Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 7
Study Guide Questions for CH. 10 "Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case"
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)
Expectation vs. Reality, Recklessness, Freedom vs. Bondage, Appearance vs. Reality, Indulgence, Temptation, License, Pride, Vice, Despair
Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)
What did Dr. Jekyll describe as “the worst” of his faults?
What did Dr. Jekyll say he had “learned to dwell with pleasure” upon?
How did Dr. Jekyll say he “felt” after his first transformation into Mr. Hyde?
What theory did Dr. Jekyll offer as to why Mr. Hyde was “less robust and less developed” than Dr. Jekyll?
What did Dr. Jekyll think contributed to Mr. Hyde’s appearance of “deformity and decay?”
What, for a time, “relaxed the grasp of conscience” for Dr. Jekyll concerning the wicked things done by Mr. Hyde?
What happened to Dr. Jekyll while he was sleeping in bed which greatly alarmed him?
What did Dr. Jekyll say “had of late gradually but decidedly” taken place?
When faced with the choice of Mr. Hyde or Dr. Jekyll, which did Dr. Jekyll decide he preferred over all?
What happened which made Dr. Jekyll think “the problem of [his] conduct was solved?”
What was the “vainglorious thought” which Dr. Jekyll had which triggered his transformation into Mr. Hyde?
What did Dr. Jekyll begin to fear more than “the gallows?”
What began to happen anytime Dr. Jekyll “even dozed for a moment” in his chair?
What had Dr. Jekyll decided as to why his potions were no longer working?
Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)
Why might Dr. Jekyll have felt it necessary to conceal his pleasures from the world?
Why did Dr. Jekyll think it would be a good idea to keep his two natures “housed in separate identities?”
What did Dr. Jekyll mean when he said “I began to perceive more deeply than it has ever yet been stated, the trembling immateriality, the mistlike transience, of this seemingly so solid body in which we walk attired?”
What did Dr. Jekyll mean when he said after his transformation he felt “a solution of the bonds of obligation, an unknown but not innocent freedom of the soul?”
What did Dr. Jekyll mean when he said “the drug had no discriminating action; it was neither diabolical nor divine; it shook the doors of the prisonhouse of my disposition; and, like the captives of Philippi, that which stood within ran forth?”
Why did the ability to transform into Mr. Hyde, who was pure evil, not help Dr. Jekyll to be better when Dr. Jekyll?
Why did it become increasingly difficult for Dr. Jekyll to remain himself?
In your own words, what was different about the way Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde viewed one another?
Why might the “vainglorious thought” have been the thing which triggered Dr. Jekyll’s sudden transformation back into Mr. Hyde?
In the latter part of Dr. Jekyll’s letter he began describing Mr. Hyde as “He” noting “I cannot say, I.” Why did he make this distinction now whereas formerly he referred to Mr. Hyde with first person pronouns?
Compare and contrast the way in which Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde hated one another. In what manner was their hatred for one another different?
What was “the last calamity” that Dr. Jekyll referred to?
Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)
Dr. Jekyll said, “I was in no sense a hypocrite.” Define the concept of hypocrisy. Why do some people live a life of hypocrisy (what drives them to do so)? Is hypocrisy always intentional or can one unintentionally become a hypocrite? Given his own description of his life, would you agree with Dr. Jekyll’s claim that he was not a hypocrite? Why or why not?
Consider everything we have learned about Dr. Jekyll’s pursuit of freedom in the form of Mr. Hyde as he sprang “headlong into the sea of liberty.” What is the relationship of freedom to bondage? Are they exact opposites or are they more closely related than one might at first expect? How does the practice of moral virtue relate to the ideas of freedom and bondage? Why might people be hesitant to pursue virtue when what they desire is freedom? How can a person gain as much freedom as is truly possible as a human being? Explain and defend your answer.
Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)
Read Romans 7:7-25 and relate it to our current reading. In what way does this passage of Scripture correspond to “Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case?”
Read Ephesians 6:10-20. How might Dr. Jekyll have freed himself from his troubles by putting on the “whole armor of God?”
Read 1 John 1:5-10 and Hebrews 4:14-16. How do these passages show us where Dr. Jekyll really failed in his struggle against Mr. Hyde?