Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)
“A Victorian lawyer investigates his friend's disturbing new associate — and unravels the most famous split personality in literature.”
Character Analysis
The novel's anchor — a solicitor of total professional respectability who is fond of Jekyll and disturbed by Hyde. Utterson's most important characteristic is his tolerance: he does not judge his clients or friends harshly, preferring to 'let his brother go to the devil in his own way.' He is the Victorian professional ideal, and the novel is partly a study in the limits of that ideal. Utterson suspects the truth early but cannot bring himself to state it, because stating it would violate the codes of professional loyalty and gentlemanly friendship that define him.
Legal precision, understatement, euphemism for anything emotionally uncomfortable. Uses the passive voice when distancing himself from conclusions he cannot bear to state directly.