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Jekyll and Hyde - Coggle Diagram
Jekyll and Hyde
Summary of the narrative
- Utterson hears the story of how Hyde, Jekyll's friend, trampled on a girl.
- Utterson meets Hyde and is shocked. He wonders why his respectable friend could befriend such a person.
- A year later, Carew is murdered by Hyde. Jekyll is deeply affected by this and refuses to speak to anybody. Hyde goes missing.
- Utterson goes to speak to Lanyon because he is concerned about Jekyll. Lanyon refuses to speak about Jekyll and hands Utterson a letter that must only be opened at the disappearance or death of Jekyll.
- In the middle of the night, Utterson is summoned to Jekyll's house where he breaks down the laboratory door and discovers a dead man. Utterson read Jekyll's newly amended will and takes Jekyll's confession to read at home.
- As Jekyll has disappeared, Utterson reads Dr Lanyon's letter which tells him the true nature of Jekyll's experiments.
- Utterson reads Jekyll's confession which reveals the true identity of Mr Hyde.
Jekyll
Dr Jekyll is a very well respected and intelligent scientist. He is a wealthy man and lives in a house with his butler, Poole. To the rear of the house, with a separate entrance onto a side street, he has his own laboratory. It is here that he is conducting his most ambitious experiment yet - and it is this experiment which causes him to be erratic and alienated from his friends and Victorian society.
As the novella progresses, Jekyll becomes unpredictable and decides to leave all of his belongings and wealth to the scoundrel, Mr Hyde, in his will. This causes his friend Utterson to become very concerned and very anxious to find out more about Mr Hyde.
Hyde
Mr Hyde is presented as evil, murderous and Jekyll's alter ego. He is described as devilish, evil and a criminal mastermind. Stevenson makes Hyde more mysterious by only hinting at his physical appearance - he is smaller than Jekyll and whenever people see him, they are deeply offended by his looks and spirit.
He is violent and commits terrible crimes - the trampling of an innocent young girl and the murder of Carew. He is unforgiving and doesn't repent for his crimes and sins. He is selfish and wishes for complete dominance over Jekyll.
Mr Gabriel Utterson
Mr Utterson is presented as rational, curious, calm and respectable. Most of the novel is seen from Mr Utterson's perspective. Utterson is a lawyer and therefore a respectable, wealthy man in Victorian London. Stevenson shows Utterson's personality to be rational, calm and curious.
It is through these personality traits that Utterson uncovers the mystery of Dr Jekyll's will. This confuses him, as Jekyll's wish (in Jekyll's will) is to leave all his belongings and wealth to the mysterious criminal Mr Hyde. Utterson's persistence leads him to discover the truth about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde's relationship.
Dr Lanyon
Dr Lanyon and Dr Jekyll were once great friends and both enjoyed the field of science. However they had a disagreement about Dr Jekyll's latest experiment which Dr Lanyon describes as 'unscientific balderdash'. This disagreement caused them to fall out with each other and Jekyll was further isolated from his friends.
Dr Lanyon witnessed Jekyll's transformation into Hyde and it scarred him deeply. He couldn't believe what Jekyll had done and he thought it was unnatural. Lanyon never recovered from what he had seen and shortly after, had a fit and died.