days, doing good deeds and is “at peace.” However, after two months, Jekyll suddenly retreats from society once again without explanation. Jekyll’s odd behavior adds to the atmosphere of mystery.
Utterson visits Lanyon to see if he knows why Jekyll is isolating himself away, but is “shocked” in what he sees. Lanyon appears older and balder, and most importantly seems to have a “deep seated terror of the mind”, showing how profoundly affected he is by what he’s seen. Lanyon believes he’ll die soon and he dies a fortnight later. He leaves Utterson a letter: if he reads it he’ll find out the truth, but an note inside tells him that the letter is not to be opened until the death or disappearance of Dr Jekyll. Utterson is tempted to open the letter, but he’s a a man of “respectable honor”, so in his dead friend’s honor, he locks it in his safe.
What happens in Chapter 7:
Incident at the Window?
The following Sunday, Utterson and Enfield are taking their regular stroll. Passing the door where Enfield once saw Hyde enter to retrieve Jekyll’s check, Enfield remarks on the murder case. He notes that the story that began with the trampling has reached an end, as London will never again see Mr. Hyde. Enfield mentions that in the intervening weeks he has learned that the run-down laboratory they pass is physically connected to Jekyll’s house, and they both stop to peer into the house’s windows, with Utterson noting his concern for Jekyll’s health. To their surprise, the two men find Jekyll at the window, enjoying the fresh air. Jekyll complains that he feels “very low,” and Utterson suggests that he join them for a walk, to help his circulation. Jekyll refuses, saying that he cannot go out. Then, just as they resume polite conversation, a look of terror seizes his face, and he quickly shuts the window and vanishes. Utterson and Enfield depart in shocked silence.
What happens in Chapter 8:
The last night?
Jekyll’s butler Poole visits Utterson one night after dinner. Deeply agitated, he says only that he believes there has been some “foul play” regarding Dr. Jekyll; he quickly brings Utterson to his master’s residence. The night is dark and windy, and the streets are deserted, giving Utterson a premonition of disaster. When he reaches Jekyll’s house, he finds the servants gathered fearfully in the main hall. Poole brings Utterson to the door of Jekyll’s laboratory and calls inside, saying that Utterson has come for a visit. A strange voice responds, sounding nothing like that of Jekyll; the owner of the voice tells Poole that he can receive no visitors. Poole and Utterson retreat to the kitchen, where Poole insists that the voice they heard emanating from the laboratory does not belong to his master. Utterson wonders why the murderer would remain in the laboratory if he had just killed Jekyll and not simply flee. Poole describes how the mystery voice has sent him on constant errands to chemists; the man in the laboratory seems desperate for some ingredient that no drugstore in London sells. Utterson, still hopeful, asks whether the notes Poole has received are in the doctor’s hand, but Poole then reveals that he has seen the person inside the laboratory, when he came out briefly to search for something, and that the man looked nothing like Jekyll. Utterson suggests that Jekyll may have some disease that changes his voice and deforms his features, making them unrecognizable, but Poole declares that the person he saw was smaller than his master—and looked, in fact, like none other than Mr. Hyde.
Hearing Poole’s words, Utterson resolves that he and Poole should break into the laboratory. He sends two servants around the block the laboratory’s other door, the one that Enfield sees Hyde using at the beginning of the novel. Then, armed with a fireplace poker and an axe, Utterson and Poole return to the inner door. Utterson calls inside, demanding admittance. The voice begs for Utterson to have mercy and to leave him alone. The lawyer, however, recognizes the voice as Hyde’s and orders Poole to smash down the door.
Once inside, the men find Hyde’s body lying on the floor, a crushed vial in his hand. He appears to have poisoned himself. Utterson notes that Hyde is wearing a suit that belongs to Jekyll and that is much too large for him. The men search the entire laboratory, as well as the surgeon’s theater below and the other rooms in the building, but they find neither a trace of Jekyll nor a corpse. They note a large mirror and think it strange to find such an item in a scientific laboratory. Then, on Jekyll’s business table, they find a large envelope addressed to Utterson that contains three items. The first is a will, much like the previous one, except that it replaces Hyde’s name with Utterson’s. The second is a note to Utterson, with the present day’s date on it. Based on this piece of evidence, Utterson surmises that Jekyll is still alive—and he wonders if Hyde really died by suicide or if Jekyll killed him. This note instructs Utterson to go home immediately and read the letter that Lanyon gave him earlier. It adds that if he desires to learn more, Utterson can read the confession of “Your worthy and unhappy friend, Henry Jekyll.” Utterson takes the third item from the envelope—a sealed packet—and promises Poole that he will return that night and send for the police. He then heads back to his office to read Lanyon’s letter and the contents of the sealed packet.
What happens in Chapter 9:
Dr Lanyon’s Narrative?
This chapter constitutes a word-for-word transcription of the letter Lanyon intends Utterson to open after Lanyon’s and Jekyll’s deaths. Lanyon writes that after Jekyll’s last dinner party, he received a strange letter from Jekyll. The letter asked Lanyon to go to Jekyll’s home and, with the help of Poole, break into the upper room—or “cabinet”—of Jekyll’s laboratory. The letter instructed Lanyon then to remove a specific drawer and all its contents from the laboratory, return with this drawer to his own home, and wait for a man who would come to claim it precisely at midnight. The letter seemed to Lanyon to have been written in a mood of desperation. It offered no explanation for the orders it gave but promised Lanyon that if he did as it bade, he would soon understand everything. Lanyon duly went to Jekyll’s home, where Poole and a locksmith met him. The locksmith broke into the lab, and Lanyon returned home with the drawer. Within the drawer, Lanyon found several vials, one containing what seemed to be salt and another holding a peculiar red liquid. The drawer also contained a notebook recording what seemed to be years of experiments, with little notations such as “double” or “total failure!!!” scattered amid a long list of dates. However, the notebooks offered no hints as to what the experiments involved. Lanyon waited for his visitor, increasingly certain that Jekyll must be insane. As promised, at the stroke of midnight, a small, evil-looking man appeared, dressed in clothes much too large for him. It was, of course, Mr. Hyde, but Lanyon, never having seen the man before, did not recognize him. Hyde seemed nervous and excited. He avoided polite conversation, interested only in the contents of the drawer. Lanyon directed him to it, and Hyde then asked for a graduated glass. In it, he mixed the ingredients from the drawer to form a purple liquid, which then became green. Hyde paused and asked Lanyon whether he should leave and take the glass with him, or whether he should stay and drink it in front of Lanyon, allowing the doctor to witness something that he claimed would “stagger the unbelief of Satan.” Lanyon, irritated, declared that he had already become so involved in the matter that he wanted to see the end of it. Taking up the glass, Hyde told Lanyon that his skepticism of “transcendental medicine” would now be disproved. Before Lanyon’s eyes, the deformed man drank the glass in one gulp and then seemed to swell, his body expanding, his face melting and shifting, until, shockingly, Hyde was gone and Dr. Jekyll stood in his place. Lanyon here ends his letter, stating that what Jekyll told him afterward is too shocking to repeat and that the horror of the event has so wrecked his constitution that he will soon die.
What happens in Chapter 10:
Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case?
This chapter offers a transcription of the letter Jekyll leaves for Utterson in the laboratory. Jekyll writes that upon his birth he possessed a large inheritance, a healthy body, and a hardworking, decent nature. His idealism allowed him to maintain a respectable seriousness in public while hiding his more frivolous and indecent side. By the time he was fully grown, he found himself leading a dual life, in which his better side constantly felt guilt for the transgressions of his darker side. When his scientific interests led to mystical studies as to the divided nature of man, he hoped to find some solution to his own split nature. Jekyll insists that “man is not truly one, but truly two,” and he records how he dreamed of separating the good and evil natures. Jekyll reports that, after much research, he eventually found a chemical solution that might serve his purposes. Buying a large quantity of salt as his last ingredient, he took the potion with the knowledge that he was risking his life, but he remained driven by the hopes of making a great discovery. At first, he experienced incredible pain and nausea. But as these symptoms subsided, he felt vigorous and filled with recklessness and sensuality. He had become the shrunken, deformed Mr. Hyde. He hypothesizes that Hyde’s small stature owed to the fact that this persona represented his evil side alone, which up to that point had been repressed.
Upon first looking into a mirror after the transformation, Jekyll-turned-Hyde was not repulsed by his new form; instead, he experienced “a leap of welcome.” He came to delight in living as Hyde. Jekyll was becoming too old to act upon his more embarrassing impulses, but Hyde was a younger man, the personification of the evil side that emerged several years after Jekyll’s own birth. Transforming himself into Hyde became a welcome outlet for Jekyll’s passions. Jekyll furnished a home and set up a bank account for his alter ego, Hyde, who soon sunk into utter degradation. But each time he transformed back into Jekyll, he felt no guilt at Hyde’s dark exploits, though he did try to right whatever wrongs had been done.
It was not until two months before the Carew murder that Jekyll found cause for concern. While asleep one night, he involuntarily transformed into Hyde—without the help of the potion—and awoke in the body of his darker half. This incident convinced him that he must cease with his transformations or risk being trapped in Hyde’s form forever. But after two months as Jekyll, he caved in and took the potion again. Hyde, so long repressed, emerged wild and vengefully savage, and it was in this mood that he beat Carew to death, delighting in the crime. Hyde showed no remorse for the murder, but Jekyll knelt and prayed to God for forgiveness even before his transformation back was complete. The horrifying nature of the murder convinced Jekyll never to transform himself again, and it was during the subsequent months that Utterson and others remarked that Jekyll seemed to have had a weight lifted from his shoulders, and that everything seemed well with him. Eventually, though, Jekyll grew weary of constant virtue and indulged some of his darker desires—in his own person, not that of Hyde. But this dip into darkness proved sufficient to cause another spontaneous transformation into Hyde, which took place one day when Jekyll was sitting in a park, far from home. As Hyde, he immediately felt brave and powerful, but he also knew that the police would seize him for his murder of Carew. He could not even return to his rooms to get his potions without a great risk of being captured. It was then that he sent word to Lanyon to break into his laboratory and get his potions for him. After that night, he had to take a double dose of the potion every six hours to avoid spontaneous transformation into Hyde. As soon as the drug began to wear off, the transformation process would begin. It was one of these spells that struck him as he spoke to Enfield and Utterson out the window, forcing him to withdraw.
In his last, desperate hours, Hyde grew stronger as Jekyll grew weaker. Moreover, the salt necessary for the potion began to run out. Jekyll ordered more, only to discover that the mineral did not have the same effect; he realized that the original salt must have contained an impurity that made the potion work. Jekyll then anticipated the fast approach of the moment when he must become Hyde permanently. He thus used the last of the potion to buy himself time during which to compose this final letter. Jekyll writes that he does not know whether, when faced with discovery, Hyde will kill himself or be arrested and hanged—but he knows that by the time Utterson reads this letter, Henry Jekyll will be no more.
