Chapter 5: Incident of the Letter

Following the Carew murder, Utterson journeys to visit Dr Jekyll and is received for the first time in Jekyll’s laboratory. We are introduced to Jekyll’s specialty as “chemical rather than anatomical,” foreshadowing the revelation of his chemical experiments. Upon entering the laboratory, Utterson looks around with a “distasteful sense of strangeness.” This sibilance of the ‘s’ here evokes a hissing sound, suggesting danger or threat. This atmosphere is heightened as the narrator states that the fog from outside has seeped into the rooms: “even in the houses the fog began to lie thickly.” Stevenson again uses the pathetic fallacy of the fog to represent Utterson’s confusion and search for truth, enhancing the atmosphere of unease.