Robert Louis Stevenson's famous story from 1886, in four episodes. This week: a strange door, a cheque with a famous name on it, and a man nobody can describe.
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Ten words. Do the four short activities, and say your answer out loud before you reveal it.
Three words: afraid · secret · key. Say the right word out loud, then reveal.
This is the beginning of a famous novel. Here are the first two chapters in three parts, in simple English. After each part, answer the questions from memory, then discuss.
Mr Utterson is a lawyer in London. He is tall and thin, and he does not smile very much. He is quiet. But people like him, because he is kind and he does not judge them. Every Sunday he goes for a walk with his cousin, Mr Enfield. They do not talk much on these walks. But they like them.
One Sunday they walk down a small, busy street. All the houses are clean and pretty — except one. This house is old and dirty. It has no windows and no bell. It has one door, and nobody cleans the door. Mr Enfield points to it.
"Do you know that door?" he says. "I have a strange story about it."
Then he tells the story. It was three o'clock in the morning, in winter. The streets were empty. He saw a small man walking fast. And he saw a little girl running. The man and the girl ran into each other at the corner. The man did not stop. He walked over the child and left her crying on the ground. "It was not like a man," says Enfield. "It was like a machine."
Enfield ran after the man and caught him. He brought him back. The girl was not badly hurt, but everybody hated the man. A doctor came. Even the doctor wanted to hurt him. So they said: "Pay the girl's family, or we tell everybody in London what you did." The man said: "Name your price." They said: one hundred pounds.
The man took them to the strange door. He opened it with a key. He came back with ten pounds in gold and a cheque for ninety pounds. The cheque had a famous name on it — a good man's name. Enfield thought the cheque was false. But the next day, the bank paid it. It was real.
"I think it is blackmail," Enfield says. "A good man is paying for a secret from when he was young. I call that place 'Blackmail House'."
Utterson asks: "What is the man's name?" — "Hyde," says Enfield. "What does he look like?" — "I can't say. He is small. There is something wrong with him. He looks… wrong. I hate him, but I don't know why. I think there is something wrong with his body — but I don't know what."
Then Utterson asks a strange question: "Are you sure he had a key?" Enfield is surprised. "Yes," he says. "He has it still. I saw him use it last week."
Utterson says: "I know the name on the cheque. You don't need to tell me." The two men agree: they will never talk about this again.
1. What did the small man do to the little girl?
2. Why is the cheque strange?
1. He walked over her and left her crying on the ground. He did not stop.
2. A bad man wrote it — but it has a good, famous man's name on it. And the bank paid it. It is real.
That evening Utterson goes home. He is worried. He opens his safe and takes out a document: the will of his friend, Dr Henry Jekyll. Jekyll wrote it himself, because Utterson didn't want to help him. The will says: when Dr Jekyll dies, everything goes to his "friend" Edward Hyde. And if Dr Jekyll disappears for more than three months, Edward Hyde gets everything too.
Utterson has always hated this will. Before, he didn't know who Hyde was. Now he knows. "I thought this was madness," he says. "Now I am afraid it is something worse."
He goes to see Dr Lanyon, an old friend of Jekyll's. Lanyon is a big, healthy doctor with a red face and white hair. He is happy to see Utterson. But when Utterson asks about Jekyll, Lanyon's face changes.
"I don't see Jekyll now," he says. "Ten years ago he started to have strange ideas — bad science. We stopped being friends."
"Do you know a man called Hyde?" asks Utterson.
"Hyde? No. I never heard the name."
Utterson goes home and cannot sleep. All night he sees pictures in his head: the empty streets, the small man, the child on the ground. And he sees his friend Jekyll asleep in bed — and a man with no face standing next to him. Utterson wants to see this face.
So every day he waits near the door. In the morning, at midday, at night. "If he is Mr Hyde," he thinks, "I will be Mr Seek."
One cold, clear night at ten o'clock, he hears footsteps. A small man in plain clothes comes down the street. He walks straight to the door and takes out a key. Utterson steps out and touches his shoulder. "Mr Hyde, I think?"
1. What does Dr Jekyll's will say?
2. What does Dr Lanyon know about Hyde?
1. When Jekyll dies, everything goes to Edward Hyde. And if Jekyll disappears for more than three months, Hyde gets everything too.
2. Nothing. He has never heard the name. But he tells Utterson that he and Jekyll are not friends now, because of Jekyll's strange ideas about science.
Hyde jumps back. He is afraid for a second. But then he answers coldly: "That is my name. What do you want?"
"I am Dr Jekyll's old friend," says Utterson. "My name is Utterson. Perhaps I can come in?"
"Dr Jekyll is not at home," says Hyde. Then he asks: "How do you know me?"
"Will you do something for me?" says Utterson. "Let me see your face."
Hyde turns and looks at him. For a few seconds the two men look at each other. "Now I will know you again," says Utterson.
"Good," says Hyde. "And you should have my address." He gives an address in Soho. Utterson thinks: "Is he thinking about the will too?"
"How do you know me?" Hyde asks again.
"We have the same friends," says Utterson. "Dr Jekyll, for example."
Hyde is suddenly angry. "He never told you about me! You are lying!" He laughs — a horrible laugh — opens the door, and disappears.
Utterson stands in the street. What is wrong with this man? He is small. He is pale. His smile is not nice. His voice is quiet and broken. But that is not enough. "There must be something more," thinks Utterson. "He does not look like a human. Poor Harry Jekyll — your new friend has an evil face."
He walks round the corner to Dr Jekyll's house. It is a big, beautiful house. An old servant, Poole, opens the door. "Is Dr Jekyll at home?" — "I will see, sir." Utterson waits by the fire. He loves this room — but tonight it feels dark and frightening. Poole comes back: Dr Jekyll is out.
"I saw Mr Hyde go in by the laboratory door," says Utterson. "Is that right?"
"Yes, sir," says Poole. "Mr Hyde has a key. We all have orders to obey him."
"Does he come here often?" — "He never eats here, sir. We don't see him much. He comes and goes by the laboratory."
Utterson walks home. His heart is heavy. "Poor Harry Jekyll," he thinks. "He is in deep water. He was wild when he was young. Maybe this is an old secret — and now he is paying for it. And this Hyde has secrets too. If Hyde knows about the will, he may want Jekyll to die. I must help my friend — if he will let me."
1. What does Mr Hyde look like?
2. What does Poole tell Utterson about Mr Hyde?
1. He is small and pale. His smile is not nice, and his voice is quiet and broken. Utterson thinks he has an evil face — but he can't say why.
2. Hyde has a key to the laboratory door. He never eats in the house, and the servants don't see him much — but they all have orders to obey him.
Everybody in this story tries to describe Mr Hyde — and nobody can. You can do better. To describe a person in English, you need three small verbs.
1. Mr Utterson a lawyer.
2. He a big safe in his office.
3. Dr Lanyon a red face and white hair.
4. Mr Hyde very small.
5. Mr Hyde a key to the old door.
6. Dr Jekyll's house big and beautiful.
1. is 2. has 3. has 4. is 5. has 6. is
Look at what comes after the gap. A thing (a safe, a face, a key) → has. An adjective or a job (small, big, a lawyer) → is.
Write looks before an adjective. Write looks like before a noun.
1. Hyde walks to the door with a key. He a man going home.
2. When Utterson touches his shoulder, Hyde afraid.
3. The old house dirty and strange.
4. Utterson thinks Hyde the devil.
5. Dr Lanyon healthy and happy.
1. looks like 2. looks 3. looks 4. looks like 5. looks
"A man", "the devil" are nouns → looks like. "Afraid", "dirty", "healthy" are adjectives → looks.
Use these words, one in each gap: key · ugly · afraid · white · lawyer · small · quiet. Then read the whole paragraph aloud.
Mr Utterson is a . He is a man — he does not talk much. His friend Dr Lanyon has hair and a red face. Mr Hyde is very — he is not tall at all — and his face is . He has a to the old door. When Utterson stops him in the street, for one second Hyde looks .
lawyer · quiet · white · small · ugly · key · afraid
Now say it again without looking. Then change it: describe Dr Lanyon in the same way — is, has, looks.
Keep these — in the Speak tab you will describe every person in the story.
Robert Louis Stevenson was a writer from Scotland. He wrote this book in 1885, very quickly, after a bad dream. In his time, people in Britain cared a lot about looking good and respectable — and many of them had secrets.
This is the most important part — say everything out loud. Use the timer, and try to fill the whole time.
Tell the story in your own words. When a new person comes into the story, stop and describe him: Mr Utterson → Mr Enfield and the strange door → the little girl and the small man → the cheque → the will → Dr Lanyon → the night at the door → Mr Hyde's face → Poole and the key.
Use he is, he has and he looks at least twice each, and use at least four key words (lawyer, cheque, will, secret, key, afraid, strange, ugly, evil, trust).
Utterson wants to know his friend's secret. He waits at the door for weeks. Is he a good friend — or is it not his business? Give three reasons for your answer. Then say what you would do.
Now try the other side for one minute. Say the opposite of what you just said. It is difficult — that is the point.
What happens in the next episode — and what must be true for that to happen? Choose one idea, and explain it with facts from this episode: the key, the cheque, the will, Lanyon's words, the laboratory.
Stuck for an idea? Pick one of these and run with it: