Jekyll and Hyde - Chapter 5

(Incident of the Letter)

Vocab
• Dissection – surgically open up a body to study it
• Anatomical – relating to the structure of the body
• Gaunt – thin and sick-looking
• Apparatus – equipment
• Packing straw – straw used in packaging
• Cupola – rounded dome
• Baize – type of woollen cloth
• Cabinet – private room
• Cheval glass – tall rectangular mirror that can be rotated
• Grate – metal frame for burning wood/coal
• To bade – to utter a greeting or farewell
• Gloomily – in a way that is sad and without hope
• Feverish – displaying a frenetic excitement or energy
• To ruminate – to think deeply about something
• Benefactor – a person who gives money or other help to another person
• Unworthily – in a way that deserves no respect, support or admiration
 • Qualm – uneasy feeling of doubt, worry or fear about one’s own account
• Solemnly – in a formal and dignified (worthy of respect) manner
• Circulars – letter or advertisement that is widely distributed
• Apprehension – anxiety or fear that something bad will happen
• Eddy – circular movement of water that causes a whirlpool
• Clerk – person who keeps records/accounts in an office
• Carbuncles – a dome shaped cluster of boils (pus-filled bumps on the skin
• Muffle – covering/wrapping
• Gay – carefree, cheerful
• Imperial dye – purple dye
• Insensibly – in a way that you cannot easily notice or feel
• Man of counsel – lawyer, legal adviser
• Elicited – evoked or drawn out of someone
• Sedulously – carefully and with a lot of effort and determination
• Quaint – attractively unusual or old fashioned
Questions
1. What clues are we given about the work Dr. Jekyll does in his laboratory?
2. Jekyll is looking “deadly sick”. What other indications do we get of his
state of mind?
3. Look back at Chapter 3 – how has Jekyll changed since then?
4. Jekyll lies about the letter – why? How does Utterson find this out and
what conclusions does he draw from this?
5. Take five words or terms from the above vocab list and put each of them
in a separate sentence.