Characterization

Dr. Henry Jekyll - doctor and friend of both Lanyon and Utterson. Jekyll is a prosperous man, well liked in his community, and famous for his morals and charity works. However, he secretly engages in a strange behavior. Jekyll thinks that his evil side is a burden and conducts experiments to separate his good and evil selves from each other. However, during these experiments he brings Mr. Hyde into existence. He makes a mistake and transforms himself so he fully becomes his darker half.

Mr. Edward Hyde - man who looks almost non-human. Hyde is violent and cruel, and the people who see him say he is very ugly and deformed but no one can say exactly why he looks this way. Hyde is Jekyll’s evil side, released from Jekyll's mind into the world by a potion.

Mr. Utterson - A well respected lawyer. Utterson is reserved and confident, but also is curious about the situation with Jekyll. He doesn't seem to believe in the supernatural. He is definitely a more rational thinker who's curiosity gets the best of him when he digs deep into Jekyll's affairs

Dr. Lanyon - A doctor. Also one of Jekyll’s closest friends. Lanyon the most rational and skepticial man in the story. Jekyll, who embraces mysticism. His death represents the more general victory of supernaturalism over materialism in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Mr. Poole - Jekyll’s butler. He is a servant, having worked for the doctor for twenty years, and his concern for his master after all the weird stuff thats been going on eventually drives him to seek Utterson’s help when he becomes convinced that something has happened to Jekyll.

Mr. Enfield - A distant cousin and friend of Mr. Utterson. Like Utterson, Enfield is reserved. Enfield and utterson often walk together for a while without saying a word to one another.

Metaphors/ Allegory

Metaphor Example 1: Utterson shows his concern for his friend by thinking, "Poor Harry Jekyll . . . my mind misgives me he is in deep waters!". He isn't literally in deep waters it means his mind is so mixed up it seems like he is drowning in his thoughts.

Metaphor Example 2: During an attack by Hyde is described as the man "hailing down a storm of blows,". This once again isn't literal, I means he is beating someone so fiercely that its like a storm is hailing down unrelentingly on him

Point of view

This story is told through the eyes of Utterson, we see everything that he sees and in the way he sees it. Which works out and make the story all the better because he is a very curious man and is very involved with Jekyll and Lanyon who both end up in bad situations. This gives us a real in depth feel and like we are almost taking the place of Utterson. I'd also agree that his logic and rational would make him the perfect candidate for being the character we are taken through the story with.

Mood and Tone

The mood and Tone of the story overall I would have to say is creepy or mysterious. The reason I say this is because there's a lot of stuff that goes down throughout the story. For example, a dangerous man (Hyde) who is under the protection and care of Jekyll. Then the death of Lanyon happens as well as Jekyll not willing to see anyone or come out of his house at all. During all of this Utterson is almost playing detective in order to see what is wrong with his friends and what is going on in the community. Finally Utterson has reason to think that Jekyll is being black mailed by Hyde.

Theme

The over all theme of the story I think would have to be that how you are viewed in society can really change a person to be someone else. I feel this way because Jekyll can't live his life with Hyde his evil counter part, even though it is part of who he is as a person. Socially we hide who we truly are out of fear of being made fun of or to fit in with the crowd. No one is normally courageous enough to be their true self. Whenever Hyde makes his appearances in the story he is judge hard for how he looks. Yes he is evil but when Utterson seems him all he can think about is how ugly and horrible he looks. For all he knows he could be a sweet teddy bear just looking for a friend.