Question

Read the excerpt from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

The large handsome face of Dr. Jekyll grew pale to the very lips, and there came a blackness about his eyes. "I do not care to hear more,” said he. "This is a matter I thought we had agreed to drop.”

"What I heard was abominable,” said Utterson.

"It can make no change. You do not understand my position,” returned the doctor, with a certain incoherency of manner. "I am painfully situated, Utterson; my position is a very strange—a very strange one. It is one of those affairs that cannot be mended by talking.”

The direct characterization of Dr. Jekyll implies that he is

upset by Utterson’s persistence.
resigned to discussing the will.
offended by Utterson’s disrespect.
bored by having the same old argument.

Answer 1

upset by Utterson’s persistence.

Explanation: the narrator describes Jekyll growing pale with a "blackness about his eyes" and Jekyll says "I do not care to hear more" and that they had "agreed to drop" it—showing distress and refusal to continue the topic.