“It is well,” replied my visitor. “Lanyon, you remember your vows: what follows is under the seal of our profession. And now, you who have so long been bound to the most narrow and material views, you who have denied the virtue of transcendental medicine, you who have derided your sup

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: How setting creates atmosphere and expectation. Mr. Utterson reflected; and then, raising his head, “If you will come with me in my cab,” he said, “I think I can take you to his house.” It was by this time about nine in the morning, and the first fog of the seas

This chapter relates the last sighting of Dr Jekyll alive by his friend Gabriel Utterson. It is especially fascinating to me,  because of the way Stevenson presents Jekyll partially transforming into Hyde before Utterson and Enfield,  without either of them recognising the shift.Their

Here’s my analysis of the murder of Sir Carew Danvers in Robert Louis Stevensons’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde– much debated ( and contested) with my GCSE English students!    Nearly a year later, in the month of October, 18—, London was startled by a crime of singula

Sometimes students worry about attaining depth in their creative and analytical writing. They feel their understanding of character, in particular, may remain quite conventional or superficial and that this undermines the quality of their writing. Here’s an easy way to add depth

The figure in these two phases haunted the lawyer all night; and if at any time he dozed over, it was but to see it glide more stealthily through sleeping houses, or move the more swiftly and still the more swiftly, even to dizziness, through wider labyrinths of lamplighted city, and

Mr. Utterson was sitting by his fireside one evening after dinner, when he was surprised to receive a visit from Poole. “Bless me, Poole, what brings you here?” he cried; and then taking a second look at him, “What ails you?” he added; “is the doctor ill?” “Mr. Utterson,” said the man

Tusitala has been resurrected this week after yet another hacking. Many thanks to Shaun Kirk for giving CPR to my site!  I am very pleased to discover my blog once again!    The new GCSE English specification is much more demanding:  I would advise all students entering year 10 o

Dr Jekyll’s compelling descent into the degeneracy and evil of his double, Mr Hyde, is succinctly summarized in the revealing line to Utterson:’ You must suffer me to go my own dark way.’ This seems perhaps less a plea for understanding and acceptance, ‘you mus

  The most racking pangs succeeded: a grinding in the bones, deadly nausea, and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death. Then these agonies began swiftly to subside, and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness. There was something strange in

Text.  Six o ‘clock struck on the bells of the church that was so conveniently near to Mr. Utterson’s dwelling, and still he was digging at the problem. Hitherto it had touched him on the intellectual side alone; but now his imagination also was engaged, or rather enslaved