Story of the Door
Enfield’s description of the door is symbolic to what Mr Hyde’s character traits and personality is like. The door is described as “sinister, dissolved, blistered, disdained” and having “marks of sordid negligence”. There are also “tramps [which have] slouched into the recess”, which shows that Mr Hyde is dirty, and that “the schoolboy tried his knife on the moldings”. This shows that Mr Hyde is bruised and battered. The door also is described as having no bell or knocker, which is symbolic of Dr Jekyll keeping Mr Hyde’s existence a secret. The fading color, marks and blisters shows that the building is abandoned and that no-one cares about it; it is not being taken care of or maintained. Stevenson uses the explode-the-moment technique by starting with a description of Mr Hyde from afar, i.e. “some damned Juggernaut”, and “hellish”. He zooms in and Mr Hyde’s face from up close is described as “so ugly”, “black, sneering” and “Satan[ic]”. There is a lexical field of evil which enforces Mr Hyde’s sinister traits. Prior to meeting Mr Hyde, Mr Enfield revealed that he “longed for the sight of a policeman”, which foreshadows that something bad is going to happen, as policemen often assure safety.