Characters List & Background Information

This post will be about the characters in the novel "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"

Throughout the post, I will give a summary of the characters, and how they are important in relation to the novel.

Mr. Gabriel John Utterson

Utterson is one of the main characters in the novel, although you would not have guessed that when reading the title. He is a lawyer by occupation and is a rather uninteresting character. Some of the novels action takes place with him in the scene; however, it is usually more focused towards other characters. Throughout the novel, Mr. Utterson is reading over Mr. Jekyll’s legal documents. Reading over these reveals the main plot line of the story, which I will not ruin for you. He is also a very professional character. He never jumps to conclusions when things get ugly between his friends. He looks for an explanation. Even when his close friend Mr. Jekyll is being suspected of committing a criminal offence, he still looks over what evidence he has, rather that accusing him.

Dr. Henry Jekyll

Dr. Jekyll is another one of the main characters of the novel. He is a well-respected man who is well known in and around the community. He is good friends to Mr. Uttenson and Dr. Lanyon. It is eventually revealed that he has been preforming some dangerous experiments on himself in order to bring out his darker side. The experiments are intended to separate his two sides: good and evil. It usually just requires a potion to turn back, but eventually he transforms too many times and can do it without even experimenting on himself. He does it one day while sitting in the park, which is the first time he does it while he is awake. Ultimately, the novel concludes with a letter written from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Utterson. Once again, I won’t spoil what it contains.

Mr. Edward Hyde

Mr. Hyde is another main character in the novel. He is described as a hideous and deformed creature that doesn’t appear to be human. Throughout the novel, you discover that he is the alter ego of the friendly, intelligent, and respectable Dr. Jekyll. Mr. Hyde is the result of Dr. Jekyll’s experiments gone wrong. He is the dark, evil side of Jekyll and he causes havoc, including murdering a few characters.

Dr. Hastie Lanyon

While he doesn’t play a huge part in the story, he does play enough of a part to be mentioned. He mentions Dr. Jekyll’s experiments early on, but you don’t clue in to what they mean until the later chapters of the novel. Lanyon and Jekyll were once very close friends and both did experiments, but they took separate paths. You could even imagine that they once shared research together. They eventually split up, because Lanyon thinks that Jekyll’s experiments aren’t scientific. Near the end, Lanyon sees Jekyll transform; something that he cannot believe. Lanyon chooses his life over living with the fact that he was wrong about Jekyll, and dies shortly after.