Characters In Jekyll And Hyde English Literature Essay

This essay will examine the role of the minor characters in the novel Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde. It will mainly focus on Lanyon, Enfield, Carew, and Poole and how does Utterson’s connection to each of these men serve to advance the plot. Hastie Lanyon was a healthy doctor, who then became a letter writer. Richard Enfield was Utterson’s cousin and a companion for strolling. Sir Danvers Carew was a member of parliament and client of Mr.Utterson. Poole was a butler at Jekyll’s house and he kept an eye on the activities done at Jekyll’s house. Each of these characters help to unpack the case of Mr.Hyde.

The novel began with Richard Enfield and Utterson. They both went for a walk and Enfield tells about Hyde. He says that he saw a little man trampling a young girl. Her family was also there and soon the crowd surrounded her. Due to the crowd, the little man got frightened so he asked the family to follow him. He took them to his house and he gave them a cheque of 100 pound. After telling the story, Utterson asked the name of the man but Enfield hesitated to tell but later on, he declared that it was Mr.Hyde. Utterson had always thought that Mr.Hyde was with Jekyll for benefit but the story which Enfield recited, made him stressed about Hyde’s crime. Utterson became curious about Hyde. He started to look for him and he spotted him near his house. After Utterson saw Hyde, he went to Jekyll’s house but Jekyll was not there. Instead Utterson talked to Poole and he questions him about Hyde and Poole said ”O dear no,sir. He never dines here”, ”Indeed,we saw very little of him on this side of the house; he mostly comes and goes by the laboratory” [1] . He also said that Hyde has the key to the lab and Jekyll has given the order to his servants to follow Hyde’s instructions. This made Utterson think that Jekyll was blackmailed by Hyde. At this point , Hyde’s case was a unsolved mystery and solving it became Utterson’s aim.

After one year, the news of murder was spread all over London. Sir Danvers Carew was killed by Hyde with a walking cane. The police found a letter near Carew. The letter had the name and address of Utterson. Police informed Utterson and he arrived. He recognized the body and later Utterson came to know that Hyde killed Carew. He took the police to Hyde’s house but Hyde was not there but still they entered and start searching for evidence. They noticed a half-burned checkbook and the other half of the walking stick. Uttersson recalled that it was the same walking cane,which he gave to Jekyll. The suspicion starts to grow even more as they do not find any picture of him and even the servants said that they saw him twice. Utterson assumed that Jekyll was hiding Hyde. After some time, Lanyon and Utterson met. Utterson wanted to discuss about Jekyll but Lanyon refused. Due to the gaps growing between Lanyon and Jekyll , Utterson wrote a letter to Jekyll to complain about what is happening between him and Lanyon. Week after that, Lanyon died but he left an envelope. Utterson opened the envelope but inside it, he gets another envelope stating ”not to be opened till the death or disappearance of Dr. Henry Jekyll” [2] . The two deaths had been a shock for Utterson but he also started connecting Hyde with Jekyll. Whenever Hyde did anything wrong, he talked to Jekyll. At this stage, he had found an envelope that soon revealed the reality.

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Some time later, Poole came up to Utterson’s house and said that he felt that there had been a disgusting game played at his home. Utterson got surprised. Then Poole asked Utterson to follow him and they went to Jekyll’s house. Poole took Utterson near Jekyll’s laboratory door and requested Jekyll to open the door for Utterson for but he refused. Poole told Utterson:

” …I have been sent flying to all the wholesale chemists in town. Every time I brought the stuff back, there would be another paper telling me in return, because it was not pure, and another order to a different firm .This drug is wanted bitter bad,sir,whatever for.” [3] 

Poole showed the notes that he has been receiving from Jekyll. The notes had addressed the needs of Jekyll. Then he kept disclosing his experiences with the noises in the laboratory. Poole told that he heard someone weeping. Utterson demanded Jekyll to open the door but he heard a voice saying ”Utterson for God’s sake,have some mercy” [4] . Utterson identified the voice and insisted Poole to breakdown the door. After breaking down the door, they entered and found out dead body of Hyde. Utterson thought that Jekyll might have fled. He looked around the lab and he saw a religious book, a glass, the drug (that Poole used to bring) and papers with a brief note mentioning to read the papers after reading Lanyon’s letter. His letter revealed the fact of Jekyll. Lanyon wrote that Jekyll asked him to bring vials and powders to his house and to let the visitor to come along with him. Lanyon mixed powders in the vials and it turned into a portion, which the visitor drank. Soon after drinking the portion, the visitor turned into Jekyll. Lanyon’s letter let us to know about Jekyll being Hyde.

Then, Jekyll’s letter is read. He says that trampling the girl and the murder, was done by his evil side, Hyde. Carew had a high position in the society so when Hyde killed him, he felt powerful. Jekyll also mentioned that he needed help with the portions because slowly he was turning into Mr.Hyde permanently. He took Lanyon’s help to get the portion and he confessed front of Lanyon that he was Mr.Hyde. Soon Lanyon died so he had to take Poole’s help. However, the experiment was not a big success because it led to his death.

This essay has demonstrated how each minor character advanced the plot and it has examined the role of them. First Enfield told the story about the girl that was trampled, and that made Utterson to carry on the investigation of Hyde. Then Sir Danvers Carew and Lanyon died. When Carew died, Utterson went to Hyde’s house and found materials that make him believe that Jekyll was hiding Hyde. When Lanyon died, he left a letter. At the end, Poole took Utterson to the laboratory and there he discovered the papers. When the papers and letter were revealed , truth came out. Whatever the wrong things he did, were done by his evil side. The mystery of his dark side was exposed by Utterson, the minor characters and at the end by his papers, in which he wrote about his motives and experiences.