Moral turpitude

His phrase ‘the moral turpitude that man unveiled to me’ in Chapter 9 adds an ethical dimension. Jekyll's revelation is not merely a scientific surprise: Lanyon condemns the wickedness it exposes, culminating in the identification of Hyde as Carew's murderer. He reports Jekyll's ‘tears of penitence’, so remorse is present, but remorse does not remove Lanyon's horror.

Lanyon condemns “the moral turpitude that man unveiled to me” in Chapter 9: ‘turpitude’ means serious wickedness. Jekyll confesses that the visitor was Hyde, Carew’s murderer. Lanyon is therefore confronting not only an impossible bodily transformation but the connection between his respectable friend and a violent criminal.

Lanyon condemns ‘the moral turpitude that man unveiled to me’ in Chapter 9. The transformation shocks his understanding of nature, while Jekyll’s subsequent disclosures horrify his conscience. He confirms that the visitor was Hyde, wanted for Carew’s murder.