Notes

Doors often are viewed as having one use; keeping things out. While Mr. Hyde makes use of his door as a barrier, it also has other uses. In this story, readers can take note of how different doors are compared to each other. For example, Mr. Hyde’s door is very different from Dr.Jekyll’s, with one being repugnant and the other being elegant. This is not by chance, as one could easily describe Mr. Hyde as repugnant and Dr. Jekyll as elegant. Doors are also used as a barrier for both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, various times throughout the story. These uses are important to readers because they give them much more information about the nature of evil.
When Utterson and Enfield first encounter Mr. Hyde’s residence, it is described, “[It] showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower storey and a blind forehead of discolored wall on the upper; and bore in every feature, the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence. The door, which was equipped with neither bell nor whistle, was blistered and distained”(Stevenson 3).
This door was obviously uncared for and left alone by all except for those with business to conduct. In other words, the only people around the door were those who had to be there. The building it belongs to is bare, with no feature making it look attractive. The door is avoided because it does not feel inviting; in fact, quite the opposite. It’s apparent to Utterson and Enfield that this is no door of a gentleman.
The door is a perfect comparison to Mr. Hyde. As the embodiment of evil, Mr. Hyde has an effect on people that they struggle to define. The immediate reaction of most people is repulsion or disgust, and it’s no coincidence that this door belongs to him. Through the description of Mr. Hyde’s door, readers can get much more of an insight on him, and by extension, the nature of evil.
In a more literal sense, doors in this story at times act as a barrier. After hours standing next to Mr. Hyde’s door, Utterson finally gets the opportunity to meet and speak with him. Instantly, Mr. Hyde is cold and unwilling to reveal anything about himself. He moves hastily once he determines that Utterson must have lied to him, and enters his home, leaving Utterson disappointed at his doorstep. Utterson isn’t able to get between this barrier separating him and Mr. Hyde.
That’s because the barrier is actually separating him from evil. Everything in Mr. Hyde’s household is representative of evil, clearly demonstrated when the old woman in the building was described as having an “evil face,” and expressing “odious joy” when it is revealed to her that Mr. Hyde is in trouble with the law.
The ideas of doors being a barrier of evil and the rest of the world help readers determine where and what evil is in Dr. Jekyll’s and Mr. Hyde’s story. The confined evil obviously helps in the development in the theme of the nature of evil because readers know exactly when and where the evil has control.
Overall, doors play an important role in the story, whether it’s letting readers know where the evil comes in to play, when characters will encounter evil, or as a representation of evil and Mr. Hyde, offering further description. Either way, doors help readers understand the nature of evil, resulting in the development of the theme.
Descriptions often help in developing the theme of a story. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is no different. An important aspect of a description is the physical properties, like size and color. However, size and color can be indicative of other things, going beyond just description. In this case, color is used as symbolism.
Evil’s influence over people it comes in contact with is shown in a subtle way by Poole: “Poole… now pulled up in the middle of the pavement, and in spite of the biting weather, took off his hat and mopped his brow with a red pocket-handkerchief. But for all the hurry of his coming, these were not the dews of exertion that he wiped away, but the moisture of some strangling anguish” (Stevenson 42).
Even though Utterson and Poole are working hard to get to Dr. Jekyll in a hurry, the color of his handkerchief is an indication of what is truly making Poole sweat. Because Poole has continued interaction with Mr. Hyde, the evil within him is starting to influence Poole. The color red is often symbolic of evil, and the handkerchief helps illustrate the fact that the evil is spreading.
The Handkerchief represents Mr. Hyde’s ability to bring out evil around him. Whether the evil is siphoning off from Mr. Hyde or he’s simply bringing it out from within Poole, one thing is obvious; Mr. Hyde’s evil is contagious. This is just another way that Stevenson portrays the nature of evil in that when evil meets good, it eventually can make a little bit of evil come out from good.
When Lanyon finally meets Mr. Hyde, he took note of the colors of the potion that Mr. Hyde was preparing to take, “The mixture, which was at first of a reddish hue, began, in proportion as the crystals melted, to brighten in colour, to effervesce audibly,. . . and the compound changed to a dark purple, which faded again more slowly to a watery green. My visitor, who had watched these metamorphoses with a keen eye, smiled, set down the glass upon the table, and then turned and looked upon me with an air of scrutiny” (Stevenson 62).
Again, the color red is prominent when Mr. Hyde is involved because red is associated with evil. In this case, the mixture that Mr. Hyde is putting together starts off red, in contrast to Mr. Hyde starting off evil. It brightens and darkens, like Jekyll’s personality being a mixture of good and evil, and ends up as a balance in between. This entire ordeal can be viewed as an evil act, and Mr. Hyde’s laugh only supports that.
As the colors indicate, good must be added to the evil red in order to transform Mr. Hyde back. Conversely, good has to be stripped away to make complete evil, or red. The nature of evil is shown here because two points became apparent: To make evil, like Mr. Hyde, good must be taken out of the picture, and that for a mixture of good and evil, like Dr. Jekyll, good has to be added to evil.
The nature of evil has subtle appearances, and the use of color to help illustrate it is no exception. The handkerchief may only be a small part of Poole, but it helps show that Mr. Hyde is slowly but surely making an impact on those around him. Color can have a major impact on the development of a theme, especially when the color red is often a direct representation of that theme.
Finally, a very important part of any book is the setting. It almost always offers more information regarding the story. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Utterson’s adventure takes place in London. However, just like the two vastly different personalities of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, their settings are quite different. Dr. Jekyll has a household that is friendly and inviting, while Mr. Hyde’s home is quite sinister and uninviting. The setting in their presence can also be used by readers as a description, as it generally represents them well.
For example, when Enfield told Utterson of his first interaction with Mr. Hyde, he described the night, “About 3 o’clock of a black winter night. . . there was literally nothing to be seen but lamps. . . till at last I got into that state of mind when a man listens and listens and begins to long for the sight of a policeman”(Stevenson 3).
Enfield was walking home in the early hours of the morning, when everyone was asleep, and saw nothing but lamps, yet still felt like something was going on. He just had a feeling, similar to how people had a feeling when interacting with Mr. Hyde. The setting is used to develop a mood, showing that Enfield, though it seemed like there was nothing wrong, started to become distraught. The black winter at 3 o’clock indicates an abnormal darkness that could be a representation of Mr. Hyde.
Here, setting is used to let reader begin to understand the nature of evil. This is the first instance of evil not being confined to Mr. Hyde’s body but to the areas all around him. The black winter helps illustrate the fact that Mr. Hyde is actively making things around him more evil. The nature of evil is developed immediately and has a strong foundation formed from the setting of Enfield’s walk home.
Another example of the setting’s impact in the development of the nature of evil was when Utterson and Poole were walking toward Mr. Hyde, “It was a wild, cold, seasonable night of March, with a pale moon, lying on her back as though the wind had tilted her. . . The wind made talking difficult, and flecked the blood to the face. It seemed to have swept the streets unusually bare of passengers”(Stevenson 42).
Again, the streets are empty, and Utterson and Poole are walking alone. The wind can be viewed as a barrier, like a warning telling them to turn around. The moon may be pale and bright, but the fact that it is “lying on her back” indicates a crescent. This means that it is a very dark London night.
Darkness is obviously a barrier for sight, but it is also a sign of not knowing what will come next. The evil of Mr. Hyde is making everybody scatter, leaving only Utterson and Poole walking toward him. The wind pushing them back is yet another roadblock from the evil nature of Mr. Hyde. All these roadblocks come in the form of setting, again letting readers know that Mr. Hyde’s evil is not confined.