If it is Chapter One alone that you are focusing on, you
need to be aware that quotes that link Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll directly are
non-existent, as we are only introduced to Dr. Jekyll in the second chapter of this
excellent novella. However, there are numerous quotes concerning Mr. Hyde and the
setting that can be used to suggest the evil nature of this person and how, with
hindsight, he represents the evil side of Dr. Jekyll. Note the description of the
"sinister building" that Mr. Hyde leaves from:
It was two storeys high; showed no window,
nothing but a door on the lower storey and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the
upper; and bore in every feature, the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence. The
door, which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained.
Tramps slouched into the recess and struck matches on the panels; children kept shop
upon the steps; the schoolboy had tried his knife on the mouldings; and for close on a
generation, no one had appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair their
ravages.
Note how the setting
reveals so much about Mr. Hyde's character. The building is "sinister" and presents a
"blind" face towards the outer world, hinting at the hidden identity of Mr. Hyde. The
door is "blistered and distained" just like Mr. Hyde's character, and the random
visitors and their varioius "ravages" that they cause on the building hint at the evil
that lies therein.
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