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Dr. Jekyll and Mr HydeR. L. Stevenson
1. What effect is created on the reader by the opening
description of Mr. Utterson? Is
anything added by the knowledge that he is a lawyer? How will
his character and presence
affect the story?
2. What circumstances are associated with the sinister building
Mr. Utterson and Mr.
Enfield note on their walk? What is unusual about the man who
seems to enter and exit
from it, and the incident of the signed check? About the
reaction of Utterson and Enfield to
what they have uncovered?3. What are some features of
Stevenson's style, narrative control and mode of building
interest? Is the story artfully told?4. How does the story deal
with issues of respectability, concealment and hypocrisy? Why
might these be important for persons living in Stevenson's time
period?
5. In the context of the story, what types of misdeeds seem
likely to have been the topic of
concealed interest?6. What social groups and classes seem
represented by the characters and concerns of the
story? What function seems served by the descriptions of
interiors and the presence of a
butler?7. What is the significance of the fact that Hyde cannot
be described, through
extraordinary in his appearance? By the comparisons between Hyde
and the devil?8. What influence do descriptions of weather and
ambience have on the tale?9. What is added to the story by
Utterson's deep interest in the situation of his friend? By
his preoccupation with uncovering the secret of Hyde?10. What do
we learn from the scene in "Dr. Jekyll Was Quite at Ease" in which
Utterson
and Jekyll discuss his will? How is Jekyll self-deluded? What
ominous promise does he
extract from Utterson?11. What added information is revealed in
investigations into the murder of Sir Danvers
Carew? What do the investigators learn from visiting Mr. Hyde's
house in Soho? What
elements seem added to the tale by the presence of the
police?12. What are ways in which this story seems to be an
allegory? Which features add to this
impression?------------
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde13. How do you interpret the fact that
Stevenson destroyed a first draft in anger, then
started anew?14. What do you consider the central motif of this
story?15. What other literary works does this story call to your
mind? What aspects of the story
are added by its social and psychological setting?Specifically,
what psychological aspects of the tale are suggested by the
descriptions of the
London streets, and by the dwelings and chambers of Jekyll/Hyde
and Hyde? Do the names
have possible meanings?16. What is the effect of telling the
story from the point of view of Mr. Utterson? What do
you make of his friendships with Enfield? With Dr. Lanyon? With
Dr. Jekyll? What are
features of his social network?
17. What may be some contemporary resonances or meanings
associated with Jekyll's
scientific pursuits? With his use of chemical drugs? How do his
scientific pursuits differ
from those of his predecessors?18. What mysterious effect does
Hyde have on others? How is his character related to the
state of sleep?19. What significant use does the tale make of
wills, letters, and sealed documents? How do
they add to the story's effect?
20. What do we learn from Lanyon's account? From Jekyll's
document? How had his self-
divisions originated? What had caused him to take pleasure in a
divided self? 21. What had made the first draft more effective? Is
there symbolism to this? What final
horror has overtaken Jekyll?22. Does the reader feel the
purgation of tragedy at the end? (catharsis through pity and
terror) Does the story or its resolution suggest a usable moral
to the reader?
23. Do any features of the story or its ending suggest
preoccupations of other Scottish tales
or aspects of culture?24. Why do you think this gloomy tale of
fear and self-distaste has been widely popular for
more than a century?
