Key moment from The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Utterson and Guest compare Jekyll and

Hyde’s handwriting

SIGNIFICANCE OF KEY MOMENT TO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: Chapter 5 Utterson thinks Jekyll has forged Hyde’s signature -> cause for concern because he has a
close relationship with a murderer

KEY The letter was written in an odd, upright hand and signed “Edward Hyde”: and it signified, briefly enough, that the HOW DOES THE
THEMES writer’s benefactor, Dr. Jekyll, whom he had long so unworthily repaid for a thousand generosities, need labour under no
alarm for his safety, as he had means of escape on which he placed a sure dependence. The lawyer liked this letter well MOMENT
Keya better
enough; it put Quotations to intimacy
colour on the learn for this
than moment
he had looked for; and he blamed himself for some of his past suspicions. DEVELOP?
THEME 1: 1. the envelope?” he asked. Utterson is relieved as the letter seems to suggest a distance between Jekyll and Hyde’s actions
“Have you (STRUCTURE)
2-3 Key 2. it,” replied Jekyll, “before I thought what I was about. But it bore no postmark. The note was handed in.”
“I burned
quotations
Techniques/
The patterns ofkeep
“Shall I3. this and sleep upon it?” asked Utterson.
language BEGINNING
“I wish you to judge for me entirely,” was the reply. “I have lost confidence in myself.”
‘Singular
handwriting 4. hands are in many points, identical only differently sloped’
resemblance’ ‘two
“Well, I shall consider,” returned the lawyer. “And now one word more: it was Hyde who dictated the terms in your will Low tension for the
symbolises
‘Henry Jekyll forge forthat
about 5.
a murderer’
disappearance?”‘and his blood ran cold’ reader (red sentence)
duality 6. seemed seized with a qualm of faintness; he shut his mouth tight and nodded.
‘odd up right hand’The doctor
‘fog’ “I knew7.it,” said Utterson. “He meant to murder you. You had a fine escape.”
‘fire’ “I have8.
had what is far more to the purpose,” returned the doctor solemnly: “I have had a lesson—O God, Utterson, what
a lesson I have had!” And he covered his face for a moment with his hands….
‘murderer’s autograph’Presently after, he sat on one side of his own hearth, with Mr. Guest, his head clerk, upon the other, and midway between,
Repetition in ‘I have had calculated
at a nicely a lesson’distance
+ ‘covered hisfire,
from the face’a bottle of a particular old wine that had long dwelt unsunned in the foundations
of his house. The fog still slept on the wing above the drowned city, where the lamps glimmered like carbuncles; and through
‘not mad but it isthean odd hand’
muffle and smother of these fallen clouds, the procession of the town’s life was still rolling in through the great arteries
with a sound as of a mighty wind. But the room was gay with firelight. In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved; the
imperial dye had softened with time, as the colour grows richer in stained windows; and the glow of hot autumn afternoons END
on hillside vineyards, was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London. Insensibly the lawyer melted . …Guest,
being a great student and critic of handwriting, would consider the step natural and obliging? The clerk, besides, was a man MIDDLE
High tension,
of counsel; he could scarce read so strange a document without dropping a remark; and by that remark Mr. Utterson might
contrasts with his
shape his future course. Still low tension as
relief at the
“This is a sad business about Sir Danvers,” he said. Utterson in comfort of
beginning -> Jekyll
“Yes, sir, indeed. It has elicited a great deal of public feeling,” returned Guest. “The man, of course, was mad.” home/fire = safety.
has lied and forged
However, imagery of
THEME 2: “I should like to hear your views on that,” replied Utterson. “I have a document here in his handwriting; it is between Hyde’s signature =
fog foreshadows
(2-3 Key ourselves, for I scarce know what to do about it; it is an ugly business at the best. But there it is; quite in your way: a suggests they
murderer’s autograph.” revelation to come –
quotations) remain
forgery – slight tension
Guest’s eyes brightened, and he sat down at once and studied it with passion. “No sir,” he said: “ not mad; but it is an odd close/connected
hand.” for the reader
Deception +
secrets “And by all accounts a very odd writer,” added the lawyer.
Just then the servant entered with a note.
“Is that from Dr. Jekyll, sir?” inquired the clerk. “I thought I knew the writing. Anything private, Mr. Utterson?”
“Only an invitation to dinner. Why? Do you want to see it?”
“One moment. I thank you, sir;” and the clerk laid the two sheets of paper alongside and sedulously compared their
contents. “Thank you, sir,” he said at last, returning both; “it’s a very interesting autograph.”
There was a pause, during which Mr. Utterson struggled with himself. “Why did you compare them, Guest?” he inquired
suddenly.
“Well, sir,” returned the clerk, “there’s a rather singular resemblance; the two hands are in many points identical: only
differently sloped.”
“Rather quaint,” said Utterson.
“It is, as you say, rather quaint,” returned Guest.
“I wouldn’t speak of this note, you know,” said the master.
“No, sir,” said the clerk. “I understand.”
But no sooner was Mr. Utterson alone that night, than he locked the note into his safe, where it reposed from that time
forward. “What!” he thought. “Henry Jekyll forge for a murderer!” And his blood ran cold in his veins.

CONTEXT: