Question

For two months, however, I was true to my determination; for two months, I led a life of such severity as I had never before attained to, and enjoyed the compensations of an approving conscience. But time began at last to obliterate the freshness of my alarm; the praises of conscience began to grow into a thing of course; I began to be tortured with throes and longings, as of Hyde struggling after freedom; and at last, in an hour of moral weakness, I once again compounded and swallowed the transforming draught.

–The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,
Robert Louis Stevenson

What complications does Dr. Jekyll face after he decides to stop becoming Mr. Hyde? Check all that apply.

He begins to act like Mr. Hyde himself.
He feels guilty about committing more terrible acts.
He feels his conscience nagging at him.
He begins to wish he could be Hyde again.
He bends to temptation and takes the potion.

Answer 1

✔ He begins to act like Mr. Hyde himself.
✖ He feels guilty about committing more terrible acts.
✖ He feels his conscience nagging at him.
✔ He begins to wish he could be Hyde again.
✔ He bends to temptation and takes the potion.

Brief justifications: Stevenson describes Jekyll’s “throes and longings” for Hyde and, after “an hour of moral weakness,” he “compounded and swallowed the transforming draught” (so he resumes being Hyde). There is no indication he feels guilt or a nagging conscience in this passage.