I think that Robert Louis Stevenson name’s Mr Utterson as he did because Utterson sounds like utmost meaning extreme depth. It says that when Mr Utterson is at ‘‘friendly meetings and the wine is to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye’’. This shows he has a taste for good wines yet in another sentence in the book it says ‘‘He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify his taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre he had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years’’. This shows that he deprives himself of thing he enjoys although he can afford it. Unlike Mr Utterson, Dr Jekyll indulges in the things he likes. I got the impression that Mr Utterson is a lonely man because ‘‘His friends were those of blood, or those whom he had known the longest’’ showing he is not a very sociable person.
Utterson is obviously good friends with Dr Jekyll because on page 17 Mr Utterson is insulted that Dr Jekyll has put in his will that everything is going to Mr Hyde. Mr Utterson couldn’t understand this so he didn’t write out Dr Jekyll’s will properly for him because he wanted him to realise he had made and big mistake and change it.
Mr Utterson is obviously a comfort to his friends because on page 27 of the book Jekyll says to him ‘‘I would trust you before any man alive’’
At the beginning of the story you wonder to yourself, why Robert Louis Stevenson has chosen Mr Utterson to lead the reader through the story. Later on you find out that Mr Utterson is the perfect person to take you through the story because Robert Louis Stevenson needed someone who survived and also Mr Utterson is good friends with Dr Jekyll. A big question I asked myself at the beginning of the book was, what is the relationship between Mr Utterson and Mr Enfield and ‘‘what do they see in each other’’? At the start of the book Mr Utterson seems like a quiet person but as the story goes on he gets more involved in the book and starts acting like a sort of detective. Utterson has led the reader through the story so another big question I asked myself was, why did Robert Louis Stevenson remove Mr Utterson from the ending? The reason I wanted to know this was because Mr Utterson has appeared after every other main part in the book and we want to know his reactions on the thing we now know. I believe that the reason for this was Robert Louis Stevenson wanted the reader to think it over. Also I think it was because Robert Lois Stevenson wanted to leave us in suspense. I don’t think Mr Utterson had anything to say. I think that if Mr Utterson had the last words instead of Henry Jekyll the book wouldn’t of ended so dramatically and I think the author was right to do this.
The book shows the reader a lot about the 1880’s, and people and society in Victorian times. It shows that London then was not a good place to be in. This is shown on page 11 when Mr Enfield talks about the girl getting trampled on by Mr Hyde at ‘‘three o’clock of a black winter’s morning. The girl was only ‘‘between 8 and 10’’ which leaves you wondering, why was the young girl and Mr Enfield out at that time. When the book was published authors weren’t aloud to talk about prostitutes with MPs and things like that because of the law. When Robert Louis Stevenson writes about Mr Enfield and the girl being out he is trying to put across that the girl was a prostitute and Mr Enfield had been with a prostitute. This just shows what society was like back then.
The book ‘‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’’ was one of the first ever real horror books to be published. When Robert Louis Stevenson was young his mother was often ill and his nanny used to tell him horror stories at a young age. This turned Stevenson bad and got him drinking and getting prostitutes. This is partly were his book came from.
The book obviously had an affect on the people because after the book was published the Ripper murder’s started to appear. People said that ‘‘The book was coming to life’’.
I feel I have shown that Mr Utterson is a main and important part of the story ‘‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’’ and that he is man of trust. I also think I have shown what society was like in Victorian times. I think that without Mr Utterson in the book it would not have worked as well as it did.
