Summary
After his
conversation with Enfield, Mr Utterson goes home but can think of nothing else
but Mr Hyde. This prompts him to look back at Dr Jekyll’s unusual will. It
states that if Jekyll disappears for longer than 3 months or if he dies then
all his property should immediately pass over to Mr Hyde. Utterson had long
felt that this will was strange and unsettling but now that he knows something
of Hyde’s character (he’s heartless and violent – attacked child) the will
upsets him even more. He is confused about the relationship between Hyde and
Jekyll – he is worried about the fact he’s never heard of Hyde (despite being
friends for years) and thinks that Hyde has a power (possibly blackmail) over
Jekyll.
In order to
unravel this mystery, Utterson goes to Dr Lanyon’s (their old friend) house to
speak about Hyde. He asks Lanyon if Hyde was a student of Jekylls but Lanyon
replies that he was not. Jekyll and Lanyon had recently fallen out because of
scientific reasons.
When
Utterson is at home later that evening he has a nightmare in which a faceless
man stands beside Jekyll’s bed and commanding him to do things. Utterson
decides to wait around near the run-down building where Enfield saw Hyde in the
hopes of catching a glimpse of Hyde. After a while, he sees Hyde. Utterson at
this point asks Hyde to reveal his face to him so that he can remember him if
he sees him again. Hyde agrees and Utterson feels (in exactly the same way as
Enfield did) that there was something appalling and somehow ‘wrong’ about him.
Hyde then gives his address to Utterson – this worries him as he thinks that
Hyde may know about Jekyll’s will.
Utterson
pays a visit to Jekyll. We learn that the run-down door is actually the
laboratory attached to Jekyll’s house. The housekeepers have been told to treat
Hyde like Jekyll and follow his commands and that he has a key to the
laboratory so he can come and go as he pleases.
Utterson
believes that Jekyll is being blackmailed for wrongdoings in his youth.
Character
quotations - Mr Hyde
Utterson’s
Dream:
‘The figure had no face from which he
might know him’
‘The human Juggernaut trod the child
down and passed on regardless’
‘There would stand by his side a figure to
whom power was given, even at that dead hour he must rise to do its bidding’
This dream
demonstrates Utterson’s fear of Hyde. He is scared of the power that Hyde has
over Jekyll and this is obvious through this dream sequence as Hyde has control
over Jekyll even as he sleeps.
Descriptions
of Hyde (Street Scene):
‘He was pale and dwarfish’
‘He gave an impression of deformity
without any nameable malformation’
‘he
spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice’
‘he had a displeasing smile’
‘a sort of murderous mixture of timidity
and boldness’
‘he felt a nausea and a distaste of
life’ (upon thinking about Hyde)
‘God bless me, the man seems hardly
human! Something troglodytic, shall we say?’ (troglodytic = a cave dweller)
‘If ever I read Satan’s signature upon a
face, it is on that of your new friend’
Stevenson’s
descriptions develop Hyde’s character and reinforces his position as a
character to be feared. His voice is broken and quiet giving him an air of
mystery; his skin pale and his body small and slight - even his smile (normally
an example of positive body language) is unpleasant. He seems to be deformed
somehow (onlookers have the feeling that there is something ‘wrong’ with him)
but there is nothing physical to suggest this – by having his deformity be unidentifiable
it helps to build up a clearer picture of Hyde being an enigma and builds the
tension surrounding his character.
Important Quotations
Jekyll’s
Will
‘In case of Dr Jekyll’s
‘disappearance or unexplained absence for any period exceeding three calendar
months’ the said Edward Hyde should step into the said Henry Jekyll’s shoes
without delay’
‘All his possessions were to pass
into the hands of his friend and benefactor, Mr Edward Hyde.’
These
quotations demonstrate the peculiar clause of Jekyll’s will – that should he
die or disappear, Hyde would inherit all of Jekyll’s possessions. The
clause about disappearing is particularly unusual and arouses Utterson’s
suspicions that all is not as it may seem with Hyde. Additionally, it backs up
Utterson’s suspicions that Jekyll may be being blackmailed by Hyde and that he
means to hurt Jekyll in some way.
Lanyon’s
Opinion of Jekyll
‘But it is more than ten years since
Henry Jekyll became too fanciful for me; he started to go wrong, wrong in the
mind’
Lanyon
reveals that around ten years ago Jekyll stopped being the analytical doctor
that he once was and became somewhat whimsical – something changed in his mind
and this spoiled the relationship between Lanyon and Jekyll as Lanyon now feels
him frivolous with far-fetched beliefs.
‘No never heard of him, not since my
time’ (Lanyon has
never heard of Hyde)
Lanyon
(Jekyll’s childhood friend) has never met or heard of Hyde either, thereby
confirming Utterson’s suspicions that Hyde has not been a part of Jekyll’s life
for long.
Utterson
Waits for Hyde
‘From that time forward, Mr Utterson
began to haunt the door in the by-street of shops’
This shows
that Utterson’s response to the dream is to loiter by the door Hyde was once
seen at in the hope of catching a glimpse of Hyde’s face. The word choice of
‘haunt’ is interesting here as it reflects the ghostly nature of the dream that
is a lingering presence in Utterson’s mind. Demonstrates the strength of
Utterson’s intent to find Hyde.
‘If he be Mr Hyde, I shall be Mr Seek
This pun
demonstrates Utterson’s intention to search out Hyde.
Jekyll’s
House – Hyde’s Privileges
‘We all have orders to obey him’
‘’Mr Hyde has a key’
These
quotations demonstrate that Hyde now has significant power within Jekyll’s
home. He can command Jekyll’s servants as well as come and go as he pleases.
This is worrying to Utterson who has reservations about how much control Jekyll
is already passing to Hyde (and further worries regarding his will).
Utterson’s
Theory
‘It must be that, the ghost of some
old sin, the cancer of some concealed disgrace, punishment coming’
Utterson’s
theory is that Jekyll’s chequered youth has caught up with him – that a mistake
made in his past is now affecting his present. His suggestion is that Hyde
played a part in Jekyll’s past and now has means by which to blackmail him. The
word choice of ‘ghost’ continues to build the tension and develop the ‘spooky’
and unnatural air of the piece. Words with negative connotations such as
‘cancer’, ‘concealed disgrace’ and ‘punishment’ provide a sense of foreboding.
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