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For Monday: Stevenson. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (sorry for the late post!)



Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: According to Dr. Jekyll, why did he have a “Mr. Hyde” inside him? Are all of us composed of good and evil selves, fighting for domination? Or is it more complicated than that? Why does he also write, “I hazard the guess that man will be ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious, incongruous and independent denizens” (53)?

Q2: Though a short novella, Stevenson offers us a wealth of narrative perspectives including a traditional third person narration, Dr. Lanyon’s Narrative, Dr. Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case, and several mini narrations, such as Mr. Enfield’s story of the door, etc. What is the effect of all these shifts in narration and multiple perspectives? How do they complicate the story or change how we understand it? Are all of them reliable? Are they meant to make us question one or the other?

Q3: When he first encounters Mr. Hyde, Enfield writes that “I had taken a loathing to the gentleman at first sight” (7), and Utterson agrees, writing that nothing “could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing and fear with which [he] regarded [Mr. Hyde]” (15-16). What makes him so uncanny to both men, and indeed, to everyone else in the story? Other than being short and angry, what qualities seem to disturb those that cross his path?

Q4: Several times in this story, Utterfield (or someone else) says, “I would say nothing of this paper,” or “Let us make a bargain never to refer to this again.” Why is this story obsessed with secrecy? What do they fear is really at stake with Dr. Jekyll (before they learn about his experiment)? What does he—and the others, perhaps—have to lose?

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