The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde characters

Appears from the start

A reserved London lawyer who values loyalty, discretion, and reason. When a troubling provision in his friend Henry Jekyll's will names Edward Hyde as beneficiary, Utterson begins a patient investigation. His concern for Jekyll makes him the principal observer of the mystery.

Appears from the start

Utterson's distant relative and regular walking companion. Usually taciturn, he tells Utterson how he once saw a sinister-looking man named Hyde knock down a child and then obtain compensation by entering a neglected doorway connected to a respectable household.

Appears from the start

A small, unsettling man whose appearance inspires immediate aversion even though observers cannot agree on any precise deformity. He has access to a mysterious building in Soho and is named as the heir to Dr. Jekyll's fortune, leading Utterson to suspect coercion or concealed wrongdoing.

First appears in chapter 2

A wealthy physician and experimental scientist, known for generosity and sociability, who is one of Utterson's oldest friends. His will gives his property to the disturbing Edward Hyde if he dies or disappears, and he refuses to explain the connection beyond insisting that Hyde must be protected.

First appears in chapter 2

A respected doctor and former close friend of Jekyll. He and Jekyll have become estranged over Jekyll's unorthodox research, which Lanyon dismisses as scientifically unsound. Utterson turns to him for information about Jekyll's increasingly troubling affairs.

First appears in chapter 2

Jekyll's faithful butler. He understands the routines of the doctor's household, knows that Hyde has been granted unusual freedom there, and shares Utterson's unease about the stranger's authority.

First appears in chapter 4

An elderly and courteous member of Parliament who is also Utterson's client. A maid sees him politely address Hyde in a nighttime street encounter before Hyde suddenly attacks him with exceptional violence.

First appears in chapter 4

The Scotland Yard officer investigating Carew's death. Utterson accompanies him to Hyde's rooms, where the disorder and abandoned possessions suggest that Hyde has fled in haste.