Step inside The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The film without the cuts. And the book itself.

The door opens inward.

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The Cast

Mr. Gabriel John Utterson

Main · lawyer / Jekyll’s old friends

A dry, restrained lawyer follows the evidence through doors, wills, letters, and sealed papers because loyalty will not let him look away.

Locations

The by-street of shops

street

Bright shop fronts line the street until one neglected door breaks the row like a stain.

Passage

Why does this neglected doorway radiate menace no one dares explain?

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The Author’s Pen

The Neglected Door

Two doors from one corner, on the left hand going east the line was broken by the entry of a court; and just at that point a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street. It was two storeys high; showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower storey and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper; and bore in every feature, the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence. The door, which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained. Tramps slouched into the recess and struck matches on the panels; children kept shop upon the steps; the schoolboy had tried his knife on the mouldings; and for close on a generation, no one had appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair their ravages.

Reading

This building has a face, and it is not a friendly one. A blank upper wall becomes a "blind forehead," the door sits without bell or knocker as if it wants no visitors, and the whole thing seems to sulk on a street that is otherwise thriving. Enfield is walking Utterson through the neighborhood, and the story keeps insisting that the ugliness is not accidental but the result of years of someone letting it rot. That "someone," we will learn, has reasons to keep this entrance unwelcoming.

World Index

The Plot

The Story of the DoorThe Search for Mr. HydeDr. Jekyll Was Quite at EaseThe Carew Murder CaseIncident of the LetterThe Wasting of Dr. LanyonThe Last NightDr. Lanyon's NarrativeHenry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case

The Cast

Mr. Gabriel John UttersonDr. Henry JekyllEdward HydeDr. Hastie LanyonPooleSir Danvers CarewMr. Richard EnfieldMr. GuestThe maid witnessHyde’s Soho housekeeper

Locations

Dr. Lanyon’s house in Cavendish SquareHyde’s rooms in SohoJekyll’s houseJekyll’s laboratory / old dissecting roomsRegent’s ParkThe by-street of shopsThe cabinetThe Carew murder laneThe sinister doorUtterson’s chambers

Objects of Note

Hyde’s clothesHyde’s keyHyde’s letterJekyll’s final statementJekyll’s willLanyon’s drawer: powders, phial, and paper bookLanyon’s sealed narrativeThe caneThe chequeThe crushed keyThe mirrorThe transforming draught

Core Concepts

Divided selfhood does not erase responsibilityDocuments preserve truth by postponing itExperiment without moral wisdom gives desire a bodyLoyalty can delay the question that might save someoneRespectability can become a hiding placeSecrecy becomes physical through thresholds and compartmentsWhen language fails, the body becomes evidence

The Author's Pen

The Indescribable ManThe Man Who Trampled the ChildUtterson Studies Jekyll’s WillUtterson’s Loathing of HydeJekyll’s Promise About HydeHyde Clubs Him DownHyde's Ransacked RoomsHenry Jekyll Forge for a MurdererLanyon Done With JekyllThe Look of TerrorPoole Comes AfraidHyde Gone To His AccountThe Thing In the MaskThe Weeping Behind the DoorDown With the DoorJekyll Before My EyesCuriosity or DepartureA Profound Duplicity of LifeMan Is Truly TwoDrinking the PotionThe hand on the bedclothesJekyll Becomes HydeThe End of Henry Jekyll

Plot point 01

The Story of the Door

A respectable lawyer hears how a man calmly trampled a child in the street and bought his way out with a cheque signed by an honourable name.

Objects of Note

Jekyll’s will

A lawyer's safe holds a will that hands Hyde Jekyll's whole life while Jekyll still lives.

The Cast

Dr. Henry Jekyll

Main · physician / Jekyll’s old friends

A respected doctor keeps a polished house, a hidden laboratory, and a second life protected by documents, keys, rooms, and chemical doses.

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The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 127 classics in the Literah library

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