Read the extract below. In this extract taken from chapter nine, ‘Dr Lanyon’s Narrative’ Dr Lanyon recounts the horror of watching Hyde turn back into Dr Jekyll.
He put the glass to his lips and drank at one gulp. A cry followed; he reeled, staggered, clutched at the table and held on, staring with injected eyes, gasping with open mouth; and as I looked there came, I thought, a change--he seemed to swell-- his face became suddenly black and the features seemed to melt and alter--and the next moment, I had sprung to my feet and leaped back against the wall, my arms raised to shield me from that prodigy, my mind submerged in terror. "O God!" I screamed, and "O God!" again and again; for there before my eyes--pale and shaken, and half fainting, and groping before him with his hands, like a man restored from death--there stood Henry Jekyll!
What he told me in the next hour, I cannot bring my mind to set on paper. I saw what I saw, I heard what I heard, and my soul sickened at it; and yet now when that sight has faded from my eyes, I ask myself if I believe it, and I cannot answer. My life is shaken to its roots; sleep has left me; the deadliest terror sits by me at all hours of the day and night; and I feel that my days are numbered, and that I must die; and yet I shall die incredulous. As for the moral turpitude that man unveiled to me, even with tears of penitence, I can not, even in memory, dwell on it without a start of horror. I will say but one thing, Utterson, and that (if you can bring your mind to credit it) will be more than enough. The creature who crept into my house that night was, on Jekyll's own confession, known by the name of Hyde and hunted for in every corner of the land as the murderer of Carew.
Starting with this extract, how does Stevenson present Dr Lanyon’s horror at Dr Jekyll’s behaviour?
Write about:
• how Stevenson presents Dr Lanyon in this extract;
• how Stevenson presents Dr Lanyon’s horror at Dr Jekyll’s behaviour in the novel as a whole. (30 marks)
In Stevenson’s novella about the duality nside us all, Dr. Lanyon is presented as a stereotypical and moral Victorian gentleman who is horrified and disgusted by Dr. Jekyll’s behaviour throughout the story. His horror after witnessing Hyde’s transformation ultimately leads to his early death.
In the extract, Stevenson presents Dr Lanyon’s ‘horror’ at Dr Jekyll’s behaviour through his reactions and emotions whilst witnessing the terrifying transformation. He says that he felt his ‘mind submerged in terror.’ This powerful imagery shows that he felt horrified and fearful about the shocking truth that the criminal Hyde is actually the same person as the respectable Dr Jekyll. The word ‘submerged’ implies that the terror is completely overcoming him like an unstoppable wave. Lanyon writes he screamed ‘O God!’ ‘again and again’. The repetition of the exclamation ‘O God! and the word ‘again’ reveals that Lanyon is shocked by Jekyll’s immoral experiments. Dr Lanyon describes Jekyll ‘like a man restored from death.’ This simile reveals Lanyon’s shock and horror about Jekyll’s respectable identity struggling against evil and losing the battle.
Also in this extract, Stevenson shows Dr. Lanyon’s ‘horror’ through his feelings after the event. Lanyon says that his ‘soul sickened’. This religious imagery suggests a moral disgust about this evil sin against God. The sibilance in the words makes him sound even more disgusted, as if he is spitting them out. Lanyon’s life is ‘shaken to its roots’ after he sees the transformation. He can no longer sleep. Instead, ‘the deadliest terror sits by [him] at all hours of the day and night.’ The personification of ‘terror’ makes it seem alive, monstrous and fearful, and the word ‘deadliest’ suggests that he knows he is going to die because of the shock. Most 19th century Victorian readers were moral Christians so would have understood Lanyon’s horrified reaction and would have been shocked and appalled by Dr Jekyll’s choice to keep taking a drug which allows him to commit crimes in secret.
Early in the novella, it is clear that there is an ongoing disagreement between Dr. Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll. Lanyon’s horror is shown right from the beginning of the story, when Utterson goes to his and Jekyll’s mutual friend Lanyon in an attempt to find out more about Jekyll’s mysterious will. During their conversation, Lanyon says that he has not spoken to Jekyll for a long time because he disapproves of his scientific experiments. Despite being in the same career field, Lanyon sees Jekyll’s work as ‘unscientific balderdash.’ Through the use of the word ‘unscientific’, it is evident that Lanyon does not admire or respect Jekyll’s work. To him, Jekyll is not a credible scientist. The strong insult ‘balderdash’ makes his disgust and mistrust obvious. This implies to the reader that Lanyon’s knows something about Jekyll’s experiments that the other characters do not know.
Later in the novella, Dr Lanyon’s horror at Dr Jekyll’s behaviour is shown through his death and final letter. Dr Lanyon dies as a direct result of his meeting with Hyde and his final letter is read by Utterson only after his death. This suggests that Jekyll’s secret is so shocking that it causes death to those who know about it. Stevenson deliberately delays Lanyon’s letter until Chapter 9, towards the end of the book, to create suspense before revealing the horrifying truth about the mystery of Jekyll’s connection with Hyde: that they are the same person.
To conclude, Dr Lanyon’s soul-sickening horror at Jekyll’s immorality would have been felt by many 19th century Victorian middle-class readers. Victorians felt anxious about crimes and sins in the city of London. The idea that even respectable middle-class doctors might have dark secrets and hidden crimes would have been unsettling for Victorian readers. Perhaps, through the theme of duality, Stevenson wanted to show his readers that evil is within us all and that repressing it leads to disastrous consequences.