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The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr HydeQuestions on the novelUse full sentences in your answers and quotations (including page ref) where appropriate.Chapter 1: Story of the Door 1. What sort of Character is Mr Utterson? 2. What evidence is there to suggest that Utterson has a private, hidden side? 3. Who is Mr Richard Enfield? 4. Enfield and Utterson walk every Sunday. Describe the street that they walk down. 5. How is one particular house different from the others on this street? 6. In your own words, explain what Enflield saw in his account of the 'Story of the Door'. 7. How do the characters react to the man who trampled the small girl? (describe the effect he has on them.) 8. Enfield describes the house by commenting that the windows are always shut. Why might this be significant? 9. What does Mr Hyde look like? How does Enfield describe him? Chapter 2: The Search for Mr Hyde 1. Describe the reason that Dr. Lanyon became estranged from Dr. Jekyll. What does this indicate about Lanyon’s character? 2. Why is Utterson so obsessed with images from Enfield’s story about Hyde that he cannot sleep? 3. Once Utterson confronts Hyde, how does he feel toward him? What reasons does Utterson give for his feelings about Hyde? In Utterson’s response to Hyde, what does Stevenson tell us about Hyde? 4. Why doesn’t Stevenson ever tell us what Hyde’s face looks like? 5. Describe the appearance of the street and house in which Dr. Jekyll lives. What can we infer about Dr. Jekyll from this setting? 6. Utterson’s speculation on Jekyll’s connection to Hyde makes him reflect on his own vices and failings. What could Stevenson be implying about human nature in Utterson’s reflection? Chapter 3: Dr Jekyll was Quite at Ease 1. How does Jekyll describe Lanyon? What does this suggest about Jekyll’s feelings about his own abilities? 2. What does Jekyll ask of Utterson at the end of the chapter? Why does Utterson have strong misgivings about this request? Chapter 4: The Carew Murder Case 1. What is revealed about the levels of Victorian society in the first page of this chapter? 2. How is Hyde described as he kills Sir Danvers Carew? How does this image fit with the other physical descriptions Stevenson has given of Hyde? 3. As Utterson takes the police officer to arrest Hyde, Stevenson gives a vivid description of “the dismal quarter of Soho” where Hyde lives. What is the effect of this description on our mood? What is the effect of this description on our understanding of Hyde? 4. Why do you think that Utterson feels “a terror of the law and the law’s officers”? 5. Is there any significance in the fact that although Hyde’s specific facial features cannot be recognized, everyone remembers the sense of deformity he conveyed? Chapter 5: Incident of the Letter1. Dr. Jekyll is a changed man when Utterson greets him in this chapter compared to the last time Utterson saw him. What accounts for this change? 2. What lesson do you think Jekyll has learned? Chapter 6: The Remarkable Incident of Dr LanyonContrast the earlier description of Dr Lanyon (in ‘Search for Mr Hyde’ Chpt 2) with the description of him in this chapter.What is it that frightens Dr Lanyon? What does Stevenson suggest he has learnt more about what he says that ‘if we knew all we would be glad’ to die?Track the changes in Dr Jekyll through this chapter.Where and why does the symbol of the locked door reappear in this chapter?Find another example of something being locked or sealed against Mr Utterson.Chapter 7: Incident at the WindowFind one way in which the weather reflects characters’ emotions in this chapter.How does Stevenson hint that the expression of Dr Jekyll’s face terrifies Enfield and Utterson?What does Utterson say his reaction was to meeting Hyde? What similarities can you find between the men’s reaction to this incident and their reaction to Mr Hyde?Chapter 8: The Last NightThis chapter is unique in that it deviates from the “episodic” structure and recounts several different episodes wrapped up in one night.Why does Poole come to see Utterson?What is the first thing Poole and Utterson notice has changed about Jekyll?What does Poole say the man in the lab has been doing for the past week and why is Poole certain that the man in the lab is not Dr. Jekyll?What does Utterson believe has happened to Jekyll?How many tries does it take to break the door down? What might this difficulty symbolise?What do the men immediately notice about the room once they break down the door? Who do they find inside? What has happened to him?How is the will in the lab different from the original will? What does the note from Jekyll instruct Utterson to do?Chapter 9 “Dr. Lanyon’s Narrative”How does the messenger taunt Lanyon after he has created his mixture of ingredients?What does Lanyon actually witness?What happens to Lanyon after he witnesses the strange event?What caused Lanyon to become mortally ill? Has Stevenson sufficiently prepared us for the disastrous effect of Jekyll’s revelations? Why did Stevenson need to kill Lanyon off for purposes of plot?Why did Jekyll want to reveal his transformation to Dr. Lanyon?Chapter 10 “Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of The Case”What led to Dr. Jekyll’s “profound duplicity of life”? What does Jekyll mean when he says that man is “truly two” and that “in the agonized womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling”?Why did Jekyll enjoy being Hyde? In other words, what aspects of Hyde’s persona were attractive to Jekyll?Was Jekyll ever able not to feel guilty for the sins of Hyde? Why or why not?Jekyll describes his descent from the undignified to the monstrous. What caused this descent?What are the main reasons that Jekyll tries to cast off his Hyde nature forever?Why does Jekyll’s lower nature come to dominate him?Why does Hyde commit suicide?What morals or lessons can we draw from the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? ................
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