Dr. Henry Jekyll

Dr. Henry Jekyll, a well-known London physician who was born into a wealthy family. He is a large man, fifty years old, with a smooth face with something of a sly cast to it. His primary personality characteristic is that although he appears grave and serious in public, he has always felt an inner gaiety that he conceals. Although he does not characterize himself as a hypocrite, he calls himself a double-dealer, insisting that both sides of his dual self are in earnest. Jekyll says that he is no more himself when he labors in the light of day at the furtherance of knowledge and the relief of suffering than he is at night when he lays aside restraint and plunges into what he calls shameful behavior. Realizing that, like himself, all human beings are dual in nature, he seeks a chemical method of separating these dual personalities in order to allow one side to seek pleasure without guilt and the other side to remain steadfast and not be tempted by the pleasure-seeking half. He discovers that once the two personalities are separated, the pleasure-seeking side dominates and the socially responsible side cannot control it. In Freudian psychoanalysis, Dr. Jekyll is the superego, that part of the human personality that represents social order.

Edward Hyde

Edward Hyde, Dr. Jekyll’s evil side. Richard Enfield says there is something wrong with his appearance, something detestable that is hard to explain. Although Hyde gives a strong feeling of deformity, no one can specify the point of deformity. Although characters describing Hyde say that they can see him in their mind’s eye, they cannot find the words to account for his appearance. Gabriel John Utterson describes him as pale and dwarfish, with a smile that is a “murderous mixture of timidity and boldness.” Utterson says there is something troglodytic about Hyde and that he seems hardly human. Whereas other human beings are commingled out of good and evil, Hyde is the one person in the world who is pure evil. Dr. Jekyll begins to turn into Hyde even without the chemical he has created; moreover, he finds it more difficult to return to being Dr. Jekyll again. In Freudian psychoanalysis, Hyde is the id force, the human drive that knows only “I want.”

Gabriel John Utterson

Gabriel John Utterson, a good friend of Dr. Jekyll, a lawyer with a rugged face that seldom smiles. He is a cold man of little sentiment. Although he is “lean, long, dusty, dreary,” he is somehow lovable. His central personality trait is a kind of sardonic tolerance for others; as he says, he is content to “let my brother go to the devil in his own way.”

Richard Enfield

Richard Enfield, a distant kinsman of Utterson and a well-known man about town. The two men often take walks together, but they are so unlike each other that no one can imagine what they have to talk about. Enfield is the first one to witness Hyde’s brutal behavior; on one of their walks, he tells Utterson about seeing Hyde knock a child down and trample her.

Sir Danvers Carew

Sir Danvers Carew, a well-known nobleman and client of Utterson who is killed brutally by Hyde.

Poole

Poole, Dr. Jekyll’s butler. He helps Utterson break down the door to discover Hyde’s body.

Dr. Hastie Lanyon

Dr. Hastie Lanyon, a well-known and highly respected physician and the oldest friend of Utterson and Dr. Jekyll. Having seen the transformation of Jekyll into Hyde, he is shocked beyond recovery and dies soon after.

Mr. Guest

Mr. Guest, Utterson’s head clerk, who notes the similarity between the handwriting of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde.

The main character is Dr. Jekyll (Stevenson pronounced it JEE°kil), though Hyde can also be considered a distinct and equally significant character. A crucial element of the story, often missed in adaptations (and the fact that there is minimal sexual content in the text), is that Jekyll is aware he is releasing the immoral side of his personality. He isn't merely experimenting for scientific progress; he is deliberately seeking a way to indulge his dark impulses without being identified. Therefore, trampling a child and committing murder (two of Hyde's more violent actions) are not entirely unconscious acts carried out by a separate "person."

Mr. Utterson, a lawyer who plays a key role in most of the story, is typically upright (the setting is Victorian London) and loyal as a friend and companion. This virtue amplifies the horror of the eventual revelation of Jekyll's sinister experiment, making it more intense. The reader tends to share Utterson's disgust and sympathy. Other characters, particularly Dr. Lanyon, are secondary but help to move the straightforward plot forward.

In the end, however, it is likely Hyde that the reader remembers most vividly. Although he appears infrequently in the text, his terrifying appearance (vividly described by the author), his heinous crimes, and his surprisingly articulate language (originating, of course, from Jekyll) create an unforgettable image of a tormented soul.

The main character, Mr. Utterson, is introduced as a lawyer who often serves as "the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men." He remains a steady presence throughout the narrative. Clearly, the author intended for readers to identify with him. Mr. Utterson is strict in his own habits but respects others' privacy enough to let them make their own mistakes. However, he also shows enough compassion (or what passes for it) to manage their affairs when they are in disarray.

From Mr. Utterson's character, and considering that there is no dialogue for anyone of lower social status than a lawyer's assistant or a butler, nor for any woman in the entire story, the reader might infer that the author led a cautious life. Stevenson may have excluded dialogue for people unlike himself because he lacked sufficient interaction with them to write convincingly. Despite being a world traveler, he was surprisingly inexperienced with diverse people. He understood his limitations as a writer and rarely pushed beyond them.

"Know thyself" emerges as a central theme of this story, revealing that some who believe they understand themselves have much to learn—either about their own hidden traits or about the value of supporting someone whose life is in turmoil.

This narrative exemplifies what Carl Gustav Jung later described as the division between the persona and the shadow. Dr. Jekyll invests so much in his public persona that he reserves none of his energy for his shadow.

Humans are inherently changeable—a chameleon by nature. Those who deny this truth are either destroyed by it or crippled by the effort to live without change.