The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
By Robert Louis Stevenson
Mr. Utterson, a lawyer and Mr. Enfield, his distant cousin walked along a street till they came to a house with no windows but only one big door.
Mr. Enfield told Mr. Utterson a strange story about this house and it’s inhabitant, Mr. Hyde.
That evening Mr. Utterson read the last will of Dr. Jekyll, which said that in case of his death as well as disappearance or absence for any period of more than three months, all his possession are to pass into the hands of his friend Edward Hyde.
Hoping to learn more about this he visited Dr. Lanyon, a friend since school and college time - both were friends of Dr. Jekyll – and asked him if he ever met Jekyll’s friend Mr. Hyde. Dr. Lanyon has never heard of him.
Mr. Utterson was very disconcerted (beunruhigt) and didn’t sleep well the next nights. The lawyer decided to observe the house with the big door. He spent several nights near the house. One night his patience was rewarded (belohnt) when he saw a very mysterious person going into the house with the big door. “Mr. Hyde?”, he asked. Mr. Hyde was highly surprised how Mr. Utterson, who introduced himself, could know him. After a short discussion he disappeared into the house.
Mr. Utterson was confused. As Enfield has said, he thought there was something strange with Hyde: his body, the ugly smile, the strange, rough voice he spoke with. There must have been something more and this gave him the feeling of disgust (grausen) and fear. Finally he felt sorry for Mr. Jekyll because of his new friend.
Two weeks later Dr. Jekyll gave a dinner party. He talked a lot with Mr. Utterson.
At the end of the party, Mr. Utterson promised Dr. Jekyll to help Mr. Hyde if he needed some help.
Nearly one year later an old man was murdered. Mr. Utterson was looking for Mr.
Hyde at his home, but he could not find him. There was something very mysterious. Nobody could describe how Mr. Hyde looks like.
The same afternoon Mr. Utterson met Dr. Jekyll who told him that he never wanted to see Mr. Hyde again.
Next morning Mr. Utterson’s clerk handed out a message in Dr. Jekylls handwriting but signed by Mr. Hyde. Mr. Utterson asked himself who the murderer was.
Months passed and Dr. Lanyon got very ill and finally he died on this mysterious disease. The day after when Mr. Utterson tried to read Mr. Lanyon’s will he found out that he only was allowed to do this if Dr. Jekyll would be dead or disappeared.
One evening Pool, Dr. Jekyll’s butler told Mr. Utterson that he was very afraid and has a lot of worries about Dr. Jekyll. So they went to Dr. Jekyll who had locked himself into a room. After a while they heard a cry.
They took an axe to destroy the door. When they entered the room they found Dr. Jekyll on the floor – dead. Everywhere in this room papers were scattered and on the table they found three messages from Dr. Jekyll. Utterson took the messages and went home to read them.
One of the messages was for Mr. Hyde. It was a recipe for a drink. Mr. Hyde read the message and mixed the drink and drank it. Suddenly his eyes turned red and his face turned black. Mr. Utterson couldn’t believe as Mr. Hyde turned into Dr. Jekyll. This was impossible since Dr. Jekyll was already dead. Mr. Utterson was shocked, but Dr. Jekyll told him that Dr. Lanyon was the murderer of the old man last year, not Mr. Hyde!
Dr. Jekyll told Mr. Utterson all about his secrets. He confessed he was Mr. Hyde and that he invented a drug that changes the body. Thus (daher) he was able to switch between the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. But after some time the drug didn’t work any more, and so he became more and more unhappy. After Dr. Jekyll told Mr. Utterson the whole truth, he killed himself again - this time forever.
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