Dr Henry Jekyll is a well respected a wealthy doctor of considerable repute, having made a name for himself in pharmeceuticals and herbal medicine. He has many patents under his belt, and is renowned for spending many days at a time in his own laboratory in his large house, during which he may not be seen even by his house staff.
When he is seen in public, he is a perfectly amicable, genial man, but at the same time slightly eccentric and withdrawn, not given to suffer fools and not afraid to flatly contradict a statement he knows to be erroneous, and can get impatient with people who are pompous know-nothings; and in his opinion the medical profession is filled with such people.
In recent months his times of seclusion have become more frequent and longer; sometimes he can disappear for as much as a week. This has coincided with his taking on a number of extra staff. Among them are a young maidservant named Mary Reilly, and an enigmatic and seldom-seen laboratory assistant called Edward Hyde.