Summary:
A summary of Robert Louis Stevenson's tale Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The story is noteworthy because of Dr. Jekyll's ability to turn into a different person at will through drinking a potion he concocted.
The main characters in this book are:
- Dr. Henry Jekyll, a medical doctor and scientist
- Edward Hyde, Dr. Jekyll's mysterious friend and heir
- Gabriel John Utterson, Dr. Jekyll's old friend and lawyer
- Hastie Lanyon, Dr. Jekyll's childhood friend and doctor
- Poole, Dr. Jekyll's butler
- Richard Enfield, Mr. Utterson's young cousin
- Inspector Newcomen, a Scotland Yard detective
- Mr. Guest, head law clerk to Mr. Utterson
- Sir Danvers Carew, A Member of Parliament
- Sarah, a housemaid
This book begins when Mr. Utterson and Mr. Enfield are taking a walk in London. Mr. Enfield describes a traumatic incident he witnessed in the area they were in. A man had trampled over a little girl. The man's name was Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde had paid the parents of the girl to not tell anyone about the incident. He went into a scary looking door and came out with a check for the parents. They were surprised by the name written on the check and made him go to the bank with them the next day.
Mr. Utterson knew the name on the check was Dr. Henry Jekyll, a friend of his. Mr. Utterson, Dr. Jekyll's lawyer, went to Dr. Jekyll's house. He remembered something weird in Dr. Jekyll's will so he read over it again. He noticed that Mr. Hyde was listed as the one to inherit all of Dr. Jekyll's money if he were to die or suddenly disappear.
Mr. Utterson went over to see his friend to find out why he put such a cruel man as his heir. Dr. Jekyll wasn't available to talk so he just talked with Poole about Mr. Hyde. All of Dr. Jekyll's servants had orders to obey Mr. Hyde, and he had a key to the back door of Dr. Jekyll's house.
The next day Mr. Utterson was invited to dinner at Dr. Jekyll's house. After dinner they talked about the will very briefly, then Dr. Jekyll changed the subject and they talked about other things for a few hours. When they finished talking Mr. Utterson went home. A year passed uneventfully and Mr. Utterson only occasionally thought about Mr. Hyde.
In the middle of the night Mr. Utterson was woken up by one of his servants telling him that there was an inspector there to see him. The inspector came with a woman named Sarah. He had the woman tell him what she had seen. She had witnessed a murder from her bedroom window. She had seen Mr. Hyde kill a man named Sir Danvers Carew. Mr. Utterson began to look for Mr. Hyde again.
For two months Dr. Jekyll held many parties and other events at his house. Mr. Utterson talked with him on a daily basis.
After two months Dr. Jekyll just disappeared. His butler said he was at home but wouldn't see anyone. One night Poole came to Mr. Utterson's house. He was afraid that it was Mr. Hyde hiding in the office in Dr. Jekyll's house instead of Dr. Jekyll. Mr. Utterson ended up breaking down the door to the office and found Mr. Hyde lying dead on the floor. He found a letter to himself in the office telling him to read the letter he had receive a few days earlier from Mr. Lanyon.
When Mr. Utterson arrived home he read the letter, which told about how Mr. Lanyon had done a favor for Dr. Jekyll, he had witnessed Mr. Hyde turn into Dr. Henry Jekyll after drinking a potion. It then said to read the letter that Dr. Jekyll had enclosed in the envelope from Dr. Jekyll's office. The letter from Dr. Jekyll was his confession. It told of the experiment Dr. Jekyll had performed and how he was able to turn into Mr. Hyde whenever he wanted. But he soon couldn't control Mr. Hyde and couldn't become Dr. Jekyll because he didn't have any more potion. Dr. Jekyll had died after writing the letter to Mr. Utterson.
The original reason for making the potions was for Dr. Jekyll to be able to separate one person into two. One could be a happy person without being dragged down by the urge to do wrong, and the other person would be free to live his life the way he wanted. However, Mr. Hyde became increasingly more evil as Dr. Jekyll became Mr. Hyde more often.
I liked this book because Dr. Jekyll found a way to become a different person at will. I didn't like this book because there wasn't very much action in it. I wouldn't recommend this book because the story is quite known so when you read the book you already know that Dr. Jekyll is Mr. Hyde.
This is the complete article, containing 773 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
