Dr Jekyll was quite at Ease.
The title of this chapter is ironic as the invitation to dine seems deliberately contrived with the intention to deceive as Jekyll is not ‘quite at ease’ at all after Hyde’s encounter with Utterson: ‘A fortnight later, by excellent good fortune.’ Do we wonder why this exclusive dinner party was announced in terms of ‘good fortune’ which implies luck might be involved? In fact, the reader notices that the close proximity between Hyde meeting Utterson and then Jekyll hosting one of ‘his pleasant dinners’ appears deliberate. This dinner is a smokescreen or diversion. Is Jekyll really at ease or is he performing the relaxed host in order to assuage Utterson’s anxieties about Hyde? If this is so, then Jekyll is fully aware of the dangers around Utterson’s investigation and this in turn suggests that Hyde and Jekyll are far more intimate than the latter is willing to admit.
Stevenson’s description of the group of men is also revealing of a subtext – this appears a homosocial society, in other words, a society where women are largely invisible due to their inferior roles in society.
The description of the gathering underlines the communal characterisation of the gentleman’s identity: ‘all intelligent reputable men, and all judges of good wine.’ Notice the repetition of ‘all’ underlining their shared value and skills. Maybe this sharing is socially endorsed and even a form of contract between them all. Look at the interesting and surely ironic use of equivalence here. Wealthy men are appreciative consumers of expensive wine in Jekyll’s home because it is their reward for being of the same class and therefore shared outlook. But how satisfying is this cronyism and could any members secretly harbour far more transgressive desires than an appetite for a vintage wine? Or do all the men collected together subscribe to the code of discretion? Is this discretion part of their continued respectability?
Subsequently, could the evolution of ‘respectability’ within Victorian society secretly hide degeneracy? Of course, the main focus in this chapter is Dr Jekyll whom we encounter through Utterson mirroring the previous two chapters’ unveiling of Hyde. We see Jekyll because Utterson visits his home. This is a narrative strategy.
Stevenson allows the reader to discover Jekyll both from the outside and by implication, within.
‘ a large, well-made, smooth-faced man, with something of a slyish cast perhaps…’
The dominance of Jekyll is implied through his physical size. He is ‘large’ and this is reflected in his importance in society and within his friendship group. He may be influential and surely his extensive wealth implies his behaviour will have repercussions hence his need for discretion and secrecy. Utterson’s acknowledgement of his friend’s ‘wild’ youth is also confirmed in this focus on Jekyll’s size which might insinuate his desires and appetites are ‘large’ too and may be difficult to contain conventionally.
‘Well-made’ suggests artifice. His person is cleverly constructed for maximum effect. Jekyll literally had tailored or designed himself to produce the desired effect on others but also one imagined as a form of protection too. For Selfhood is a performance in this fin-de-siècle Victorian world. Authenticity is dangerous and left one acutely vulnerable. Only think of Wilde’s own persona and those of his characters in his most famous play, less than ten years after the publication of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Here in The Importance of Being Earnest(1895) a charcter states, My duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures in the smallest degree.’ Here Wilde celebrates a divided self. His recognition of the widespread hypocrisy flourishing about him found wonderful expression in all his plays but particularly in Earnest. Unfortunately, later in 1895, Wilde the former darling of London’s salon society was sentenced to two years of hard Labour for the ‘love that dare not speak its name.’ It ruined him completely and brought about a tragically early death in Paris.
The description ‘smooth faced’ is suggestive of prosperity as well as concealment. Jekyll is well-nourished and enjoys a comfortable lifestyle. However, his Imperfections or blemishes are hidden away from scrutiny by artifice too. Once again, selfhood is linked to performance.
When the ‘slyish cast’ is mentioned we recognise the watchful connivance of Jekyll. He is capable of deception or duality and this foreshadows the revelations expressed in the final two chapters of the novel. We might also suspect he deceives himself and that as he immerses himself in his Hyde self and appetites, so this ‘slyish cast’ will become more prominent.
I even shudder at the possibility that the Hyde self is already gazing out through Jekyll’s eyes after consuming his soul! At any rate, there is a form of ventriloquism operating in the novel as Hyde and Jekyll talk in the same voice apart from one or two strategic grunts or hisses!
When Utterson lingers after the dinner we learn this was a common occurrence: ‘This was no new arrangement .’ And as such this ‘arrangement’ had previously brought solace to Jekyll because of Utterson’s ‘rich silence’ which contrasts with ‘the strain of rich gaiety’ Here we are alerted to the ‘strain’ of forced amenability. Behaving like a gentleman can be exhausting and Utterson has a depth that recommends him to others.
In this interview however, Jekyll is clearly not at ‘ease’ as Utterson raises the topic of the will and of Hyde both of which discombobulates Jekyll despite his attempts to divert his friend’s attention onto safer topics like ‘ that hide-bound pedant, Lanyon’ whose more traditional approach to science contrasts with the ‘new’ approaches of Jekyll which shares similarities with Dr Frankenstein and the ‘monster’ he famously created in the Gothic novel of that name by Mary Shelley (1818)
‘What I heard was abominable,’ says Utterson using an adjective that embraces disgust and even atrocity. Such hyperbole makes Jekyll a more contrite figure though obviously, he speaks in a more submissive though hubristic manner to manipulate Utterson. ‘ I can be rid of Hyde’ he claims though the narrative proves otherwise. Jekyll’s claim that Hyde is a ‘private matter’ reinforces the anxieties around blackmail discussed in the opening chapter by Enfield and Utterson. Discretion and letting ‘my brother go to the devil in his own way’ are essential aspects of the gentleman’s code. However, this obedience to discretion ultimately destroys Jekyll, Lanyon and even ( potentially) Utterson as we never know what the latter makes of the life-changing revelations in the final two chapters of this novel.
The ‘promise’ that Dr Jekyll extracts from a reluctant Utterson relates to his death or disappearance and underlines that he is certainly not ‘ quite at ease’! It also emphasises Jekyll’s awareness of the risks he is taking with his pursuit of this strange science and foreshadows his end.
Any apparent hiatus in Hyde’s disturbing behaviour is destroyed utterly in the next chapter and proves that ‘justice’ is impossible for Jekyll’s double who indulges in a brutal murder whose punishment is death by hanging.
