AQA English Literature GCSE Revision

J & H: Summary 6-10

Chapter 6 - Remarkable Incident of Dr Lanyon
The police cannot find Hyde. Coincidentally, Jekyll seems happier and, for two months, he socialises again.
Suddenly, however, he appears depressed and will not see Utterson. Utterson visits Dr Lanyon to discuss their friend's health, but finds Lanyon on his death-bed.
Lanyon refuses to discuss Jekyll who, he hints, is the cause of his illness.
Trying to find out what has happened, Utterson writes to Jekyll. He receives a reply which suggests Jekyll has fallen into a very disturbed state and talks of being 'under a dark influence'.
Lanyon dies and leaves a letter for Utterson in an envelope marked 'not to be opened till the death or disappearance of Dr Henry Jekyll'. Utterson, being a good lawyer, locks it away unopened in his safe.
Utterson tries to revisit Jekyll several times, but his servant, Poole, says he is living in isolation and will not see anyone.

Chapter 7 - Incident at the Window
Utterson and Enfield are taking one of their walks, as at the opening of the book. They pass Jekyll's window and see him looking like a prisoner in solitary confinement. Utterson calls out to him and Jekyll replies, but his face suddenly freezes in an expression of 'abject terror and despair'.
The change in Jekyll's expression is so sudden and horrible it 'froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below', and they depart in silence.

Chapter 8 - The Last Night
One evening, Jekyll's servant comes to Utterson and asks him to come to Jekyll's house. They go to the laboratory, but the door is locked. The voice from inside does not sound like Jekyll's and both men believe it is Hyde.
Poole says the voice has for days been crying out for a particular chemical to be brought, but the chemicals given have been rejected as 'not pure'.
Poole says that earlier he caught a glimpse of a person in the lab who looked scarcely human.
They break down the door and inside find a body, twitching. In its hand are the remains of a test tube (or vial). The body is smaller than Jekyll's but wearing clothes that would fit him.
On the table is a will dated that day which leaves everything to Utterson, with Hyde's name crossed out. There is also a package containing Jekyll's 'confession' and a letter asking Utterson to read Dr Lanyon's letter which he left after his death (see Chapter 6) and is now in Utterson's safe.
Utterson tells Poole he will return before midnight, when he has read all the documents.

Chapter 9 - Lanyon's letter
It tells of how Lanyon received a letter from Jekyll asking him to collect a drawer containing chemicals, a vial and a notebook from Jekyll's laboratory and to give it to a man who would call at midnight.
Lanyon says he was curious, especially as the book contained some strange entries.
At midnight a man appears. He is small and grotesque, wearing clothes that are too large for him.
The man offers to take the chemicals away, or to drink the potion.
Lanyon accepts and, before his very eyes, Hyde transforms into none other than Dr Jekyll.
In horror at what he has witnessed, Lanyon becomes seriously ill.

Chapter 10 - Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case
Jekyll tells the story of how he turned into Hyde.
It began as scientific curiosity in the duality of human nature (or the good and evil), and his attempt to destroy the 'darker self'. Eventually, however, he became addicted to the character of Hyde, who increasingly took over and destroyed him.
The novel does not return to Utterson who, at the end of Chapter 8, was going to return to Jekyll's house.

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