Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Part of the implication of "Dr. Jekyll’s Account" is that Man Cannot Always Be Good. No matter how hard Dr. Jekyll tries to live a good, upstanding, sober life, he can’t resist the temptation of transforming into Mr. Hyde. Is this true of mankind? Can we never build a good society?
- Having read Dr. Jekyll's version of events (and assuming we believe him), how much blame can we assign him? Should we blame his oppressive society or his lack of moral character? Another way of asking this: is Dr. Jekyll a sympathetic character?
- Does the novel suffer due to its lack of female characters? How would it have been different with, say, a female narrator?
- Evaluate the book’s psychological accuracy. Do these characters think the way real people do?
- What do you think about the way in which the book is told, with multiple viewpoints and a dry lawyer at the center? Does it work?
- What is the effect of the two narratives at the end? Does this dual explanation have anything to do with the dual nature of Jekyll/Hyde? Or is it just to provide an eyewitness account?