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Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Setting

Foggy streets, shadowy doorways and divided neighbourhoods make Jekyll and Hyde’s London feel unsafe, hinting that danger and secrecy might lurk just around the corner.

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Fascinating Fact:

The contrast between “brightly lit” shops and dark side streets suggests a double city, mirroring Jekyll’s split between a respectable self and a secret life.

In GCSE English Literature, you need to explain how setting supports ideas about character and theme. This Jekyll and Hyde quiz focuses on London’s streets, houses and rooms as clues to hidden lives.

Key Terms

Setting: The place and time where events in a story happen, such as streets, buildings and rooms.
Atmosphere: The mood or feeling created by details of place, weather and light.
Duality: The idea of two sides to something, such as a city that is both respectable and corrupt.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

How is setting used in Jekyll and Hyde for GCSE?

Stevenson uses gloomy streets, locked doors and quiet squares to show secrecy and tension. The setting often mirrors the characters’ hidden lives and supports themes of duality and repression.

How does Stevenson present London in Jekyll and Hyde?

London is shown as a divided city, with respectable areas near neglected ones. Fog, darkness and narrow streets make it feel like a maze, suggesting that evil can hide in ordinary places.

How can I write about setting in a Jekyll and Hyde exam answer?

Select a short detail from the description of a street or building, explain what it suggests, and link it clearly to ideas about character, theme or Victorian society.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

"This brought them to the fireside, where the easy chair was drawn cosily up, and the tea things stood ready to the sitter's elbow, the very sugar in the cup. There were several books on a shelf; one lay beside the tea things open." In Mr Utterson's and Mr Poole's view, who would belong in this cosy scene?

Dr Jekyll

Mr Hyde

Both men

Neither man

The reader, unaware by this point that Jekyll and Hyde are the same being, is likely to picture Dr Jekyll in this scene, having only just left his chair a moment before

2 .

Mr Utterson maintains his vigil by the mysterious door at all hours of the day, waiting to speak to Mr Hyde. At what time of day does he finally surprise the man?

Early morning

Midday

Early evening

Night

Many of the novel's key events take place at night. On the occasion Mr Hyde finally appears, it is a "fine dry night, frost in the air, the streets as clean as a ballroom floor, the lamps, unshaken by any wind, drawing a regular pattern of light and shadow." Mr Hyde is an anomaly in this clean, ordered and calm atmosphere

3 .

The first chapter of the novel is called 'Story of the Door'. To what door does the title refer?

Dr Jekyll's front door

The front door of Mr Hyde's house

Mr Utterson's front door

The door to Dr Jekyll's lab

Mr Enfield tells his story of following Mr Hyde to that door, but does not realise that the door is an entrance to Dr Jekyll's lab. It is also known as the dissecting room door

4 .

"Some two months before the murder of Sir Danvers, I had been out for one of my adventures, had returned at a late hour, and woke the next day in bed with somewhat odd sensations. It was in vain I looked about me; in vain I saw the decent furniture and tall proportions of my room in the square; in vain that I recognised the pattern of the bed curtains and the design of the mahogany frame; something still kept insisting that I was not where I was." Which of the following is causing Dr Jekyll's consternation in this recollection?

The drugs he takes to change into Mr Hyde have made him unable to perceive the world correctly

He has woken up in Mr Hyde's bedroom, but the furniture appears as that of his own house in the square

He has woken up in his own bedroom, unexpectedly inhabiting the body of Mr Hyde

He has woken up as Dr Jekyll, but is not in the correct bedroom

Dr Jekyll believes he can contain Mr Hyde and keep him in a separate world; he is shocked to go to bed as Jekyll and wake up as Hyde

5 .

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is set in which city?

Manchester

London

Edinburgh

Chicago

At the beginning of the novel, we meet Mr Utterson and his kinsman, Mr Richard Enfield, taking one of their regular Sunday walks

6 .

When do the events of the novel take place?

During the late seventeenth century

During the early eighteenth century

During the early nineteenth century

During the late nineteenth century

The well-educated, professional men of the novel view themselves as occupying the pinnacle of civilisation

7 .

"The far greater proportion of the building was occupied by the theatre, which filled almost the whole ground storey and was lighted from above, and by the cabinet, which formed an upper storey at one end and looked upon the court. A corridor joined the theatre to the door on the by-street; and with this, the cabinet communicated separately by a second flight of stairs." Which of the following statements is correct?

Half of the building is used for scientific experimentation, while the other half of the building offers homely comforts

Dr Jekyll's property has a system of intercommunicating passageways, stairways, and a courtyard allowing access at the back and the front

Dr Jekyll's home is a metaphor for himself

All of the above

The property represents the two "halves" of Dr Jekyll's personality. "Cabinet" here means a private room

8 .

"Two doors from one corner, on the left hand going east, the line was broken by the entry of a court; and just at that point, a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street. It was two storeys high; showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower storey and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper; and bore in every feature, the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence." Which language relates the building to Mr Hyde?

Broken, sinister, thrust, lower

Blind forehead, bore, feature, sordid

Discoloured, marks, prolonged, negligence

All of the above

The building is personified and the back entrance to it represents Mr Hyde, who shocks Mr Utterson by possessing a key and having the freedom to come and go from Dr Jekyll's property. It is highly symbolic that Jekyll's home has two well-used entrances: the front, public entrance is associated with the "good" or "civilised" personality, while the back, lower, lab entrance is associated with the disturbing, brutish Mr Hyde

9 .

Which one of the following does NOT characterise London as it is presented in the novel?

The hidden presence of onlookers

Openness and clarity

Gossip

Business

This section, in which Mr Utterson awaits a glimpse of Mr Hyde, encapsulates the simultaneous busy-ness and solitude of London: "In the course of his nightly patrols, he had long grown accustomed to the quaint effect with which the footfalls of a single person, while he is still a great way off, suddenly spring out distinct from the vast hum and clatter of the city." London is also a place where private deeds are usually observed and discussed

10 .

Where does Mr Hyde have a house?

Soho

Bloomsbury

Hampstead

Southwark

Dr Jekyll views Soho as an appropriately shady and disreputable place where a man such as Mr Hyde might be expected to live

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Author: Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)