Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Essay

Throughout the entire novel of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, everyone is inquiring or investigating about something. The characters are either meddling in someone else’s business or they become curious about something scientific. Because of this curiosity, different people get in trouble in some way. In the first chapter, Mr. Utterson’s friend Mr. Enfield says, â€Å"You start a question, and it’s like starting a stone. You sit quietly on the top of a hill; and away the stone goes, starting others; and presently some bland old bird (the last you would have thought of) is knocked on the head in his own back garden and the family have to change their name. No sir, I make it a rule of mine: the more it looks like Queer Street, the less I ask.† (35). This is an important epigraph for the entire novella because when Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Utterson, and Mr. Lanyon become curious, someone gets in trouble. The most important example of someone being inquisitive is in the Case of Dr. Jekyll. He questions whether man can be split in two; one half would be the evil half and the other half would be strictly a good-intentioned gentleman. (79) Dr. Jekyll does this experiment on himself but something goes wrong and he becomes strictly his evil side. This transformation allows him to have a separate persona, a separate life. He thrives of off the power he feels when he becomes Mr. Hyde. (81) This leads to his ultimate downfall. He finds it so hard to keep his old self. This constant changing back and forth leads him to eventually kill himself because he has lost hope. His original curiosity of trying to make him self solely good is what leads to his demise in the end. (93) Mr. Utterson’s curiosity about his close friend, Dr. Jekyll, adds to Jekyll’s final, suicidal decision. His investigation of the mysteriousness around the door and Dr. Jekyll begins when he reads Dr. Jekyll’s will. As a lawyer, he should not question the motives behind Jekyll’s peculiar will but instead he tries to pry into his friend’s life to ensure that nothing ‘sketchy’ is going on. This is a question that should not be asked because it is not any of his business but he still tries to figure it out. (37) This leads to another curiosity for Utterson. He feels as though he needs to see Hyde’s face. He waits at the door simply to see his face, to be able to place his finger on why people are so disturbed by him. This is not a necessary question to be asked and it causes more skepticism about the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde. (40) The unclearness of the relationship puts pressure on Jekyll, leading to his breakdown. Finally, Lanyon’s curiosity-downfall spiral is the most obvious. Jekyll goes to Lanyon first, asking him to retrieve a drawer from his laboratory and give it to Hyde. When Hyde asks if he wants to see the transformation, Lanyon being nosy says yes. (55) His starting of a question ‘starts the stone’ and it leads to his death. He is so shocked about seeing his friend transform that he eventually dies. This never would have happened if did not agree to seeing Jekyll and Hyde. (57) Overall, the characters in this book show a lot of curiousity about Jekyll and Hyde. As the quote says, â€Å"You start a question, and it’s like starting a stone.† (35). The characters start a questions and â€Å"presently some bland old bird is knocked on the head in his own back garden and the family have to change their name.† These questions have been about Jekyll and Hyde and so ultimately someone ends up getting hurt of getting in trouble. This is a theme throughout the whole novel which is why this quote serves as a good epigraph for the novella.