I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck;
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That man is not truly one, but truly two
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This is an analysis of the novella "The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson.This site is still a work in progress. only chapters 1-4 are availiable right now as we are revamping this site. Chapter 5 is still in progress and will be released on the 10th may, 2026Text or quotes used may not be in chronological order. Please keep this in mind. Some information may be incorrect, though we try our best to make sure this doesn't happen. If you see something that doesn't look quite right, you can contact us.Please do not copy this site or use it for commercial purposes without permission. If you would like to use it for commercial purposes please contact us via atabook. We only allow personal or educational use.If you would like to work with us, feel free to contact us and we will get back to you as soon as possible with the relevant information. Want to know what positions are available? Click here. *no link, temporarily removedatabook is available. If you wish to contact us, please use this.Last update; 7/5/26
Chapter One - The story of the door
" Mr Utterson the lawyer was a man of rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile "This quote talks about how Utterson is a man with a strong demeanour, very unbothered about life as well as being a very serious man.----------------" cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable "Talks about how Utterson found it hard to show any emotions and he lacked the ability to create sentimental feelings, leaving them very underdeveloped. This could be why he sticks to a very small circle of companions. He is very boring and repetitive, yet he is still somewhat of an enjoyable character which people find lovable.---------------" He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify his taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. "Utterson was very strict with himself, he didn't have much of a private life compared to other Victorian people. Gin was considered to be an alcoholic drink for lower class people in the Victorian era. The government at the time even attempted to ban it completely. Utterson drinks it alone which might be because he feels embarrassed to do so.---------------" But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove "Utterson does not judge people, which can also foreshadow that he defends Jekyll the entire story no matter how many things point towards him. He stays by Jekyll's side even when there's undeniable evidence he's done wrong.---------------(Enfield) " I was coming home from some place at the end of the world, about three o'clock of a black winter morning, and my way lay through a part of town where there was literally nothing to be seen but lamps "Enfield may also have a private life, this implies that he may be keeping secrets, though it wasn't explained what he was doing.---------------" ... the man trampled calmly over the child's body "
" It wasn't like a man; it was like some damned juggernaut "Indicates the force and power that Hyde has, showing he has more strength than a normal person.---------------" There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something down-right detestable. I never saw a man so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity. "Accentuates how Hyde is viewed very negatively, While Hyde was mostly normal looking, there was just something that felt unnatural or sinister, which may link to the Victorian belief that those who are different are evil.---------------At the end of chapter one, it concludes with both Utterson and Enfield deciding not to discuss the issue again which brings back the themes of secrecy and mystery.
Chapter Two - The search for Mr Hyde
" This document had long been the lawyer's eyesore. It offended him both as a lawyer and as a . "
" ... and out of the shifting, insubstantial mists that had so long baffled his eye, there leaped up the sudden, definite presentment of a fiend. "Talks about how Utterson doesn't know why Jekyll listed Hyde as his benefactor, it goes against his common sense and it confuses him. He also compares Hyde to a demonic/evil being, also highlighting him as the antagonist.--------------(Lanyon) " Jekyll became too fanciful for me. He began to go wrong, wrong in mind; "Lanyon has a more traditional, logical and simple approach towards the topic of science and scientific experiments. It also shows how Jekyll is willing to go beyond the boundaries of what Lanyon thinks is 'acceptable' in science.--------------" but now his imagination also was engaged, or rather enslaved "Implies how Hyde already has power over Utterson, taking over his thoughts and his emotions. It's almost as if Hyde can control Utterson.--------------"... labyrinths of lamplighted city, and at every street corner crush a child and leave her screaming. And still the figure had no face by which he might not know it: even in his dreams, it had no face, or one that baffled him and melted before his eyes ..."Labyrinths or mazes are key parts to the Gothic genre and they give the idea that metaphorically there is a somewhat confusing path with many different turns before you reach the end.
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It also tells us how Hyde is almost a complete mystery, or even like a puzzle with missing pieces, nobody can think of him or think of what he looks like.--------------" "if he be Mr Hyde," he thought, "I shall be Mr Seek" "
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This whole quote can link to their names. "Hyde" meaning Hide, and "Utterson" meaning to cry out.
One of the most popular quotes from the novella.--------------
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"By ten o' clock, when the shops were closed the by-street was very solitary and, in spite of the low growl of London from all round, very silent."Makes London appear more threatening and violent. This could possibly be a reflection of Hyde and his own threatening and violent nature.
Chapter Three - Dr Jekyll Was Quite at Ease
" A fortnight later, by excellent good fortune, the doctor gave one of his pleasant dinners to some five or six old cronies, all intelligent, reputable men and all judges of good wine; and Mr. Utterson so contrived that he remained behind after the others had departed. This was no new arrangement, but a thing that had befallen many scores of times. Where Utterson was liked, he was liked well. Hosts loved to detain the dry lawyer, when the light-hearted and loose-tongued had already their foot on the threshold; they liked to sit a while in his unobstructive company, practising for solitude, sobering their minds in the man's rich silence after the expense and strain of gaiety. To this rule, Dr. Jekyll was no exception; and as he now sat on the opposite side of the fire─a large, well made, smooth-faces, man of fifty, with something of a stylish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness─you could see by his looks that he cherished for Mr. Utterson a sincere and warm affection. "They all have an outward/public appearance which is respected heavily. Utterson seems almost like a compass for their morality and he knows what is right and what is wrong.Jekyll can be called attractive which contrasts with Hyde's physical appearance.Jekyll and Utterson are very good friends and they care about each other a lot--------------
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" "I have been wanting to speak to you, Jekyll," began the latter. "You know that will of yours?" A close observer might have gathered that the topic was distasteful; but the poor doctor carried it off gaily. "My poor Utterson," said he, "you are unfortunate in such a client. I never saw a man so distressed as you were by my will; unless it were that hide-bound pedant, Lanyon, at what he called my scientific heresies. O, I know he's a good fellow─you needn't frown─an excellent fellow, and I always mean to see more of him; but a hide-bound pedant for all that; an ignorant, blatant pedant. I was never more disappointed in any man than Lanyon." ""hide-bound" is inferring that Lanyon is stuck in his ways while as "pedant" shows Jekyll's heavy disagreement with Lanyon, however it also shows how Lanyon was distressed about Jekyll's ideas.
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" "You know I never approved of it," pursued Utterson, ruthlessly disregarding the fresh topic. "My will? Yes, certainly,. I know that," said the doctor,, a trifle sharply. "You have told me so." "Well, I tell you so again," continued the lawyer. "I have been learning something of young Hyde." The large handsome face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale to the very lips, and there came a blackness about his eyes. "I do not care to hear more," said he. "This is a matter I thought we had agreed to drop" "Utterson is determined to find answers, and Jekyll's tone shows that he's angry and frustrated that Utterson seems to not let the topic go. Something about Jekyll had changed when "there came a blackness about his eyes" which is possibly Hyde briefly had some control over Jekyll in that moment. Jekyll is persistent in wanting to move on from this topic.
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" "What I heard was abominable" said Utterson. "It can make no change. You do not understand my position," returned the doctor, with a certain incoherency of manner. "I am painfully situated, Utterson; my position is a very strange─a very strange one. It is one of those affairs that cannot be mended by talking."Repetition of strange is used to emphasise how odd Jekyll's situation appears to be.
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"My good Utterson," said the doctor, "this is very good of you, this is downright good of you, and I cannot find words to thank you in. I believe you fully; I would trust you before any man alive, ay, before myself, if I could make the choice; but indeed it isn't what you fancy; it is not as bad as that; and just to put your good heart at rest, I will tell you one thing: the moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde. I give you my hand upon that; and I thank you again and again; and I will just add one little word, Utterson, that I'm sure you'll take in good part: this is a private matter, and I beg of you to let it sleep."Jekyll does not trust himself at all, possibly due to his experiment. It also proves how close he is with Utterson. Jekyll tries to convince Utterson that he can control everything that happens with Hyde and he also tries to convince himself he has the most power.
Chapter Four - The Carew Murder Case
"Nearly a year later, in the month of October, 18--, London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim. The details were few and startling. A maid servant living alone in a house not far from the river, had gone upstairs to bed about eleven. Although a fog rolled over the city in the small hours, the early part of the night was cloudless, and the lane, which the maid's window overlooked, was brilliantly lit by the full moon. It seems she was romantically given, for she sat down upon her box, which stood immediately under the window, and fell into a stream of musing. Never (she used to say, with streaming tear, when she narrated that experience), never had she felt more at peace with all men or thought more kindly of the world. And as she so sat she became aware of an aged beautiful gentleman with white hair, drawing near along the lane; and advancing to meet him, another and very small gentleman, to whom at first she paid less attention. When they had come within speech (which was just under the maid's eyes) the older man bowed and accosted the other with a very pretty manner of politeness. "Carew has a similar description to Lanyon which could be why Hyde was angry once meeting him seeming that Lanyon & Jekyll were not friends at this time due to the fact Lanyon disagreed with him. There wasn't anything that could provoke Hyde in this gesture other than Carew's physical appearance being similar to Lanyon.
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--------------" Mr. Utterson had already been quailed at the name of Hyde; but when the stick was laid before him, he could doubt no longer; broken and battered as it was, he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll. "Utterson is worried that Jekyll may be involved with the murder of Carew due to the fact the item used was a gift Utterson had gifted Jekyll.--------------" As the cab drew up before the address indicated, the fog lifted a little and showed him a dingy street, a gin palace, a low French eating house, a shop for the retail of penny numbers and twopenny salads, many ragged children huddled in the doorways, and many women of many different nationalities passing out, key in hand, to have a morning glass; and the next moment the fog settled down again upon that part, as brown as umber, and cut him off from his blackguardly surroundings."Soho was full of poverty and crime, somewhere Hyde would be unnoticed as little to no crimes were reported. There were very little police, any police around the area would prefer to avoid it as it was dangerous.--------------" This last, however, was not so easy of accomplishment; for Mr. Hyde had numbered few familiars--even the master of the servant maid had only seen him twice; his family could nowhere be traced; he had never been photographed; and the few who could describe him differed widely, as common observers will. "Few people knew him or recognised who he was. Only the wealthy could afford to be photographed. There was little to no trace of his past, his family or anything about him.
Chapter Five - Incident of the Letter
" It was late in the afternoon, when Mr. Utterson found his way to Dr. Jekyll's door, where he was at once admitted by Poole, and carried down by the kitchen offices and across a yard which had once been a garden, to the building which was indifferently known as the laboratory or the dissecting rooms. The doctor had bought the house form the heirs of a celebrated surgeon; and his own tastes being rather chemical than anatomical, had changed the destination of the block at the bottom of the garden. It was the first time that the lawyer had been received in that part of his friend's quarters; and he eyed the dingy, windowless structure with curiosity, and gazed round with a distasteful sense of strangeness as he crossed the theatre, once crowded with eager students and now lying gaunt and silent, the tables laden with chemical apparatus, the floor strewn with crates and littered with packing straw, and the light falling dimly through foggy cupola. "Poole is a symbol of Jekyll's wealth, this is because only those who were wealthy enough to have people work for them would have them. People who were not as rich did not have this. The celebrated surgeon mentioned is John Hunter, who was known for having grave robbers provide him with bodies to dissect and use for his work. Utterson had never been into this part of the house before, he reacts negatively which shows it was not a place for respectable men like him. It was very unexpected.
--------------" It was a large room, fitted with glass presses, furnished, among other things, with a cheval glass and a business table, and looking out upon the court by three dusty windows barred with iron. A fire burned in the grate; a lamp was set lighted on the chimney shelf, for even the houses fog began to lie thickly; and there, close up to the warmth, sat Dr. Jekyll, looking deadly sick. He did not rise to meet his visitor, but held out a cold hand and bade him welcome in a changed voice. "Jekyll hears the news about Carew, and changes from being at ease in chapter three to being deadly sick in this chapter. He acts scared more than remorseful possibly because he doesn't want to be caught. He tries to hide away as to not be linked to Hyde at all.
--------------" 'One word,' said the lawyer. 'Carew was my client, but so are you, and I want to know what I am doing. You have not been mad enough to hide this fellow?'
'Utterson, I swear to God,' cried the doctor. 'I swear to God I will never set eyes on him again. I bind my honour to you that I am done with him in this world. It is all at an end. And indeed he does not want my help; you do not know him as I do; he is safe, he is quite safe; mark my words, he will never more be heard of.'
The lawyer listened gloomily; he did not like his friend's feverish manner. 'You seem pretty sure of him,' said he; 'and for you sake, I hope you may be right. If it came to a trial, your name might appear.' "
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