Story of the Door.
The title of the opening chapter signposts the significance of a specific secret entrance. This door belongs to Jekyll and facilitates his double, Hyde’s freedom to wander about London enjoying unspecified pleasures without self-government.
Thus as the narrative progresses, the reader comes to view ‘the door’, as a literal and metaphorical threshold between criminality and virtue, instinct and self-control, underlining the conflict between the Victorian gentleman’s public and private self.
The fact that the door is also a ‘story’ raises this local exploration of a respectable Victorian gentleman -gone – astray to a symbolic level; underlying the probability that the repressive rules governing such behaviour guaranteed that hypocrisy was prevalent.
Utterson.
The novel begins not with the eponymous Dr Jekyll, but with his best friend John Gabriel Utterson. ‘Mr Utterson the lawyer was a man of rugged countenance…’ Such a focus alerts the reader to the role of the rational ‘lawyer’ Utterson as an abrasive foil to the furtive behaviour of ‘sly’ Jekyll and perhaps gives immediate emphasis to the repression necessary to maintain one’s reputation and respectability during the Victorian age.
We also note the irony of his name. Utterson is not a talkative man and utters very little. Indeed the novel ends with a deafening silence after Utterson has learned the terrible truth of Hyde’s real identity.
Utterson appears to be the reader’s moral compass from the beginning, though as we read on he seems less ‘Mr Seek’ than ‘Mr Cover Up’ or even ‘Mr Hide the Truth.’
Interestingly, in the opening chapter, we only know Utterson by his surname which underlines his formality and predilection for detachment. Yet for all his ‘dusty dreary’ demeanour captured so resonantly through alliteration, he is also ‘lovable’ and ‘inclined to help’ the euphemistically labelled ‘ down-going men’ which hints at his fascination with transgression even if he stoically resists temptation himself: ‘ I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.’ Why do we wonder is Stevenson so keen to give representation to the contradictions within Utterson’s nature? We certainly enjoy a sense of Utterson’s highly developed capacity for self/control whilst also witnessing his ‘envy’ for those more fallen gentlemen with their ‘high pressure of spirits’ and capacity for ‘misdeeds.’ It feels as if Utterson takes vicarious pleasure in listening to the transgressions of others even if he abstains from indulging in them himself.
Perhaps Utterson fears becoming Jekyll hence his pronounced capacity for self-denial and his choice to live near the ‘ church’ as described in Chapter Two.
This sketch of Utterson reveals the oppressive world that Jekyll has secretly rejected through the expedient invention of his doppelgänger or alter ego, Edward Hyde.
And shortly after this sketch, we learn of Hyde’s mysterious character through the device of a gentlemanly walk taken by Utterson and his ‘distant kinsman’ Richard Enfield. Quite what their kinship is truly composed of we never quite learn but it does seem mysterious and yet compelling in its importance. ‘ the two men put the greatest store by these excursions, counted them the chief jewel of each week.’ The evident attraction between the two gentlemen is encapsulated in the metaphor of the ‘ jewel’ implying their friendship is a precious treasure in their lives and is even the highlight of ‘each week.’ Once again, Stevenson is presenting the contradictory qualities at the heart of Utterson and other Victorian gentlemen. It even feels as if we are reading in a code which is veiling the reality of their realtionship!
Such contradictions serve to obscure the reality of Enfield’s casual reference to ‘ coming home from some place at the end of the world.’ Such purposeful vagueness remains unchecked by Utterson whose discretion is absolute and renders him an attentive listener. We wonder why the ‘place at the end of the world’ is described with apocalyptic language and what exactly Enfield was doing at ‘three o’clock of a black winter morning’ when he encountered Hyde who was also prowling about the city too.? It seems as if there is some affinity between Enfield and Hyde despite the former’s evident horror at the callous cruelty of the grotesque ‘little man.’
Stevenson insinuates ambiguity into his narrative with a heightened frequency as we draw nearer to Hyde: ‘The two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner.’ Here the adverb ‘naturally’ contrasts ironically with the descriptions of Hyde as ‘ some damned Juggernaut’ and his actions ‘trampled calmly’ which appear extraordinarily inhumane and therefore unnatural. The foreignness of the term ‘juggernaut’ underlines the otherness of Hyde and plays on a form of xenophobia. Hyde’s lack of empathy for the young girl is succinctly encapsulated in the oxymoronic description of his action: ‘trampled calmly‘ contrasting profoundly with Jekyll’s profession as a medical doctor whose code of ethical practice is linked to the Hippocratic Oath, ‘first, do no harm.’ If Jekyll feels liberated as Hyde, then what we wonder does this liberation mean in terms of Jekyll’s career as a professional healer? Why has such a code of ethics been cast aside with such violence once the repression involved in being a Victorian gentleman is overturned? And is the reaction of the ‘Sawbones’ or ‘apothecary’ so markedly filled ‘with the desire to kill him’ because the medical man instinctively recognises the profound violation of his profession by Hyde? We might expect far greater self-control by a medical practitioner but the group all seem to act in a hysterical even frenzied manner. ‘Wild as harpies.’
It is also possible that the ‘red hot’ attitudes and behaviours of the ‘group’ seeking justice for the child are driven by an inarticulate ‘loathing’ of Hyde that links to the ‘unspeakable’ existence of homosexuality. Enfield and Utterson talk in veiled terms about the effect of Hyde’s character and this might indicate they are both battling with their own anxieties around homosexuality. Why after all are the male characters in the novel unmarried and so Involved with each other? If we think back to the euphemistically named ‘jewel’ then surely we can read this treasure -sharing as a homosexual romance?
Once Hyde is cornered by the mob, he speaks in a measured and composed manner, ‘I am naturally helpless. No gentleman wishes but wishes to avoid a scene.’ reminding us of the Shakespearean declaration in King Lear that ‘the prince of darkness is a gentleman.’ Look at the use of the adverb ‘naturally’ again. References to ‘natural’ behaviour are littered throughout the novella underlining the lurking irony around what constitutes ‘natural’ behaviour after all.
And if we contrast the self-control of Hyde with the aggression of the supposedly civilised crowd then again we can detect the author raising complex questions around appearance and reality between Hyde being ‘like Satan ’ and the outraged group being like ‘harpies’ and ‘sick’ with murderous intent.
The chapter ends with Hyde producing a cheque and gold to the value of one hundred pounds: an enormous sum in those days. This money is obtained by Hyde after disappearing through ‘ the door’ which unsettles Enfield and Utterson as the signature on the cheque belongs to a ‘good’ and even ‘celebrated’ society figure. They both assume the reason that Hyde can be gifted with such a payment must be due to ‘blackmail ‘ which fills respectable gentlemen with considerable anxiety as it could happen to them.
Instead of the two friends debating the significance of this ‘story’ and the role of Jekyll whose name is linked explicitly to Hyde in the folding chapter, Enfield advises ‘Let us make a bargain never to refer to this again.’ This vow of silence and complete discretion illustrates the way Victorian gentlemen sought to protect themselves from scrutiny through denial and hypocrisy.
Remember too how this denial of scrutiny is embodied in the curious architecture of Jekyll’s home, where the personification of the house illustrates the disturbing division between the private back door version of self (Hyde) and the public front door self (Jekyll) which we don’t encounter until chapter three.
