The strange case of Dr jekyll and Mr hyde

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson.

Publisher: Helbling Languages.

Noelia Torvisco Gamero 4ºB Describe the book in one or two sentences. What type of story is it? Where / When does it take place? Who are the main characters?

It is a murder mystery that takes place in the old London in the late nineteenth century. The book shows us the continuous fighting of man between good and evil. Every person has two sides, one good and one bad.

The main characters are the lawyer Utterson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Although also appear characters as Dr. Lanyon and Mr. Enfield.

Write a few sentences saying why you liked (or didn’t like) the book. E.g. What were the best things about the book?

What other books did it remind you of? What kind of reader do you think would enjoy this book?

First of all, I have read this story before, and I knew what would be the final so I couldn’t enjoy it as the first time I read it. But I like it. The best things of the book for me are those moments of transformation of Dr. Jekyll. I would really like to study psychology so I liked these topics related to personality disorders.

In my opinion, if you like fantasy books and mystery books you should read this.

Would you recommend this book to other readers? (Choose one and explain why) Strongly recommended OK, but not very exciting Not recommended I suppose not everybody would like this book, but if I have to recommend it to someone it would be my father. He enjoys a lot reading old histories like this and I’m sure he will love it. For me it was ok, bit I’ve read better books and more suited to my age, but I know we must read classic books to have more culture.

Level (Choose one and explain why.)

This book is: quite difficult to read

just about right

really easy to read

I have learned a lot of new words in this book, but I could perfectly understand the text in general, so it is very well adapted and it’s a very good version.

What question(s) would you like to ask the author?

I would like to ask him how he came up the plot of the play and what inspired him to create the characters. I would also ask Robert Louis if he doubt about the final of the history and if he thought of other possible endings.

CHARACTERS •Which is your favourite character? Why do you like this character? Give reasons.

My favourite character is Doctor Jekyll. He is a well-known doctor who is smart and kind and his friends love him. He is Doctor of Law and member of the Royal Academy, he is a close friend of Utterson and Lanyon lawyer. He thinks that through an experiment you can separate the good and evil of people. He’s is intelligent, educated, rich and very polite and respectful to people.

I feel sympathy for this character because it is considered to be a scientist doing crazy experiments that have no sense, but at the end he shows they really have.

•Write his/her character profile.

Name

CHARACTER PROF Henry Jekyll.

ILE

Nationality

English. (He lives in London)

Profession

He is a very important doctor.

Appearance

He is a man of about fifty years old whose appearance proves that he’s an intelligent and kind man. He’s tall and good looking.

Personality

He is greatly appreciated by his friends because of his affable personality. He is very learned, studious, very noble and a good person.

Likes / Dislikes

He likes doing experiments at his laboratory. He doesn’t like being asked about Mr.Hyde.

• Which is your favourite incident in the story? What does it show about your favourite character?

My favourite incident is when Dr. Jekyll takes the potion and becomes Mr. Hyde. It's a nice representation of the two sides of a person and of good and evil. It shows that he’s a really good scientist and I think he’s really brave trying to prove he’s right.

PLOT DEVELOPMENT •INTRODUCTION. How does the story start?

The story starts when two men are walking down the streets of London and they pass in front of a door, another one tells a story about her.

A man ran over a little girl across the corner, the family threatened to end his reputation. The man agreed to pay 100 pounds. He entered that door and came out with an apparently fake check by the firm that could be seen on it but finally it was true.

The two men agreed never to speak of that history.

BUILD-UP / DEVELOPMENT What happens next?

The lawyer looks into his safe and takes an envelope in which Dr. Jekyll, say: "I leave all my belongings to Mr. Hyde when I die or disappear."

The lawyer finds Hyde and he asks if he can see Jekyll and he replied he’s not at home. Then he goes to the doctor’s house but he isn’t there either.

Mr. Utterson went to a dinner organized by Jekyll old friends. As usual, the lawyer stays after they all were. He was talking to the doctor and asked if Hyde was in some troubles. He told her not to worry, that he could make disappears Hyde whenever he wanted to. Jekyll makes Mr. Utterson promise that when he dies, he will take care of Hyde. He accepts.

•CLIM AX What’s the most exciting or important part of the story?

For me, the most important part is almost the final of the story.

Poole asks Mr. Utterson for help because she’s afraid for Dr. Jekyll. He has been locked in a room and doesn’t want to leave, Poole comments on the physical changes of the doctor. Poole breaks down the lab door with an ax and finds the body of Hyde. They look for Jekyll all around the house but they can’t find him, and then Mr. Utterson finds a goodbye note and also a letter and a will.

•CONCLUSION / RESOLUTION What happens in the end?

In his letter from Jekyll tells that since he was just a boy, he learned to hide her vivacious personality and how he became interested in separating the good and bad sides of a person. It does this by doing an experiment and living a metamorphosis. He liked his new costume as Edward Hyde so he could enjoy decent pleasures without destroying the reputation of Jekyll. When the personality of Hyde start to takes control about the other,he is frightened and he tries to end but he always falls back into temptation and after some time, the transformation is done automatically. To end this, he writes a letter to Utterson telling the story and finally he kills himself.

READING SELF-ASSESSMENT RECORD • Tick (✔ ) the phrase which is true for you

At the end of the book I feel

More The confident same

Less confident

(✔)

talking about characters

(✔)

understanding the plot of a story

(✔)

working out the meaning of unknown words

(✔)

understanding idoms about reading a story in English

(✔)

Tick (✔) the phrase which is true for you. Then give examples from the story.

I have learnt

Some

A lot (✔)

New words Useful expressions

(✔) (✔)

New idioms

I’ve learnt some new words and expressions like: warn someone (advertir), courtyard (patio), stir up trouble (crear problemas), being blackmailed (ser chantajeado), forgery (falsificación), shrunken (reducido), postmarck (sello), shameful (vergonzoso), slammed (golpear, estrellarse), gazing (mirar con fijeza), beg (mendigar), puzzled (perplejo), wholly (totalmente), crossroads (encrucijada), willing (complaciente) The most exciting thing that happened in the story was ...(write about it): One of the most exciting parts for me, it’s when at the start of the story, appears Mr. Hyde crashing with a little girl in the street. Soon, a lot of people start to get closer to see what was going on. He decided to pay to the girl’s family and in that way they could forget what happened there.

It’s the presentation of this character, and I thought it was really interesting because it leaves you with more desire to keep reading and discover who is this character and why he behaved that way.

Underline the word that best describes the ending.

The story had a happy / sad / exciting / interesting / satisfying / unsatisfying /good / bad ending.

What did you think of the book? Circle a, b or c. a- It wasn’t bad. b- I enjoyed it. c- It was brilliant. You must read it.