Dr. Lanyon

WHO IS HE?

Dr. Lanyon is a medical doctor and an established colleague of Jekyll. However the two have fallen out due to a scientific disagreement and are no longer good friends. He serves as the voice of tangible, material science rather than the metaphysical (study of reality and existence/theoretical) science Jekyll practices.

PURPOSE?

  • Lanyon provides the voice of scientific skepticism which balances out the wild and experimental attitudes of Dr. Jekyll

  • Lanyon helps to build and convey the Victorian fear and terror linked to the powers of science

LANYON VS JEKYLL

Lanyon is a counterpoint to Jekyll in his approach to science:

Lanyon’s science is…

  • biological

  • moral/ethical

  • rational

  • practical

  • material (physical)

  • coexists with religion

  • ‘pedant’ - Jekyll

Jekyll’s science is…

  • chemical

  • unethical/not moral

  • transgressive

  • mystic/transcendental

  • experimental

  • fanciful

  • metaphysical/seeks power to alter his human nature

  • challenges the powers of religion

  • ‘unscientific balderdash’ - Lanyon

KEY MOMENTS:

CHAPTER 2 (Search for Hyde)

We first meet Lanyon and he’s ‘hearty, healthy, dapper’. Lanyon criticises Jekyll for his science, their friendship was affected by their different views about science.

CHAPTER 6 ( Remarkable Incident of Dr. Lanyon)

Utterson finds Lanyon on his deathbed however, he conceals the cause of his condition. a fortnight later Lanyon dies from the shock of seeing Hyde transform and leaves a letter for Utterson to only open after the death of disappearance of Jekyll.

CHAPTER 9 (Lanyon’s Narrative)

In Lanyons letter we discover that Hyde transformed into Jekyll infront of Lanyon. Witnessing it ruins Lanyon completely rendering him seriously ill and eventually death

WHY DOES LANYON DIE FROM SHOCK?

  • truth of human nature, learns the truth about inner evil and how even the most respectable gentlemen have the capacity for evil

  • power of science, now knows science can transgress boundaries of morality and metaphysics

  • Victorian reaction, to illustrate how alarming and scary it would be for a Victorian gentlemen to discover these 2 truths

Science in Victorian Context

Due to the industrial revolution in the Victorian Era was a rapid rate of scientific development, which caused social unease, people were scared of the future and dangerous potential science could achieve.

Charles Darwin’s scientific research into evolution also sparked fears of “devolution”, which are displayed in the Novella through Hyde’s animalistic nature.

BP

Stevenson builds upon Victorian reader’s fears around science by showing how far science can be pushed. Jekyll’s work into the metaphysical makes the readers uncomfortable and anxious.

Stevenson subverts the contemporary reader’s expectations of career stereotypes between scientists and lawyers to heighten tension for the reader.