Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 4
Study Guide Questions for Ch. 5-7 "Incident of the Letter” & “Remarkable Incident of Dr. Lanyon” & “Incident at the Window”
If you are looking for the beginning of the study for Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde then you can go HERE for a brief introduction. At the bottom of the introduction you will find the links to each section of the study guide as it becomes available. If you would like to see the growing list of book studies available for free on this site you can go HERE. Enjoy!
Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)
Trust, Appearance vs. Reality, Fear, Fortitude, Loyalty
Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)
About what did Stevenson note “it was the first time” for Mr. Utterson?
What did Dr. Jekyll “swear to God” about?
What did Mr. Hyde’s letter say?
What did Dr. Jekyll want Mr. Utterson to do with the letter from Mr. Hyde?
What did Mr. Guest notice about the handwriting he examined?
How did Dr. Jekyll’s behavior change initially after the disappearance of Mr. Hyde?
What did Mr. Utterson discover about Dr. Lanyon when he went to visit him in his home?
What did Dr. Jekyll state about his personal intentions in his letter to Mr. Utterson?
What was in the envelope which Dr. Lanyon left to Mr. Utterson?
Under what circumstances did Mr. Utterson next see Dr. Jekyll?
What happened which interrupted Mr. Utterson’s conversation with Dr. Jekyll?
Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)
What impression do you think Stevenson is trying to give his readers when he notes that Utterson crossed “a yard which had once been a garden” and a theatre that had been “once crowded with eager students and now lying gaunt and silent?”
Why did Mr. Utterson start his conversation with Dr. Jekyll by saying, “One word…Carew was my client, but so are you; and I want to know what I am doing?”
Why might Mr. Utterson have been both “surprised at his friend’s selfishness and yet relieved by it?”
Why might Dr. Jekyll have “lost confidence in” himself?
Why might it be important that “Poole was positive” no letter had been handed in “except by post?”
Why might Dr. Jekyll have forged a letter on behalf of Mr. Hyde?
Why might Dr. Jekyll have become more earnest again in supporting “charities” and pursuing “religion” now that Mr. Hyde had gone?
What might account for Dr. Jekyll’s sudden reversal back into seclusion?
Why do you think Dr. Lanyon wished “to see or hear no more of Dr. Jekyll?”
Why might Dr. Lanyon have left a letter for Mr. Utterson which was “not to be opened till the death or disappearance of Dr. Henry Jekyll?”
What do you think made Dr. Jekyll suddenly terrified while talking with Mr. Utterson at the window?
Why would Mr. Utterson have cried out, “God forgive us! God forgive us!?”
Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)
“There was no man from whom he kept fewer secrets than Mr. Guest; and he was not always sure that he kept as many as he meant.” How important is it to have confidants in life such as Mr. Guest is for Mr. Utterson? What are some key qualities a good confidant should have? Why might it be important to not have too many such people? Where are you most likely to find people you can really trust with your most intimate secrets?
C. S. Lewis wrote, in his book The Abolition of Man, “The right defense against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments.” When considering whether to open the envelope left to him by Dr. Lanyon we read that Mr. Utterson “condemned the fear as a disloyalty, and broke the seal.” What is a just sentiment versus an unjust sentiment? How does the latter quote from our current book support the claim that Lewis made in his book? Where do you think most unjust sentiments come from? How do they make it into our hearts and minds? How do we go about inculcating (instilling) just sentiments in ourselves and in our society so as to rid ourselves of bad ones? Explain your answer thoughtfully.
Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)
Consider the partial quote of 1 Timothy 1:15 which Dr. Jekyll gave when he said, “If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sinners also.” How does his partial quote betray that he fails to understand the importance of the whole quote? In other words, what consolation should someone, who feels just as Dr. Jekyll feels in that moment, find in the actual teaching that the apostle Paul is sharing in 1 Timothy? You might consider reading the context of this verse to help you in your answer.
Read Ephesians 2:1-10. What does this passage teach us about what a person ought to do if they realize that they are indeed living a life of sin? Is there hope for such a person?
Read Proverbs 12. Which proverbs in this chapter would you say reinforce the importance of having and expressing just sentiments over and against wicked or foolish ones?