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Form Three Novel : Dr. Jekyll And Mr Hyde

Synopsis:

The book begins with two men, Mr. Utterson and his cousin Mr. Richard Enfield, on a walk inLondon. Although the two men are initially silent, after passing a mysterious cellar door in a

basement, Mr. Enfield launches into a strange occurrence that centered around the door.

Late one night, while he was on his way home, he chanced upon a deformed, short man who

trampled a girl in the street who was on her way to get a doctor. The girl's family and Mr.

Enfield catch the mysterious man and instead of getting the police, they decide to blackmail

him and force him to give the girl's family money. Agreeable, the mysterious man

disappears into the same cellar door and comes out with a check bearing not his own name,

but that of the respectable Dr. Jekyll. Surprisingly, the check was not a forgery.

After hearing the story, Utterson returns to his home where he removes Dr. Jekyll's

mysterious will, which he recently filed with Mr. Utterson. Jekyll's will stated that in case of

his death, his substantial estate will pass to Mr. Hyde, but even stranger, in case of his

disappearance for more than three months, Hyde will assume Jekyll's life without delay. He

also realizes that the mysterious door is connected, in an L shape way, to Jekyll's home.

Utterson decides that Jekyll is being blackmailed by Hyde and seeks to search to see his face

in order to understand why. After tracking him down, he is initially civil but turns angry

when Utterson proceeds in the conversation.

One year later, Hyde murders Sir Danvers Carew with a cane. With help from Utterson, the

police find Hyde's apartment ransacked. After leaving, Utterson proceeds to Jekyll's and

confronts him for harboring a murder. Jekyll claims that he is done with Hyde and promises

that he has nothing left to do with him. He does, however, have a farewell note from Hyde.

Utterson examines the note and his clerk, Mr. Guest, later discovers that the handwriting

from the note matches a dinner invitation written by Dr. Jekyll. Angrily, Utterson assumes

that Jekyll has forged a letter for a murderer. More time passes, and we learn that although

Hyde has not been located, Dr. Jekyll becomes more and more social until one day Utterson

attended a dinner party at Jekyll's where Lanyon was present. Shortly there after, Jekyll

secluded himself and Dr. Lanyon fell ill and died. After his death, Dr. Lanyon left Jekyll a

letter than instructed him not to read it for ten years. After these mysterious events, Enfield

and Utterson again walk by the mysterious door. Through one of the windows, they witness

Jekyll having a frightening seizure through the windows of the cellar.

About a week later, Poole, Jekyll's butler, approaches Utterson, who is afraid because Jekyll

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has locked himself in the basement and the only things that hear is strange sounds,

including crying. The only communication that has come is letters desperately asking for a

specific type of salt. Utterson follows Poole to Jekyll's house and breaks down a red cabinet

where the body of Hyde is found. In the laboratory, the two discover a large envelope

addressed to Mr. Utterson. Inside, Jekyll urges Utterson to read the package from Lanyonand if he wished to know more, read the further description that Jekyll provided within the

envelope.

Lanyon's narrative begins by describing a strange letter he received from Henry Jekyll, the

night after a dinner party at Jekyll's residence. The letter urges Lanyon to go to Jekyll's

house and get the contents of a drawer in the laboratory. Afterwards, a strange caller will

come to Lanyon's house in Jekyll's name and recover these same items, powder, a phial,

and a paper book. Lanyon does as much, thinking that Jekyll is crazy, and Mr. Hyde appears

at the subscribed time. He gives Hyde the ingredients; Hyde mixes them into a potion, andafter drinking it transforms into Dr. Jekyll. This shock, the pure evilness of the situation, was

what brought about Lanyon's subsequent death.

After reading the account of Dr. Lanyon, Utterson then reads Jekyll's own account of his

failed experiment. Jekyll believed that the soul is made up of two separate distinctions: evil

and the good. These two separate beings live in continuous and inherent conflict with each

other. Slowly, Jekyll begins an experiment where he makes two potions and transforms

himself into Edward Hyde. Shortly after becoming Hyde, he drinks a second potion and once

again becomes Henry Jekyll. This experiment begins Jekyll's exploration of his other self, a

side that he freely explores and feels no remorse for the negative and evil actions of Mr.

Hyde.

For some months, this behavior continued until one moment, "I had gone to bed Henry

Jekyll, I had awakened Edward Hyde." Alerted that the character of Hyde might irrevocably

stay, Jekyll chose to give up the freedom of Hyde and for two months his decision held

weight. Unfortunately, he was tortured with Hyde's longing and he once again took the

potion and brutally murdered Carew. Because of the manhunt for Hyde, he swore this

character off forever and set out to try to remedy the evil. This, however, failed because

Hyde was an irrevocable part of Jekyll's character. One night, while contemplating the deeds

of Hyde, Jekyll was once again transformed into Edward Hyde. Realizing that he could not

return to his house, he sent the letter to Dr. Lanyon and Mr. Poole and went immediately to

a hotel. He went home once again but every time he would fall asleep, he would revert to Mr.

Hyde. Soon, his potions began to fail to work and he ran out of the salt needed for the

potion. Hyde launches a desperate search across London for this potion, but was

unsuccessful. In the end, Hyde kills himself and therefore lets both Jekyll and Hyde free