The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde · Chapter
The Last Night explained
Utterson and Poole break into Jekyll's cabinet after hearing Hyde's footsteps, only to find Hyde dead by suicide.
What happens
Utterson and Poole break into Jekyll's cabinet after hearing Hyde's footsteps, only to find Hyde dead by suicide. They discover a new will naming Utterson as beneficiary, a note from Jekyll directing him to read Lanyon's narrative and Jekyll's confession, and no trace of Jekyll himself.
Themes in this chapter
Duality of Human Nature
Hyde's death in Jekyll's clothes and the discovery of Jekyll's blasphemous annotations in a pious book highlight the struggle between good and evil within one person.
Repression and Secrecy
Utterson's fear of reading Jekyll's note and the locked cabinet symbolize the secrets that have been repressed until this final revelation.
Science and Ethics
The chemical experiments and the drug that enabled Hyde's transformations are central to the tragedy, raising questions about the ethical limits of scientific inquiry.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Utterson
Leads the forced entry into the cabinet, discovers Hyde's body and Jekyll's final documents.
- Poole
Assists Utterson, identifies the drug, and recounts hearing Hyde's footsteps and weeping.
- Mr. Edward Hyde
Found dead in the cabinet from self-poisoning, dressed in Jekyll's oversized clothes.
- Dr. Henry Jekyll
Absent; his note and confession are left for Utterson, indicating his disappearance.
- Bradshaw
Summoned by Utterson to guard the laboratory door during the break-in.
Key passages
“This glass has seen some strange things, sir... And surely none stranger than itself... For what did Jekyll—what could Jekyll want with it?”
Poole and Utterson marvel at the cheval-glass, suggesting it witnessed Jekyll's transformations.
The mirror symbolizes the duality and self-deception central to Jekyll's experiments.
“We have come too late... whether to save or punish. Hyde is gone to his account; and it only remains for us to find the body of your master.”
Utterson concludes that Hyde has died by suicide and that Jekyll's fate is still unknown.
This marks the climax of the investigation, leading to the reading of the narratives.