Utterson, Enfield, and Men.
This is a fascinating area of the novel's subtext to me: its portrayal of men.
Maybe it's not even subtext: maybe it's a capital-T Theme.
"His friends were those of his own blood or those whom he had known the longest"
1/
This is a fascinating area of the novel's subtext to me: its portrayal of men.
Maybe it's not even subtext: maybe it's a capital-T Theme.
"His friends were those of his own blood or those whom he had known the longest"
1/
Jekyll and Hyde portrays a society of men:
Utterson
Enfield
Jekyll
Lanyon
Carew
They have servants: Poole, Guest, a maid or two.
They do NOT have wives, at least not ones we meet.
They all know each other -- a tight web of professional acquaintance and friendship.
2/
Utterson
Enfield
Jekyll
Lanyon
Carew
They have servants: Poole, Guest, a maid or two.
They do NOT have wives, at least not ones we meet.
They all know each other -- a tight web of professional acquaintance and friendship.
2/
I think this must be partly social satire on RLS's part, as in the description of Utterson and Enfield's walks:
"they said nothing, looked singularly dull...For all that, the two men put the greatest store by these excursions, counted them the chief jewel of each week"
3/
"they said nothing, looked singularly dull...For all that, the two men put the greatest store by these excursions, counted them the chief jewel of each week"
3/
Stevenson's respectable London is a rotating cast of interchangeable men, deeply bound by their odd conception of friendship while not taking any noticeable pleasure in each other's company.
But I think there's more than that...
4/
But I think there's more than that...
4/
I think in Stevenson's vision there's something inherently rotten in this close-knit, sealed-off world of gentlemen. The real nature of their friendship is hidden to us.
It is acquaintance and closeness without intimacy.
It is an atmosphere ripe for repression.
5/5
It is acquaintance and closeness without intimacy.
It is an atmosphere ripe for repression.
5/5
