Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)

A Victorian lawyer investigates his friend's disturbing new associate — and unravels the most famous split personality in literature.

EraVictorian
Pages96
Difficulty★★☆☆☆ Moderate
AP Appearances7

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde— Summary & Analysis

by Robert Louis Stevenson · published 1886 · 96 pages · Victorian

A user-friendly study guide for Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886): a high-level plot summary, full chapter-by-chapter analysis, theme breakdowns, character profiles, and 30 essay questions designed for middle-school, high-school, ap-english, college readers. Unlike a stock summary, sumsumsum.com adds a diction analysis drawn from Robert Louis Stevenson’s actual text, the 7 documented AP Literature exam appearances of this book, and reading-difficulty guidance (Easy, 2/10) so students, teachers, and lifelong readers know what they are walking into.

Reading level: Easy (2/10)AP Lit: 7 exam mentionsTaught at: middle-schoolTaught at: high-schoolTaught at: ap-englishTaught at: collegenovellagothichorrormystery

A Victorian lawyer investigates his friend's disturbing new associate — and unravels the most famous split personality in literature.

Short Summary

London lawyer Gabriel Utterson investigates the sinister Mr Hyde, who has a strange hold over his respectable friend Dr Henry Jekyll. After Hyde murders a Member of Parliament and then disappears, Jekyll seals himself in his laboratory and refuses all visitors. The mystery resolves in the last two chapters through a pair of posthumous letters: Jekyll has been using a chemical compound to transform himself into Hyde — his repressed, evil alter-ego — and has lost control of the transformation. Unable to stop becoming Hyde, Jekyll takes poison. Hyde dies with him.

Detailed Summary

Gabriel John Utterson, a London solicitor of unimpeachable respectability, is troubled by a clause in his friend Dr Henry Jekyll's will: everything is to go to a man named Edward Hyde in the event of Jekyll's 'disappearance or unexplained absence for any period exceeding three calendar months.' Utte...

Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis

If you liked Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, read next

Start with Frankenstein by Mary ShelleyScience exceeding moral bounds, the creator responsible for the monster's violence, the question of whether the created is separate from its creator. Then try Dracula by Bram StokerGothic monster as a vehicle for late-Victorian anxieties about the boundaries of the civilized self; multiple-narrator structure directly influenced by Jekyll's posthumous-document technique. Or pivot to Heart of Darkness by Joseph ConradThe 'civilized' European man confronting the atavistic violence within — Kurtz and Hyde both reveal what the colonial/Victorian framework suppresses rather than eliminates.

For comparative essays, pair Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde with

The strongest comparative pairing is The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)Same year (1890 for Dorian), same theme of Victorian duality and the consequences of separating public virtue from private vice — Dorian externalizes his corruption where Hyde is internal.

Each of these pairings opens a clean thesis path on shared themes, period diction, or formal influence — useful for AP Lit / IB / first-year college comparative essays.

More from Robert Louis Stevenson and the scholars who study Stevenson

Other works by Robert Louis Stevenson: Treasure Island (1883, 292 pages). Reading two or three of these in sequence reveals Robert Louis Stevenson’s recurring obsessions and stylistic signatures more clearly than any single book can.

Full analysis of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde