Nineteenth-century novel, Year 10: Utterson, Lanyon, Enfield and Poole (The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde option)

lovable

HintAfter a list of cold words, one warm one.

The whyThe contrast tells the reader that behind the stern, dry manner is a kind man, which is why people trust him with their secrets. Stevenson says something eminently human shows in his eye.

That he is tolerant: he does not judge or interfere, so people confide in him

HintHe stays friends with those who have gone wrong.

The whyHe refers to Cain's question in the Bible. His tolerance makes him a trusted lawyer, but it also means he asks few questions of Jekyll until it is almost too late.

Hyde and Seek: he will hunt for Hyde, like the game of hide-and-seek

HintSay the two names out loud, quickly.

The whyHe starts to haunt the door at all hours, waiting for Hyde. The pun shows a dry humour as well as a lawyer's patience.

He thinks Jekyll did something wrong in his wild youth, and that Hyde knows about it

HintHe remembers his friend as a younger man.

The whyUtterson thinks of a ghost of some old sin. The truth is stranger: the secret is not in the past but in Jekyll himself.

That the two hands are almost identical, only sloped differently

HintThe letter is meant to come from two different men.

The whyGuest is an expert on handwriting. The clue points towards Jekyll having written the letter himself, but Utterson chooses to say nothing.

That he is a cautious, conventional scientist who despises Jekyll's risky ideas

HintHis idea of science is the opposite of his friend's.

The whyLanyon and Jekyll quarrelled over Jekyll's interest in mystic science. This sets up the later scene in which Lanyon sees at first hand where such ideas lead.

He has seen Hyde turn into Jekyll, though he refuses to say so at this point

HintHe tells Utterson to ask his friend himself.

The whyThe healthy, red-faced doctor of Chapter 2 is now a shaken, dying man. The change in him shows the reader how terrible the truth must be.

He is a distant relative: Utterson's kinsman

HintThey are very different, yet they walk together each Sunday.

The whyEnfield is a well-known man about town. The two share a taste for silence rather than interests, and Enfield's reluctance to ask questions suits Utterson.

That they avoid asking questions about a scandal, to protect reputations

HintHe prefers not to know.

The whyThe rule works for Enfield and Utterson in Chapter 1 and lets the secret grow. A world in which respectable men look away is what lets Hyde escape.

That the creature in the cabinet cannot be Jekyll, who is a tall, well-built man

HintHe compares what he saw with the master he has known for years.

The whyPoole's loyalty shows in how well he knows Jekyll. He is the first to say plainly that something is wrong, and he is believed in the end.