The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Chapters 5-8

 

These four chapters were very intersting. As I continue to read the story continues to grow more intriguing. I feel that these chapters are very significant to the story because this is where secrets start to unfold and the mysterybegins and builds up. After Mr. Hyde kills Carew he disappears. After this event of murder, Dr. Jekyll coincidentally begins to act strange and his behavior starts to change. Utterson and everyone else start to become suspicious and worried aout him. At one point Dr. Jekyll gives Utterson a letter to read, and he said it was delivered by someone anonymous. This letter is supposedly from the murderer. Utterson reads it and compares the handwriting to something Jekyll had written earlier and he realizes that it is the same handwriting, just with a different tilt. After this strange event a couple of other events occur. Mr. Poole and other people in Jekyll's house start to fret because he is acting very stange and is not himself. They witness that he wants to be isolated, he has a voice change and is asking for strong drugs. Mr. Poole also says that one day he seen Jekyll with a "mask on. He descibes the mask and body to Utterson and they discover that this is the identity of Mr. Hyde. This pushes them to take action and break into Jekyll's room to see what is going on. They hear yelling and weird noises but once they enter the room they find the twisted and twitching body or Hyde and Jekyll had dissappered. At this point in the story everyone is confused and left with questions to be answered.
A quote that drew my attention was, "there's a rather singular resemblance; the two hands in many points are identical:only differently sloped. [...] "Henry Jekyll forge for a murderer!"(28). This is significant because it is an event that leads Utterson to question Jekyll and the type of person he really is. I feel that the resemblance int he writing also represents the similarities in Hyde and Jekyll's characters. Another quote that caught my attention was, "Now that the evil influence had been withdrawn, a new life began for Dr. Jekyll. He came out of his seclusion, renewed relations with his friends, became once more their familiar guest and entertainer; and whilst he had always been known for charities, he was now no less distinguished for religion" (29). This was seen as important to me because it seems as if he is relieved because Hyde is "gone". It interests me that he feels like this so only to find out that he will become extremely ill with the situation.
Two questions that I would like to ask the author are:
1. How does Dr. Jekyll's alter ego Mr. Hyde come about? Does he appear with guilt, whenever he wants, or with the help of drugs?
2. If Mr. Hyde's unmoving body is left at the house, then where is Jekyll? How does this alter ego thing work?