Lanyon Character Analysis in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Essay Sample

Stevenson has carefully developed the characterisation of Lanyon from the beginning of the novel to now. In Chapter 2 Lanyon was presented as a smug person who was “healthy, hearty and dapper” and was utterly convinced that Jekyll was pursuing “unscientific balderdash” as Lanyon is a smug person and already has his own views about life is shocked when in Chapter 6 we see them get shattered. There is a semantic field of death and decay. Readers can tell he is getting sick because he gets “pale” and there is a “death warrant written legibly on his face” 

In this extract, Lanyon is presented as a troubled character because he is shocked by what he has found out. There is a supernatural idea of what Jekyll/Hyde is doing as it has never been done before, there is a source of consternation because in the Victorian times this would not be allowed and it reminds us of the book The Theory of Evolution that Darwin wrote it refreshes our memory as the transformation of Jekyll turns into the ape - like Hyde.

Hyde asks Lanyon to come because they are both doctors – or Jekyll is anyways and when Hyde asks Lanyon if he wants to stay or watch - “He put the glass to his lips, and drank at one gulp. . .. there before my eyes . . . there stood Henry Jekyll!” This shows the shock of Lanyon as he watches Hyde transform into Jekyll it must have been very unsettling to watch as the description was horrific.  

In Chapter 6, Lanyon is presented as a troubled character with the quote “I sometimes think if we knew all, we should be more glad to get away.” This highlights the truth of what has been secretly happening in other people’s versions/ perspectives of the novel – see there is a hidden meaning within this phrase – it highlights that his views have been shattered and he would rather “get away” than be a doctor. 

In the novel we see everything that Utterson sees and it is like he is the main character but there are so many other little stories going on in the book, like Lanyon’s perspective of everything and how we only get to fully comprehend what happened in Chapter “Dr. Lanyon’s Narrative.”