Write your own The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde story

Gabriel John Utterson

A reserved, austere London lawyer who serves as the story's primary viewpoint character. Though cold in manner and undemonstrative, he is deeply loyal to old friends and possessed of a tolerant, non-judgmental nature. His growing dread over the connection between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde drives much of the narrative's investigation.

Dr. Henry Jekyll

A wealthy, well-respected physician and scientist of about fifty, known for his charitable works and good standing in society. He harbors a dangerous secret involving his alter ego, Mr. Hyde, and has drawn up a controversial will leaving everything to Hyde. He grows increasingly reclusive and tormented as the story progresses.

Mr. Edward Hyde

A small, pale, and physically repellent man who inspires instinctive loathing and a sense of deformity in all who see him, though no specific malformation can be named. He is capable of casual, savage violence—trampling a child and bludgeoning Sir Danvers Carew to death—and carries a key to Jekyll's laboratory door. He is the dark alter ego of Dr. Jekyll.

Richard Enfield

Mr. Utterson's distant kinsman and companion on Sunday walks, described as a well-known man about town. He first witnesses Hyde trampling a child and recounts the story of the sinister door, setting the mystery in motion. He is sociable and observant, though he makes a rule of not asking too many questions about strange affairs.

Dr. Hastie Lanyon

A hearty, boisterous, and well-regarded physician and old school friend of both Utterson and Jekyll. He has grown estranged from Jekyll over what he calls scientific heresies. He later witnesses something so shocking in connection with Jekyll and Hyde that it destroys his health and will to live, and he dies within weeks, leaving a sealed narrative for Utterson.

Poole

Dr. Jekyll's loyal and long-serving butler, a well-dressed elderly servant who manages Jekyll's household. He is a reliable source of information for Utterson about the comings and goings at Jekyll's house and the laboratory door, and he is clearly trusted by his master.

Sir Danvers Carew

An aged, white-haired, and distinguished Member of Parliament described as radiating innocent, old-world kindness. He is brutally murdered by Hyde with a heavy cane in a moonlit lane, the crime witnessed by a maid. His death becomes a major public scandal that intensifies the hunt for Hyde.

Mr. Guest

Mr. Utterson's head clerk, a keen student and critic of handwriting. He is privy to many of the lawyer's confidences and notices a disturbing resemblance between the handwriting of Hyde and that of Dr. Jekyll, a clue he tactfully agrees to keep secret.

Inspector Newcomen

A Scotland Yard detective who accompanies Utterson to Hyde's Soho lodgings following the Carew murder. Professionally ambitious and practical, he oversees the search of Hyde's rooms and the gathering of evidence.

The Door in the By-Street

A blistered, knockerless door set into a sinister, windowless block of building on a quiet but thriving London by-street, also called 'Black Mail House' by Enfield. It is in fact the rear laboratory entrance to Dr. Jekyll's property and can be opened with Hyde's key. The building bears marks of prolonged neglect and inspires unease in all who notice it.

Dr. Jekyll's House and Laboratory

A large, handsome house in a square of ancient properties, comfortably furnished and well-staffed, regarded by Utterson as containing the pleasantest room in London—its warm, oak-furnished hall. Connected at the rear is a dingy, windowless laboratory and dissecting room, formerly a surgical theatre, now fitted with chemical apparatus and accessed by a red baize door leading to Jekyll's private cabinet.

Mr. Hyde's Soho Lodgings

A dingy flat in a disreputable quarter of Soho, surrounded by gin palaces, low eating houses, and ragged street children. Hyde's rooms within are furnished with unexpected luxury and good taste, suggesting Jekyll's influence and wealth. When Utterson and the inspector visit, the rooms have been ransacked and papers burned in the hearth.

Cavendish Square

Described as a 'citadel of medicine,' this prestigious London square is where Dr. Lanyon maintains his house and medical practice. It represents the respectable, established face of Victorian science and society.

Victorian London (Setting)

The story is set in a fog-choked, lamplit London of the late nineteenth century, where gas lamps, horse-drawn cabs, and a strict social hierarchy define daily life. The city's atmosphere of murk and shadow reflects the story's themes of hidden vice beneath respectable surfaces, with Soho representing squalor and Cavendish Square representing eminence.

Dr. Jekyll's Will

A holograph will drawn up by Jekyll and kept in Utterson's safe, stipulating that in the event of Jekyll's death or unexplained absence of more than three months, all his estate passes to Edward Hyde. The will is a source of deep distress to Utterson, and it later emerges that Hyde himself dictated its unusual disappearance clause.

Hyde's Key to the Laboratory Door

A key that Edward Hyde carries and uses to enter and exit Jekyll's property through the rear laboratory door. Its existence confirms Hyde's special, intimate access to Jekyll's life and resources, and its continued use long after Hyde is suspected of murder is a source of unease for all who know of it.

The Murder Cane

A heavy cane of rare, tough wood that Hyde uses to beat Sir Danvers Carew to death. It is broken in two by the savagery of the assault; one half is found in the gutter near the body and identified by Utterson as a gift he himself once gave to Dr. Jekyll, directly linking Jekyll to Hyde.

Hyde's Letter to Jekyll

A brief letter in Hyde's distinctive upright handwriting, delivered mysteriously to Jekyll (likely through the laboratory door rather than by post), assuring Jekyll that Hyde has means of escape and that Jekyll need not fear for his safety. Guest the clerk notices its handwriting is strikingly similar to Jekyll's own, suggesting a common author.

Dr. Lanyon's Sealed Narrative

A sealed envelope left by Lanyon upon his death, addressed to Utterson alone and marked not to be opened until Jekyll's death or disappearance. Within it is a further sealed enclosure containing Lanyon's account of the shocking truth he witnessed. It represents a deferred revelation at the heart of the mystery.

The Duality of Human Nature

The central philosophical theme of the setting: the idea that every respectable person conceals a darker self, and that Victorian society's demand for outward propriety forces the shadow self underground rather than eliminating it. Jekyll's experiment is an attempt to fully separate these two aspects, with catastrophic results. The story treats this duality not as supernatural fantasy but as a dark possibility latent in human nature itself.

Jekyll's Scientific Heresy

Dr. Jekyll pursues chemical and scientific research that his colleague Dr. Lanyon regards as dangerously unscientific and fantastical. The precise nature of the experiments is not fully disclosed in the opening chapters, but they involve transformation of identity and are implied to border on alchemy or proto-psychology. Lanyon's horror at the results is so profound it kills him.

Hyde's Inexplicable Repulsion

Every character who encounters Hyde experiences an instinctive, overwhelming loathing and sense of deformity that they cannot rationally explain or name. No specific physical defect is identified, yet the impression of wrongness is universal and powerful. Utterson theorizes it may be 'the radiance of a foul soul' transfiguring its physical form—a key supernatural or psychological element of the world.

Victorian Reputation and Blackmail

The social world of the story is governed by reputation, respectability, and the terror of scandal. Characters routinely suppress knowledge of crimes and strange affairs to protect names—their own or others'. Enfield calls the mysterious door 'Black Mail House,' assuming the cheque drawn there represents an eminent man paying to suppress youthful indiscretions. This culture of enforced respectability is the soil in which Jekyll's dangerous secret grows.

Key Events Chronology

Enfield witnesses Hyde trample a child and extort a cheque signed in Jekyll's name (opening incident, past). Utterson discovers Jekyll's troubling will and visits Lanyon, then survives Hyde outside the laboratory door. Nearly a year later, Hyde murders Sir Danvers Carew with a cane. Utterson and police search Hyde's Soho rooms; Hyde vanishes. Jekyll briefly recovers and resumes social life. Jekyll and Lanyon suffer a mysterious falling-out; Lanyon dies within weeks, leaving a sealed narrative. Jekyll retreats into total seclusion.