Chapters 1–3: The Door, the Will and Dr Jekyll
Chapter 1: Story of the Door
The novella opens with Mr Utterson and his distant kinsman Richard Enfield on their regular Sunday walk. They pass a mysterious, neglected door in an otherwise respectable street. Enfield tells Utterson a disturbing story: he once saw a small, ugly man trample over a young girl in the street “like some damned Juggernaut.”
The man was Mr Hyde. When confronted, Hyde showed no remorse but agreed to pay compensation. He disappeared through the mysterious door and returned with a cheque signed by Dr Jekyll. Enfield and Utterson agree never to speak of the matter again — a very Victorian response, prioritising discretion over truth.
The trampling of the girl is the reader’s first encounter with Hyde’s violence. Stevenson deliberately makes the victim a child to emphasise Hyde’s complete lack of moral boundaries.
Chapter 2: Search for Mr Hyde
Utterson goes home and reads Jekyll’s will, which leaves everything to Edward Hyde in the event of Jekyll’s death or “disappearance.” The word “disappearance” troubles Utterson deeply. He visits Dr Lanyon, an old friend of Jekyll’s, who dismisses Jekyll’s recent scientific work as “unscientific balderdash.”
Utterson begins to stake out the mysterious door. When he finally meets Hyde, he is struck by an overwhelming sense of repulsion. He describes Hyde as giving “an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation.” This is crucial — Hyde’s evil is felt rather than seen.
Throughout the novella, characters struggle to describe what is wrong with Hyde. Enfield says he is “not easy to describe” and gives “a strong feeling of deformity.” Utterson notes “deformity without any nameable malformation.” Stevenson deliberately makes Hyde’s appearance vague and unsettling. This mirrors the Victorian difficulty in confronting evil directly — they can sense it but cannot name it.
Chapter 3: Dr Jekyll Was Quite at Ease
Utterson visits Jekyll at one of his dinner parties. Jekyll is charming, sociable and entirely at ease — the complete opposite of Hyde. When Utterson raises concerns about the will, Jekyll becomes evasive and asks Utterson to drop the subject. He insists: “the moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr Hyde.”
This chapter establishes the contrast between Jekyll and Hyde. Jekyll is warm, generous and respected; Hyde is cold, violent and repulsive. Yet Jekyll is clearly hiding something — his discomfort when Utterson mentions Hyde reveals the anxiety beneath his polished surface.
Jekyll’s claim that he “can be rid of Mr Hyde” at any time proves tragically wrong. This is an example of dramatic irony — the reader later discovers that Jekyll loses control of the transformations entirely.
Stevenson uses Utterson as the main narrative perspective for most of the novella. As a lawyer, Utterson is rational, restrained and trustworthy — making him a reliable guide for the reader. But his rationality also limits what we can know. He cannot understand Jekyll’s experiment because it is beyond rational explanation. The restricted perspective builds suspense and mirrors Victorian society’s refusal to look too closely at uncomfortable truths.
Stevenson’s Methods in Chapters 1–3
These opening chapters establish several key techniques that Stevenson uses throughout the novella:
Mystery and withholding: Stevenson reveals information slowly. The reader, like Utterson, must piece together clues. The connection between Jekyll and Hyde is not explained until the final two chapters.
Setting as symbolism: The mysterious door — blistered, neglected, with “neither bell nor knocker” — represents the hidden side of Jekyll’s life. It is the back entrance to his laboratory, a passage between his respectable home and his secret world.
Fog and darkness: London is repeatedly described in terms of fog, shadows and gaslight. The fog symbolises the obscured truth and moral confusion at the heart of the story.