Dr. Henry Jekyll

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Dr. Henry Jekyll

A respected physician and chemist, who is well known for his dinner parties, we first meet Jekyll in the third chapter. ” Dr. Jekyll was quite at ease” in which he is described as ‘a large well-made, smoothed faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness’. This is typical of the author’s economical style through which, using few words he can reveal the many layers of a characters personality. Notice that the doctors ‘smoothed face’ seeming to present an inscrutable exterior and therefore an air of mystery. The phrase ‘a slyish cast’ opens a crack in this polished facade through which the reader begins to see his true nature. We are reminded here of Poole's description later in the novel as he describes the Jekyll/Hyde double in the laboratory as having ‘a mask upon his face.’ Also, in the chapter of ‘The Carew Murder Case’ the silvery haired old woman’ at Hyde's room is described as having ‘an evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy.’ once again, the mask motif is used by the author to underline his theme of duality.

Dr. Jekyll owns a large estate and has recently drawn up his will, leave his immense fortune to a man whom Jekyll’s lawyer, Utterson, thoroughly disapproves of.

He was born into a prosperous family had a good education and was respected by all who knew him although he recognizes and enjoys the evil side of his nature check-in is in fact a hypocrite because he fails to accept it as a natural part of himself.

Jekyll’s own story of his life is recorded in his “statement,” which comprises the entirety of Chapter 10.As a youth, he thought that perhaps he was too lighthearted. He confessed to many youthful indiscretions, which he says that he enjoyed very much - indiscretions, which he was very careful to keep secret. However, there came a time when he realized that his professional career could be ruined if one of these indiscretions was to be exposed and so he repressed them.

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Now, however, that he is middle-aged, he has been fascinated with the theory that man has a “good” side and a “bad” side and he has decided to investigate the theory. His investigations were successful; he compounded a potion that could release the “evil” in a person in the form of an entirely different physical person, one who would take over one’s own body and soul. Then one could commit acts of evil and feel no guilt. Furthermore, one could drink the same portion and be transformed back into one’s original self

Jekyll’s evil dimension took the form ...

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