AQA English Literature GCSE

Jekyll & Hyde: Question Bank

Characters

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 Contents

Questions

1. Mr Utterson page 2

2. Dr Jekyll page 3

3. Mr Hyde page 4

4. Dr Lanyon page 5

5. Poole page 6

6. Carew 1 page 7

7. Carew 2 page 8

8. Mr Enfield page 9

Please note:​ ​these questions have been written and formatted in the same style as AQA exam
questions. You can use them to help with extract questions and timed essay practice. These
questions have NOT been taken from past papers and they have NOT been made by AQA.

Mark Schemes

1. Lanyon MS page 10

2. Carew 2 MS page 11

3. Enfield MS page 12

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1. Mr Utterson

A week afterwards Dr Lanyon took to his bed, and in something less than a fortnight he was
dead. The night after the funeral, at which he had been sadly affected, Utterson locked the
door of his business room, and sitting there by the light of a melancholy candle, drew out and
set before him an envelope addressed by the hand and sealed with the seal of his dear friend.
‘P: for the hands of J. G. Utterson and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unread’, so
it was emphatically superscribed; and the lawyer dreaded to behold the contents. ‘I have
buried one friend today,’ he thought: ‘what if this should cost me another?’ And then he
condemned the fear as a disloyalty, and broke the seal. Within there was another enclosure,
likewise sealed, and marked upon the cover as ‘Not to be opened till the death or
disappearance of Dr Henry Jekyll.’ Utterson could not trust his eyes. Yes, it was
disappearance; here again, as in the mad will which he had long ago restored to its author,
here again were the idea of a disappearance and the name of Henry Jekyll bracketed. But in
the will, that idea had sprung from the sinister suggestion of the man Hyde; it was set there
with a purpose all too plain and horrible. Written by the hand of Lanyon, what should it mean?
A great curiosity came on the trustee, to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the
bottom of these mysteries; but professional honour and faith to his dead friend were stringent
obligations; and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe.

It is one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer it; and it may be doubted if, from that
day forth, Utterson desired the society of his surviving friend with the same eagerness.

Starting with this extract, write about how Stevenson presents Mr Utterson as a
trustworthy individual. Write about:

● How Stevenson presents Utterson as trustworthy in this extract.

● How Stevenson presents Utterson as trustworthy in the novel as a whole. (30)

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2. Dr Jekyll

Many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high
views that I had set before me, I regarded and hid them with an almost morbid sense of
shame. It was thus rather the exacting nature of my aspirations than any particular
degradation in my faults, that made me what I was and, with even a deeper trench than in the
majority of men, severed in me those provinces of good and ill which divide and compound
man’s dual nature. In this case, I was driven to reflect deeply and inveterately on that hard law
of life, which lies at the root of religion and is one of the most plentiful springs of distress.
Though so profound a double-dealer, I was in no sense a hypocrite; both sides of me were in
dead earnest; I was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame, than
when I laboured, in the eye of day, at the furtherance of knowledge or the relief of sorrow and
suffering. And it chanced that the direction of my scientific studies, which led wholly towards
the mystic and the transcendental, reacted and shed a strong light on this consciousness of
the perennial war among my members. With every day, and from both sides of my
intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose
partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one,
but truly two. I say two, because the state of my own knowledge does not pass beyond that
point. Others will follow, others will outstrip me on the same lines; and I hazard the guess that
man will be ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious, incongruous and independent
denizens. I for my part, from the nature of my life, advanced infallibly in one direction and in
one direction only. It was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognize
the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the
field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I
was radically both; and from an early date, even before the course of my scientific discoveries
had begun to suggest the most naked possibility of such a miracle, I had learned to dwell with
pleasure, as a beloved daydream, on the thought of the separation of these elements. If each,
I told myself, could but be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was
unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his
more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing
the good things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and
penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil. It was the curse of mankind that these
incongruous faggots were thus bound together – that in the agonized womb of
consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling. How, then, were they
dissociated?

“Dr Jekyll is portrayed as an intelligent but foolish man.”

Starting with this extract, explore how far you agree with this opinion. Write about:

● How Stevenson presents Jekyll’s personality in this extract.

● How Stevenson presents Jekyll’s personality in the novel as a whole. (30)

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3. Mr Hyde

‘Good God!’ thought Mr Utterson, ‘can he too have been thinking of the will?’ But he kept his
feelings to himself and only grunted in acknowledgement of the address.

‘And now,’ said the other, ‘how did you know me?’

‘By description,’ was the reply.

‘Whose description?’

‘We have common friends,’ said Mr Utterson.

‘Common friends?’ echoed Mr Hyde, a little hoarsely. ‘Who are they?’

‘Jekyll, for instance,’ said the lawyer.

‘He never told you,’ cried Mr Hyde, with a flush of anger. ‘I did not think you would have lied.’

‘Come,’ said Mr Utterson, ‘that is not fitting language.’

The other snarled aloud into a savage laugh; and the next moment, with extraordinary
quickness, he had unlocked the door and disappeared into the house.

The lawyer stood awhile when Mr Hyde had left him, the picture of disquietude. Then he
began slowly to mount the street, pausing every step or two and putting his hand to his brow
like a man in mental perplexity. The problem he was thus debating as he walked, was one of
a class that is rarely solved. Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of
deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne
himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke
with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice; all these were points against him, but
not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing and fear with
which Mr Utterson regarded him. ‘There must be something else,’ said the perplexed
gentleman. ‘There is something more, if I could find a name for it. God bless me, the man
seems hardly human! Something troglodytic, shall we say? or can it be the old story of Dr
Fell? or is it the mere radiance of a foul soul that thus transpires through, and transfigures, its
clay continent? The last, I think; for O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan’s
signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend.’

Starting with this extract, write about how Stevenson presents Mr Hyde as an
inherently evil character. Write about:

● How Stevenson presents Mr Hyde in this extract.

● How Stevenson presents Mr Hyde in the novel as a whole. (30)

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4. Dr Lanyon

‘Have you got it?’ he cried. ‘Have you got it?’ And so lively was his impatience that he even
laid his hand upon my arm and sought to shake me.

I put him back, conscious at his touch of a certain icy pang along my blood. ‘Come, sir,’ said I.
‘You forget that I have not yet the pleasure of your acquaintance. Be seated, if you please.’
And I showed him an example, and sat down myself in my customary seat and with as fair an
imitation of my ordinary manner to a patient, as the lateness of the house, the nature of my
preoccupations, and the horror I had of my visitor, would suffer me to muster.

‘I beg your pardon, Dr Lanyon,’ he replied civilly enough. ‘What you say is very well founded;
and my impatience has shown its heels to my politeness. I come here at the instance of your
colleague, Dr Henry Jekyll, on a piece of business of some moment; and I understood . . .’ he
paused and put his hand to his throat, and I could see, in spite of his collected manner, that
he was wrestling against the approaches of the hysteria – ‘I understood, a drawer . . .’

But here I took pity on my visitor’s suspense, and some perhaps on my own growing curiosity.

‘There it is, sir,’ said I, pointing to the drawer, where it lay on the floor behind a table and still
covered with the sheet.

He sprang to it, and then paused, and laid his hand upon his heart; I could hear his teeth
grate with the convulsive action of his jaws; and his face was so ghastly to see that I grew
alarmed both for his life and reason.

‘Compose yourself,’ said I.

He turned a dreadful smile to me, and as if with the decision of doctor lanyon’s narrative
despair, plucked away the sheet. At sight of the contents, he uttered one loud sob of such
immense relief that I sat petrified. And the next moment, in a voice that was already fairly well
under control, ‘Have you a graduated glass?’ he asked.

I rose from my place with something of an effort and gave him what he asked.

“Lanyon serves as a symbol of reputation in the novel”

Starting with this extract, explore how far you agree with this opinion. Write about:

● How Stevenson presents Dr Lanyon and the theme of reputation in this extract.

● How Stevenson presents Dr Lanyon and the theme of reputation in the novel as a
whole. (30)

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5. Poole
But now the ten minutes drew to an end. Poole disinterred the axe from under a stack of
packing straw; the candle was set upon the nearest table to light them to the attack; and they
drew near with bated breath to where that patient foot was still going up and down, up and
down, in the quiet of the night.

‘Jekyll,’ cried Utterson, with a loud voice, ‘I demand to see you.’ He paused a moment, but
there came no reply. ‘I give you fair warning, our suspicions are aroused, and I must and shall
see you,’ he resumed; ‘if not by fair means, then by foul – if not of your consent, then by brute
force!’

‘Utterson,’ said the voice, ‘for God’s sake, have mercy!’

‘Ah, that’s not Jekyll’s voice – it’s Hyde’s!’ cried Utterson. ‘Down with the door, Poole.’

Poole swung the axe over his shoulder; the blow shook the building, and the red baize door
leaped against the lock and hinges. A dismal screech, as of mere animal terror, rang from the
cabinet. Up went the axe again, and again the panels crashed and the flame bounded; four
times the blow fell; but the wood was tough and the fittings were of excellent workmanship;
and it was not until the fifth, that the lock burst in sunder and the wreck of the door fell inwards
on the carpet.

The besiegers, appalled by their own riot and the stillness that had succeeded, stood back a
little and peered in. There lay the cabinet before their eyes in the quiet lamplight, a good fire
glowing and chattering on the hearth, the kettle singing its thin strain, a drawer or two open,
papers neatly set forth on the business table, and nearer the fire, the things laid out for tea:
the quietest room, you would have said, and, but for the glazed presses full of chemicals, the
most commonplace that night in London.

Right in the midst there lay the body of a man sorely contorted and still twitching. They drew
near on tiptoe, turned it on its back and beheld the face of Edward Hyde. He was dressed in
clothes far too large for him, clothes of the doctor’s bigness; the cords of his face still moved
with a semblance of life, but life was quite gone; and by the crushed phial in the hand and the
strong smell of kernels that hung upon the air, Utterson knew that he was looking on the body
of a self-destroyer.

‘We have come too late,’ he said sternly, ‘whether to save or punish. Hyde is gone to his
account; and it only remains for us to find the body of your master.

Starting with this extract, write about how Stevenson presents Poole. Write about:

● How Stevenson presents Poole’s character in this extract.

● How Stevenson presents Poole’s character in the novel as a whole. (30)

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6. Carew 1

It was two o’clock when she came to herself and called for the police. The murderer was gone
long ago; but there lay his victim in the middle of the lane, incredibly mangled. The stick with
which the deed had been done, although it was of some rare and very tough and heavy wood,
had broken in the middle under the stress of this insensate cruelty; and one splintered half
had rolled in the neighbouring gutter – the other, without doubt, had been carried away by the
murderer. A purse and a gold watch were found upon the victim; but no cards or papers,
except a sealed and stamped envelope, which he had been probably carrying to the post, and
which bore the name and address of Mr Utterson.

This was brought to the lawyer the next morning, before he was out of bed; and he had no
sooner seen it, and been told the circumstances, than he shot out a solemn lip. ‘I shall say
nothing till I have seen the body,’ said he; ‘this may be very serious. Have the kindness to
wait while I dress.’ And with the same grave countenance he hurried through his breakfast
and drove to the police station, whither the body had been carried. As soon as he came into
the cell, he nodded.

‘Yes,’ said he, ‘I recognize him. I am sorry to say that this is Sir Danvers Carew.’

‘Good God, sir,’ exclaimed the officer, ‘is it possible?’ And the next moment his eye lighted up
with professional ambition. ‘This will make a deal of noise,’ he said. ‘And perhaps you can
help us to the man.’ And he briefly narrated what the maid had seen, and showed the broken
stick.

Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde; but when the stick was laid before him,
he could doubt no longer: broken and battered as it was, he recognized it for one that he had
himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll.

‘Is this Mr Hyde a person of small stature?’ he inquired.

‘Particularly small and particularly wicked-looking, is what the maid calls him,’ said the officer.

Mr Utterson reflected; and then, raising his head, ‘If you will come with me in my cab,’ he said,
‘I think I can take you to his house.’

“Sir Danvers Carew’s death symbolises Hyde’s disregard for authority.”

Starting with this extract, explore how far you agree with this opinion. Write about:

● How Stevenson presents Sir Carew’s death and Hyde in this extract.

● How Stevenson presents Hyde and authority in the novel as a whole. (30)

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7. Carew 2

And as she so sat she became aware of an aged and beautiful gentleman with white hair,
drawing near along the lane; and advancing to meet him, another and very small gentleman,
to whom at first she paid less attention. When they had come within speech (which was just
under the maid’s eyes) the older man bowed and accosted the other with a very pretty
manner of politeness. It did not seem as if the subject of his address were of great
importance; indeed, from his pointing, it sometimes appeared as if he were only inquiring his
way; but the moon shone on his face as he spoke, and the girl was pleased to watch it, it
seemed to breathe such an innocent and old-world kindness of disposition, yet with
something high too, as of a well-founded self-content. Presently her eye wandered to the
other, and she was surprised to recognize in him a certain Mr Hyde, who had once visited her
master and for whom she had conceived a dislike. He had in his hand a heavy cane, with
which he was trifling; but he answered never a word, and seemed to listen with an
ill-contained impatience. And then all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger,
stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a
madman. The old gentleman took a step back, with the air of one very much surprised and a
trifle hurt; and at that Mr Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth. And next
moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot, and hailing down a storm
of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped upon the
roadway. At the horror of these sights and sounds, the maid fainted.

It was two o’clock when she came to herself and called for the police. The murderer was gone
long ago; but there lay his victim in the middle of the lane, incredibly mangled. The stick with
which the deed had been done, although it was of some rare and very tough and heavy wood,
had broken in the middle under the stress of this insensate cruelty; and one splintered half
had rolled in the neighbouring gutter – the other, without doubt, had been carried away by the
murderer. A purse and a gold watch were found upon the victim; but no cards or papers,
except a sealed and stamped envelope, which he had been probably carrying to the post, and
which bore the name and address of Mr Utterson.

“Sir Danvers Carew is portrayed as a vulnerable individual.”

Starting with this extract, explore how far you agree with this opinion. Write about:

● How Stevenson presents Sir Carew’s death in this extract.

● How Stevenson presents vulnerability in the novel as a whole. (30)

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8. Mr Enfield

From this he was recalled by Mr Utterson asking rather suddenly: ‘And you don’t know if the
drawer of the cheque lives there?’

‘A likely place isn’t it?’ returned Mr Enfield. ‘But I happen to have noticed his address; he lives
in some square or other.’

‘And you never asked about – the place with the door?’ said Mr Utterson.

‘No, sir: I had a delicacy,’ was the reply. ‘I feel very strongly about putting questions; it
partakes too much of the style of the day of judgment. You start a question, and it’s like
starting a stone. You sit quietly on the top of a hill; and away the stones goes, starting others;
and presently some bland old bird (the last you would have thought of ) is knocked on the
head in his own back garden and the family have to change their name. No, sir, I make it a
rule of mine: the more it looks like Queer Street, the less I ask.’

‘A very good rule, too,’ said the lawyer.

‘But I have studied the place for myself,’ continued Mr Enfield. ‘It seems scarcely a house.
There is no other door, and nobody goes in or out of that one but, once in a great while, the
gentleman of my adventure. There are three windows looking on the court on the first floor;
none below; the windows are always shut but they’re clean. And then there is a chimney
which is generally smoking; so somebody must live there. And yet it’s not so sure; for the
buildings are so packed together about that court, that it’s hard to say where one ends and
another begins.’

The pair walked on again for a while in silence; and then ‘Enfield,’ said Mr Utterson, ‘that’s a
good rule of yours.’

‘Yes, I think it is,’ returned Enfield.

‘And for all that,’ continued the lawyer, ‘there’s one point I want to ask: I want to ask the name
of that man who walked over the child.’

‘Well,’ said Mr Enfield, ‘I can’t see what harm it would do. It was a man of the name of Hyde.’

“Mr Enfield serves to contrast Mr Utterson’s curiosity in the novel.”

Starting with this extract, explore how far you agree with this opinion. Write about:

● How Stevenson presents Mr Enfield and curiosity in this extract.

● How Stevenson presents Mr Enfield and curiosity in the novel as a whole. (30)

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1. Lanyon MS

Question 4

“Lanyon serves as a symbol of reputation in the novel”

Starting with this extract, explore how far you agree with this opinion. Write about:

● How Stevenson presents Dr Lanyon and the theme of reputation in this extract.
● How Stevenson presents Dr Lanyon and the theme of reputation in the novel as a
whole. (30)

Indicative content:

Examiners are encouraged to reward and valid interpretations. Answers might, however,
include some of the following:

AO1 [REFERENCING, MAKING STATEMENTS]

● Lanyon follows tradition and routine

● Lanyon is portrayed as polite
● Expect higher level candidates to argue with the statement, such as mentioning
Lanyon’s “growing curiosity”, which contrasts the idea of Victorian reputation
● Reference Dr Lanyon and / or the theme of reputation somewhere else in the novel

AO2 [WRITER’S METHODS AND THEIR EFFECTS]

● Contrasting language between Dr Lanyon and Mr Hyde

● Juxtaposition in the extract such as “dreadful smile”
● Lanyon is physically affected by the behaviour of Hyde
● Active verbs and enthusiastic adverbs of Hyde’s behaviour creates an imbalance of
power between the two characters

AO3 [CONTEXT AND SETTING LINKS]

● Concept of the Victorian Gentleman

● Science has created this creature

10

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2. Carew 2 MS

Question 7

“Sir Danvers Carew is portrayed as a vulnerable individual.”

Starting with this extract, explore how far you agree with this opinion. Write about:

● How Stevenson presents Sir Carew’s death in this extract.

● How Stevenson presents vulnerability in the novel as a whole. (30)

Indicative content:

Examiners are encouraged to reward and valid interpretations. Answers might, however,
include some of the following:

AO1

● Carew is a victim, attacked by Hyde

● Carew is unaware of what is about to happen to him
● Carew is feminised
● References vulnerability elsewhere in the novel

AO2 [WRITER’S METHODS AND THEIR EFFECTS]

● Contrasting language used to describe Hyde and Carew

● Semantic field of vulnerability and purity, eg. “white hair”, “aged gentleman”,
“innocent”
● Depicts Carew as prey and Hyde as a predator
● Emphasizers such as “very” to increase magnitude of incident

AO3 [CONTEXT AND SETTING LINKS]

● Classist and hierarchical society, where a higher status provides more influence
● Carew is presented as a typical Victorian Gentleman
● Gothic conventions of a weak character as a victim for the evil character.

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3. Enfield MS

Question 8

“Mr Enfield serves to contrast Mr Utterson’s curiosity in the novel.”

Starting with this extract, explore how far you agree with this opinion. Write about:

● How Stevenson presents Mr Enfield and curiosity in this extract.

● How Stevenson presents Mr Enfield and curiosity in the novel as a whole. (30)

Indicative content:

Examiners are encouraged to reward and valid interpretations. Answers might, however,
include some of the following:

AO1 [REFERENCING, MAKING STATEMENTS]

● Enfield values remaining reputable above satisfying his curiosity

● On the other hand, Utterson spends the novella investigating the ‘case’
● Observant individual with a lot of information
● Aware of the importance of reputation
● Symbolises repression and silence
● Enfield separates himself from those not in his status of high class

AO2 [WRITER’S METHODS AND THEIR EFFECTS]

● Stark difference in dialogue lengths between Utterson and Enfield

● Using exclusionary phrases such as “Queer Street”
● Lots of pauses through the punctuation to show how the characters are morally
separate.
● Utterson asks questions and Enfield answers them

AO3 [CONTEXT AND SETTING LINKS]

● Both characters are reputable Victorian Gentlemen, subjected to high standards of

Victorian society.
● General theme of repression in the novel and in Victorian society
● ‘Shilling Shocker’: curiosity drives the mystery element of the novel
● Gothic literature: secrets hold a lot of power and adds suspense to the plot

12

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