The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

In the final chapter, “Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case”, Henry Jekyll gives us a lot of personal and biographical information to explain why, as a child, he began to fantasize about having the power to split himself into a distinctly different being.

1. What are Jekyll’s reasons for creating this split?
2. Eventually he concocts a potion that makes the split a reality and a potion that allows him to turn back into Jekyll. Approximately how old was Jekyll when he first created the potions? In other words, how long has Hyde been out in the world? There's one very strong clue in the book that should help you to determine this.
3. How does Jekyll feel as Hyde? Describe Hyde’s personality.
4. What kind of things does Jekyll allow himself to do as Hyde? In other words, how is a night out as Hyde different from a night at home as Jekyll?
5. In the end Jekyll is facing a serious problem: he keeps turning into Hyde without taking the potion, and the potion that used to turn him back into Jekyll stops working. Identify the year and month that Jekyll first involuntarily turned into Hyde?
6. Why does the Hyde-to-Jekyll potion stop working? To get all the points for this one you must include the technical reason it stops working and the philosophical or spiritual reason it stops working.
7. Feed to potion to another character in the book and describe its effect on them in detail. Be careful not to fall into the trap of good/evil or opposite. The effects of the potion are not that simple.
8. Even though the scene is not in the book, Utterson breaks his promise to Jekyll and refuses to keep the will and to carry out Jekyll’s wishes in it. What was the year and month that Utterson returned Jekyll’s will to Jekyll?
9. In spite of Utterson’s betrayal, Jekyll changes the will. Instead of leaving his fortune to Hyde he leaves everything to Utterson. Why?
10. Why did Hyde murder Sir Danvers Carew? There's a clue that should help you in the last chapter.
11. Why did Dr. Lanyon allow the most wanted man in London into his home? Remember, this is in January, 1887. Hyde has been a fugitive for 3 months. Everybody is talking about him, the police are looking for him. And yet, at midnight Lanyon opens his door to him and invites him into his home.