This Chapter presents another side of Utterson; for example, we discover that "where Utterson was liked, he was well liked. Hosts loved to detain the dry lawyer." This quality in Utterson, therefore, allows him to linger after Jekyll's party so as to be able to discuss Jekyll's will with him.
And thus, for the first time in the novel, we meet the other character in the novel's title. And the most immediately noticeable thing about him is that he is an extremely handsome man. This, of course, contrasts with the other part of himself--that is, Hyde, who is extremely loathsome. Also, Jekyll is a well proportioned, large man, as contrasted to the dwarfish Hyde. Symbolically, then, Hyde, the evil part of Dr. Jekyll, represents only a small portion of the total makeup of Dr. Jekyll. Also, Hyde is much younger than Jekyll, suggesting that the evil portion of Jekyll has not existed as long as has the "total" Dr. Jekyll, and later in Jekyll's "confession," he does speak of his youthful indiscretions, which occurred probably in, or around, his twenties.
The contrast between Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Lanyon was presented in the last Chapter by Dr. Lanyon, who thought that Jekyll was "too fanciful" or too metaphysical, and he, therefore, rejected Dr. Jekyll's theories. Now we see that Dr. Jekyll views Lanyon as "a hidebound pedant" who is too distressed to investigate new and startling concepts. Ultimately, Dr. Jekyll refers to Lanyon as "an ignorant, blatant pedant."
When the two men discuss Dr. Jekyll's will, Utterson feels a professional obligation to advise his friend to change his will. In fact, Utterson tries to get Jekyll to confess what horrible sin or crime aligns him with this "abominable" Mr. Hyde: "Make a clean breast of this in confidence; and I make no doubt I can get you out of it." When Utterson confesses that he can never "like" this abominable man, Jekyll is also aware of this: "I don't ask that . . . I only ask for justice; I only ask you to help him for my sake, when I am no longer here." The irony, of course, is that while Utterson is so adamantly opposed to Hyde, he does not know that he is attacking a part of Jekyll to Jekyll's face.
This Chapter occurs early in the Jekyll/Hyde relationship, and Jekyll is able to assure Utterson that "the moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde. I give you my hand upon that." But it is Jekyll's choice to keep Hyde around--for awhile. Originally, the ultimate aim of Dr. Jekyll's experiment was to discover his evil nature and isolate or reject it. But he became fascinated with this evil side of his nature. And as we will later see, Jekyll will reach a point where he can't control Hyde, who will begin to appear unexpectedly and begin to rule Jekyll's life.
