TITLE:

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

AUTHOR:

Robert Louis Stevenson

SUMMARY:

Chapter one: Story of the door

Mr Utterson, a lawyer, was walking with Mr Enfield like every Sunday. While they saw a dirty door, Mr Enfield started telling a strange story about it. He said he saw two people, a man and a girl. A while after they ran into each other and the girl fell down. Then the man continued walking and he walked over the girl's body. Mr Enfield said he went after the man and he saw that the man was little and he was strange. Everybody hated the man, because of that strange thing. Mr Enfield said he went to the man and he agreed to give the girl's family one hundred pounds. The man went home, he opened the dirty door with a key and he went out with a cheque for ninety pounds and ten pounds in notes. The name of the man was Mr Hyde.

Chapter two: Search for Mr Hyde

When Mr Utterson came home, he was unhappy. He ate and he took Dr Jekyll's will. There was written that in case of disappearance or death of Dr Jekyll, Mr Edward Hyde could have all his money. The lawyer decided to find out the truth. He decided to visit Dr Lanyon, another old friend of Jekyll. They talked a little and then Utterson asked if he knows the name 'Hyde'. He said no. One day Utterson was walking in the old street, when he saw a man. He asked him if he was Hyde and he confirmed. Hyde sad Jekyll wasn't at home and he gave Utterson his address. Utterson went to Jekyll house and he asked Poole, a servant, if Hyde was a close friend of Jekyll. It was so. Servants had to obey Mr Hyde. He also had a key of the laboratory.

Chapter three: The Carew murder case

One year passed and a terrible murder happened. A servant girl described what happened. She saw and old man walking along the street, and a small one. They met and the old man asked something to the other. Then the girl recognized the small man: he was Mr Hyde. He didn't answer the question. Suddenly he lifted the stick he had in his hand and began to hit the old man. The girl was so horrified that she fainted. When she woke up she called the police. Hyde wasn't there, but the body of the old man was lying on the floor. There was also a piece of the stick. There were old man's  wallet and papers, and a letter to Utterson. Police went to Utterson. Then they went back to the body. The lawyer recognized the body. He was a member of the parliament, Sir Danvers Carew. When he heard Hyde name, he went with the police to Hyde house. At night, Utterson went to Jekyll's and he asked his friend if he was hiding Hyde. He said that nobody would see Hyde anymore. Than Jekyll took a letter and gave Utterson it . There, Hyde thanked Jekyll for his friendship. Hyde said he was going away. Then Utterson went out from Jekyll's and he went to his head-clerk, Mr Guest. He put the letter of Hyde next to another letter, written by Jekyll. He saw they were written by the same person.

Chapter four: Incident at the window

Time passed, while the police continued seeking Mr Hyde. They offered money for him and information about him. For two months Jekyll saw his friend every day. On the twelve of January, Utterson called Jekyll's house, but Poole said that the doctor was ill. He became to worry, because the day after again he couldn't see Jekyll. So, Utterson went to Lanyon, and he said he wouldn't speak about Jekyll anymore. Utterson came back home and he wrote a letter to Jekyll, asking what was wrong. Jekyll answered the day after. He said that the lawyer had to allow Jekyll to stay alone. Three days after Dr Lanyon died. The night after the funeral, Utterson received a large envelope. It contained another envelop. On it there was written that Utterson could open it only in case of death or disappearance of Jekyll. Utterson put the second envelope in his safe. One Sunday afternoon Mr Utterson was walking with Mr Enfield as usual. Then they arrived in front of the door. Suddenly Mr Utterson said that he saw Hyde once. He hated him at the first time too. So they entered the garden of Jekyll's house. They saw Jekyll at a window. They spoke a little and Jekyll said he would die soon. Suddenly Jekyll's face changed and he closed the window with a bang. So the men walked away from the house.

Chapter five: The last night

One night Utterson was at home when Poole went to his house very white and frightened. He was very worry about Jekyll. So they went to Jekyll's house and they went in front of the door of the laboratory. Poole knocked the door and he said that Utterson was there. A voice answered from the laboratory saying that Jekyll couldn't see anybody. Utterson and the servant came back to the hall and Poole asked the lawyer if the voice he heard was the usual one. Utterson said no. Poole said that Dr Jekyll was murdered eight days before but he didn't know who is in the laboratory with the body of the doctor. Poole said also that every day this person wrote him a note ordering the servant to buy some medicines in different chemist's. Utterson saw one of this notes and he recognize Jekyll's writing. The two men took an axe and a metal bar. Poole said that the man he saw was Mr Hyde. Then the servant and Utterson broke down the door. Inside the room there was Hyde's body, but he was died. On the desk there were lots of papers. There was also a new will. On it there was written that Utterson would take all Jekyll's money. There was a letter for Utterson. It said that the lawyer could read the letter he received.

Chapter six: Dr Lanyon's narrative

When Utterson came back home, he went to his safe, and he took the envelope he receive from Lanyon. There was written that Jekyll asked Lanyon to go to his house and take the powders and a book from the laboratory, and wait at home for a man. The letter continued. Lanyon thought that Jekyll was mad, but he did what he asked. The book was a record of doctor's experiments. At midnight a small ugly man came to Lanyon's house. He was Jekyll's friend. The man was very impatient, so Lanyon gave him the powders. The man mixed them and after he drank them. Then he cried out and he fell to the floor. Then his body began to grow. The small ugly man was disappeared, and on the floor, there was Jekyll. The small ugly man, was Mr Hyde.

Chapter seven: Henry Jekyll's statement

Mr Utterson put down the letter and began to read the papers from the laboratory. There was written the story of Jekyll: he had money and he liked to work. When he was young he wanted to be respected from his friends. In public he became a good man, in private he was a bad one. He studied science and he understood that all human were like him: everybody had two parts, a good one and an evil one. In his studies he tried to separate these parts. He thought that the evil identity would be completely evil, and the good one completely good. One day he mixed some special powders he bought and he drank them. Suddenly he felt ill and he was a different man. Nothing was important for him except pleasure. He was become Edward Hyde. He drank another time the mixture and Hyde disappeared and he became Henry Jekyll again. Then Hyde began doing terrible things, but the doctor couldn't do anything, because Jekyll and Hyde were different people. Soon he realized that Hyde was dangerous. So he gave Hyde a bank account and a house. About two month before the murder, a strange thing happened. One night Hyde returned home to sleep. The day after, when he woke up, he was Hyde. He went to bed as Jekyll and he woke up as Hyde. Mr Hyde was stronger than the doctor. So Jekyll decided not to be Hyde anymore. Two months later, he drank the powders again. He became Hyde, but he was very angry. That was the night of the murder. Hyde was afraid of the police, so he went to the laboratory, and he took the powders. Jekyll remembered what Hyde did, and he promised not to take the powders anymore. One day he went to the park. He was thinking about himself, a good man. Suddenly he felt ill, and he became Mr Hyde once more.

Chapter eight: The sad conclusion

Dr Jekyll's letter continued: he was Mr Hyde and the police was looking for him. He had to go to the laboratory, but he couldn't. So he went to a hotel, and he wrote a letter to Dr Lanyon. He asked him to take the powders. Lanyon did what he asked. He went back to the laboratory. Hyde became stronger, and Jekyll became ill and weak. Hyde often appeared. Jekyll and Hyde lived together in the laboratory. They hated each other and they were afraid of each other. Jekyll used the last of the powders. Then he sent Poole to buy more, but they didn't work. He sent the servant to other pharmacies but powders never work. Perhaps there was an impurity in first powders, and the impurity made them work. He became soon Hyde again and, without the powders, he would be Hyde forever. He didn't know if Hyde could kill himself. If the police found him, he would die in prison. Or he could kill himself. That was the end of his life. Henry Jekyll would kill himself, and put an end to his unhappy life.