Dr Lanyon Quotes

“My colleague and old-school companion”

Lanyon and Jekyll are established as close friends, highlighting a long-standing professional and personal relationship.

“Unscientific balderdash”

Lanyon dismisses Jekyll’s ideas, showing his strict scientific rationalism and acting as a foil to Jekyll’s experimental approach.

“Jekyll became too fanciful for me”

Lanyon rejects Jekyll’s theories, reinforcing his traditional, conservative scientific mindset.

“I felt bound to do as he requested”

Lanyon agrees to Jekyll’s request out of loyalty and curiosity, which ultimately leads to his psychological shock.

“This was a hearty, healthy, dapper red-faced gentleman”

Lanyon is initially presented as energetic and robust, emphasising his normality and stability.

“He had his death-warrant written legibly upon his face”

Legal imagery suggests inevitability of death, reflecting how witnessing Hyde destroys Lanyon physically and mentally.

“The rosy man had grown pale; his flesh had fallen away”

Physical deterioration mirrors Lanyon’s psychological trauma after learning Jekyll’s secret.

“I have had a shock and I shall never recover”

Lanyon’s mysterious illness shows the destructive impact of knowledge that contradicts his scientific beliefs.

“O God!… O God!”

Religious exclamation reveals extreme emotional and psychological breakdown.

“Welcomed him with both hands”

Lanyon is portrayed as warm, polite, and a model Victorian gentleman.