Dr Lanyon’s change

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Look at the descriptions and dialogue relating to Dr Lanyon taken from the novel (up to Chapter 6). What impression of the character
are we given and how does he change?
Quotations are taken from the Penguin Classics 2002 version of the text.

Chapters 2 and 3

Quotation What does the quotation suggest/imply?

‘The geniality, as was the way of the man, was

somewhat theatrical to the eye; but it reposed
on genuine feeling.’ Chapter 2

“But it is more than ten years since Henry

Jekyll became too fanciful for me. He began to
go wrong, wrong in mind; and though of course
I continue to take an interest in him for old
sake’s sake, as they say, I see and I have seen
devilish little of the man. Such unscientific
balderdash.” Chapter 2 (from Dr Lanyon’s
dialogue)

“I never saw a man so distressed as you were

by my will; unless it were that hide-bound
pedant, Lanyon, at what he called my scientific
heresies.” Chapter 3 (from Dr Jekyll’s
dialogue)

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 Dr Lanyon’s change
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Chapter 6

Quotation What does the quotation suggest/imply? Change?

‘He had his death-warrant written legibly upon

his face. The rosy man had grown pale; his flesh
had fallen away; he was visibly balder and older;
and yet it was not so much these tokens of a swift
physical decay that arrested the lawyer’s notice, as
a look in the eye and quality of manner that
seemed to testify to some deep-seated terror of
the mind.’ Chapter 6

‘“I wish to see or hear no more of Dr Jekyll,” he

said in a loud, unsteady voice. “I am quite done
with that person; and I beg that you will spare me
any allusion to one whom I regard as dead.”’
Chapter 6

‘So great and unprepared a change pointed to

madness; but in view of Lanyon’s manner and
words, there must lie for it some deeper ground.’
Chapter 6

Extension tasks:
 Why might Stevenson have chosen to characterise Lanyon as someone concerned with logic and science?
 What might have destroyed Lanyon?
 Highlight words in the above quotations that you think have the most impact upon readers. Be prepared to explain the reasons for your
choices.

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