Chapter 2: Search for Mr. Hyde
Summary:
That evening after his walk with Enfield, Utterson returns home and examines Dr. Jekyll's will, which he remembers had strange stipulations referring to the Mr. Hyde Enfield discussed. The will provides that in the case of Henry Jekyll's death or disappearance, all of his possessions should be given to the Edward Hyde. Utterson was uncomfortable when Jekyll originally requested this stipulation, and is further upset by it after hearing of Mr. Hyde's despicable behavior. After considering the implications of the will with what he has learned about Edward Hyde, Utterson goes to visit Dr. Lanyon, another dear friend of Dr. Jekyll's. When the men begin talking about Jekyll, Utterson discovers that Lanyon has not spoken to Jekyll for a long period of time due to a disagreement over "unscientific balderdash." Utterson also learns that Lanyon has never heard of Hyde.
After leaving Lanyon, Utterson's sleep is haunted by terrifying dreams of the evil Hyde, who is faceless in the dream, trampling a young girl and then standing by Jekyll's bedside ordering him to rise. Upon waking, Utterson reasons that if he can only see the face of Hyde, he might understand a reason for his friend's relationship with the man.
From that point forward, Utterson begins to haunt the streets around the mysterious door, looking for Mr. Hyde to either enter or exit the portal. One night, he finally runs into Mr. Hyde and confronts him as he is about to enter the building. Utterson introduces himself as an old friend of Dr. Jekyll. Hyde then asks for Utterson's address and Utterson, in response, gives him a business card. Utterson, asks Hyde for a favor - to see the man's face. After complying, Hyde asks how Utterson knew him, and Utterson replies that he recognized him by description, claiming that they have common friends such as Jekyll. Mr. Hyde angrily replies that he knows for a fact that Jekyll never told Utterson anything about him and promptly disappears into the building.
After leaving this scene, Utterson goes to see Dr. Jekyll, but Poole, Jekyll's butler, reports that the doctor is not at home. From this conversation, Utterson gleans that Jekyll's house, around the corner from the mysterious door, is L-shaped, and that Hyde's mysterious door is actually an entrance to Jekyll's old dissecting room. Utterson also learns that Hyde never dines in the house, but visits often. After leaving Jekyll's home, Utterson walks home and decides that Hyde must be blackmailing Jekyll, perhaps for some terrible act he committed earlier in his life.
Analysis:
In this chapter, Utterson begins his detective work that continues throughout the novel. He seeks out and meets Edward Hyde for the first time, and Utterson describes Hyde as, "pale and dwarfish . . deformity. . .husky. .. murderous." He also notes that Hyde inspires "disgust and loathing and fear," but cannot pinpoint exactly why. The best that he can do is to call Hyde a "troglodyte", a savage un-evolved being lesser than man.
Thus, the reader is continually reminded that Hyde is akin to the devil and evil, but it seems impossible to define the exact qualities that place fear in the hearts of those that meet him. Decent people instinctively know that Hyde is morally corrupt and evil. To support this perception, Stevenson often describes Hyde in animalistic terms, including imagery such as the "hissing intake of breath".
Utterson exhibits his classic rational approach to the increasingly strange issues throughout this chapter. To connect this highly rational character with the supernatural themes of the novel, Stevenson gives Utterson a highly disturbing dream sequence, which surrounds the terrible actions of a faceless and monster-like Edward Hyde. Every time Utterson sleeps, he sees "[Hyde] glide more stealthily through sleeping houses, or move the more swiftly ... through wider labyrinths of lamp-lighted city, and at every street corner crush a child and leave her screaming." Clearly, Utterson is fascinated by the relationship between Hyde and Jekyll, and is convinced that there is something dark and ominous linking the two. Yet, Utterson stops short of allowing for a supernatural explanation, as any rational individual would. Utterson's obsession with Hyde allows for an admission of hidden sins and secrets running rampant through Victorian London.
Jekyll's house is described in great detail. It is a mansion with "a great air of wealth and comfort" that is secretly connected to the doctor's laboratory. The laboratory façade appears run down and neglected, and can be entered through the mysterious door described in the first chapter. The reader later learns that the laboratory is in fact where Dr. Jekyll undertakes his transformations into Mr. Hyde. Thus, the two areas of the house are clearly related to their two inhabitants. The respectable Dr. Jekyll lives in the well-kept wealthy mansion, and the despicable and evil Mr. Hyde inhabits the run down, neglected laboratory.