A short mystery told through documents and witnesses, summarised chapter by chapter with a board of who knew what and when.
A short, quick novella that is built like a case file: the secret is held back until chapter nine and delivered on paper. Free on Project Gutenberg and readable in under two hours. Four out of five (draft).
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Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde summary chapter by chapter, as a case file: who knew what and when, the chapter where the reader learns the twist, and our counts of Hyde and Jekyll by chapter. Full spoilers.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella about a London lawyer, a will, a violent stranger and a doctor with a secret. We use the free Project Gutenberg text, ebook #43, titled The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which lists ten chapters.
Below is a chapter-by-chapter summary built as a case file: who knew what and when, the order in which the reader learns the secret, and our own counts of Hyde and Jekyll by chapter. Full spoilers throughout.
A short, quick novella that is built like a case file: the secret is held back until chapter nine and delivered on paper. Free on Project Gutenberg and readable in under two hours. Four out of five (draft). Read it if: you want the chapters in order, with who knew what and when; you like mysteries told through letters, wills and witnesses; you want a short classic you can finish in an evening. Skip it if: you want modern pacing: the explanation arrives in two long letters at the end; victorian sentences slow you down and you will not use notes; you want a horror story with the transformation on stage early.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde summary chapter by chapter, as a case file: who knew what and when, the chapter where the reader learns the twist, and our counts of Hyde and Jekyll by chapter. Full spoilers. Summary: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde →
The lawyer Utterson investigates why his friend Dr. Jekyll's will leaves everything to a violent stranger, Mr. Hyde. Hyde murders Sir Danvers Carew and vanishes, Dr. Lanyon dies of a shock, and in the last two chapters Lanyon's narrative and Jekyll's own statement reveal that Hyde is Jekyll, changed by a drug.
In chapter nine, Dr. Lanyon's Narrative, about 72 percent of the way through by our word count (around word 18,400 of 25,530). Chapter ten, Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case, then explains how. Hyde's dead body is found earlier, at about 57 percent, in chapter eight.
Jekyll knows from the start. Lanyon learns it on the night of the ninth of January, by the date in his own narrative. Utterson learns it by reading Lanyon's narrative and Jekyll's statement after the events of chapter eight. The text never shows Enfield or Poole being told.
In the Project Gutenberg text (ebook #43) the ten chapters total 25,530 words by our count, excluding the title lines, contents list and legal text. The longest chapter, Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case, is 6,932 words; the shortest, Incident at the Window, is 551.
By our count the name Hyde appears 98 times and Jekyll 96, including titles, first names and possessives. Hyde leads in only four chapters: one, two, four and ten. The last chapter alone has 48 of the 98 Hydes. In Lanyon's chapter Jekyll is named 11 times and Hyde once.
In chapter five Utterson's clerk Guest finds that the letter signed by Hyde and a note from Jekyll are nearly identical, only differently sloped. In chapter ten Jekyll explains that he sloped his own hand backward to give Hyde a signature.
The Project Gutenberg text, ebook number 43, titled The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Its contents list gives ten chapters, and every chapter number on this page follows that list.
