Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 5
Study Guide Questions for Ch. 8 "The Last Night"
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)
Decorum, Fortitude, Duty, Vengeance
Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)
What did Mr. Poole come to Mr. Utterson’s home to tell him?
Who all did Mr. Utterson find in the hall when he and Poole entered Dr. Jekyll’s house?
To what did Poole want Mr. Utterson to listen?
What did Poole think was the case about Dr. Jekyll?
What had Poole been sent out repeatedly to get for Dr. Jekyll?
What explanation did Mr. Utterson offer in defense of the idea that it really was Dr. Jekyll still in the “cabinet?”
What did Mr. Utterson and Poole determine must be done to know the truth?
What could be heard in the cabinet which Poole described as being caused by “an ill conscience?”
After breaking the door down, who did Poole and Mr. Utterson find, and of whom could they find no trace, in the cabinet?
What did Mr. Utterson and Poole observe about the door and its key?
What else was Mr. Utterson “amazed to find” in the room?
What all was in the envelope with Mr. Utterson’s name on it?
Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)
Why might Poole have asked Mr. Utterson to come to Dr. Jekyll’s house and see for himself rather than simply Mr. Utterson what he suspected?
What evidence was there in support of Poole’s claim that there had been “foul play” at the Jekyll residence and that the man in the cabinet was not Dr. Jekyll? Not taking into account what you now know (having finished the chapter), do you think his evidence was sufficient to justify his concerns at the time? Why or why not?
Why might Dr. Jekyll have been continuously sending Poole to the chemist?
Why did Mr. Utterson feel it had “become [his] duty to make certain” whether or not Dr. Jekyll had been murdered? Why would it be his duty rather than the police or someone else?
What did Mr. Utterson mean when he said, “Well, let our name be vengeance?”
What might we infer from the fact that Poole once heard “weeping like a woman or a lost soul” coming from the cabinet?
Why might Mr. Hyde have been wearing clothes too big for him, of “the doctor’s bigness?”
What should be inferred from the fact that the key to the door was rusted and broken?
What should be inferred from the annotated “pious work” which had “startling blasphemies” in Dr. Jekyll’s own handwriting?
Why might Dr. Jekyll have changed his will to make Mr. Utters the beneficiary?
What might have motivated Mr. Hyde to stay hidden in the cabinet of Dr. Jekyll’s house?
Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)
In this chapter Mr. Utterson and Mr. Poole had to collect their courage to do what needed done. Offer a definition of courage. What are some things which can help us to gather our courage in the midst of danger or when we feel afraid? What kinds of things fuel fear and cowardice? Why is it important to exercise courage? What would be the consequence for society if no one ever practiced the virtue of courage?
Poole said, “when that masked man thing like a monkey jumped from among the chemicals and whipped into the cabinet, it went down my spine like ice. O, I know it’s not evidence, Mr. Utterson; I’m book learned enough for that; but a man has his feelings; and I give you my bible-word it was Mr. Hyde!” Define the concept of intuition. What is the relationship of intuition and evidence? Should a good detective or scientist suppress intuition to follow only the evidence or does intuition play an important role in the discovery of truth? Explain and defend your answer.
Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)
Read 1 Samuel 31 and relate it to our present reading. What should we take away from the similarities between this passage of Scripture and our current story?
Read Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. How might we connect this teaching to Poole and Mr. Utterson?