This Chapter begins almost a year later and recounts the details of the murder of Sir Danvers Carew, a well-known and highly respected London gentleman (although we know that it is he only when Utterson is contacted), having been murdered near midnight on a foggy, full-moon night in October. This murder had been witnessed by a maid who worked and lived in a house not far from the Thames. That night, she went upstairs to bed about eleven o'clock and she sat gazing out of her bedroom window for a time because of the mysteriously romantic moon and she did so "in a dream of musing." “Never,” she tells the police with streaming tears, had she felt happier and more at peace with the world.
Her mood is broken when she gazes beneath the window, and recognizes the "small" figure of Mr. Hyde, a man who had once visited her master and for whom she had immediately taken an dislike towards, once again highlighting Hyde’s ominous and distasteful character. She saw "an aged and beautiful gentleman with white hair" meet Mr. Hyde, when suddenly, after a few words, Mr. Hyde lifted his heavy walking stick and clubbed the old gentleman to death, and the blows which he struck were of such huge force that "bones were audibly shattered," and then, "with ape-like fury," Hyde trampled the old gentleman underfoot. Horrified, the woman fainted, and she only called the police when she had awoken from her shock, at two o’clock. By then, the murderer, Hyde, had already left the scene long ago.
They found no identification on the body, and they are fascinated to find that neither the victim's gold watch nor his wallet was taken. The only bit of evidence they discover concerning the man's identity is a sealed envelope addressed to Mr. Utterson. Henceforth, they call Utterson, who immediately identifies the man as Sir Danvers Carew. The police are visibly stunned. "This will make a deal of noise," meaning that the case will draw a lot of publicity because Sir Danvers was such a well-known figure in London society and politics.
Utterson also recognizes the weapon immediately – the battered half of a walking cane, which he himself presented to Dr. Jekyll many years ago. He reflects for a moment and then tells the police officer to come with him because he knows the whereabouts of the murderer.
On the way to Hyde's apartment, the narrator describes in much detail the "chocolate-colored wreaths" of fog that they drive through on their way to "the dismal quarter" where Hyde lives. This district, says the narrator, seems "like a district of some city in a nightmare." Yet this is where Edward Hyde, heir to Jekyll's quarter of a million pounds, lives, which gives us an irony as Jekyll is supposed to be very rich, and the heir to his rich should, and is insinuated to have as much money – only to realize he lives in an evil, distasteful area.
The woman who answers their knock tells them that Hyde is not at home; in fact, last night was the first night that he had been home in nearly two months; "his habits were very irregular." When Utterson introduces the officer as being from Scotland Yard, he is sure that the old silver-haired woman seems almost to relish the prospect of Hyde's being in trouble. They search Hyde's apartment and immediately see that Hyde left in a hurry. Clothes are thrown here and there, drawers are pulled out, and on the hearth is a pile of grey ashes.
The inspector stirs the embers and finds half of a checkbook. Behind a door, he also discovers the other half of the murder weapon, the heavy walking stick.
Delighted with what he has found, the inspector and Utterson visit Hyde's bank and ascertain that Hyde's account contains several thousand pounds. The officer is sure that Hyde can be captured now because "money's life to the man." All he has to do now, he says, is post handbills with Hyde's picture and a description of the man. However, this proves to be an almost impossible task because Hyde has no family, and seemingly, he was never photographed. Moreover, of those who have seen him, no one has seen him more than two times, and they disagree on how they look, a characteristic of eye witnesses. The only thing that everyone agrees on is that Hyde carries "a haunting sense of unexpressed deformity."
Analysis: Chapter 4
Since a year has elapsed since the last Chapter, we can never know what Hyde has been doing, and to what degree Hyde has been degraded to, and to what extent Hyde has grown to.
Here, it is clear that he has degraded immensely, since he has moved from being a creature who tramples on a child in the first Chapter to this Chapter, where he commits an unprovoked murder. In other words, Hyde's capacity for evil is increasing, and it is increasing uncontrollably.
Here, we also know that soon Dr. Jekyll will try to make up for his mistakes, and go against what Mr. Hyde is doing, and tries to reverse the process – however, it is too late when he tries to. Once again, this shows that Dr. Jekyll was extremely fascinated in this aspect of human nature as he did not reverse it when he could do it at any time he wanted to, as seen in the second chapter.
The crime, a murder of a distinguished, well-known social and political figure, is committed by the light of the full moon. Here, Stevenson is using the full moon so that from a practical point-of-view, the upstairs maid can clearly see and describe the encounter between Hyde and Sir Danvers, but also, the full moon, in terms of superstition, is the time when evil beings, often in the shape of deformed men or werewolves, commit their most heinous acts.
The crime seems to be without motivation. As an illustration, the police are puzzled over why he has not took any of the valuables on the man. However, Stevenson is careful to describe Hyde's reaction to Sir Danvers. Sir Danvers is described as "an aged and beautiful gentleman with white hair." He also seemed to "breathe . . . an innocent and old-world kindness of disposition"; in addition, he was also noble and high-minded.
Perhaps it was a result of the fact that Hyde represents pure evil, and therefore, he would naturally detest meeting such a "good" gentleman, one who is the direct opposite of Hyde's loathsome self.
When committing the murder, Hyde is described as having an "ape-like fury," and he is raged to the point he commits unspeakable actions against the innocent man. It is as though Hyde was not content to simply murder the distinguished man — he had to completely destroy him and obliterate him; he even mangled the dead body so that the bones were audibly shattered and even then, he was not yet content, and he trampled on the victim. A fascinating note is that the pure good of sir Danvers had further brought out the already enough evil of Hyde.
Utterson is unexpectedly drawn into the case since Sir Danvers was another of his distinguished clients, again suggesting the ultimate importance and influence of Utterson. This seeming coincidence then allows Utterson to be in on the investigation of Sir Danvers' death and to report accurately all of the findings.
When the body is definitely identified as being that of Sir Danvers, Inspector Newcomen of Scotland Yard is immediately appalled, suggesting, therefore, the public fame connected with the murdered man. Thus, this is not just a murder, but the murder of a renowned man of government, and his murder affects the entire nation more than would, say, the murder of a common citizen; the murder of a high public official directly interferes with the smooth and safe operation of the government.
When Utterson takes the inspector to Hyde's address, he, of course, takes him to the address in Soho, not to Dr. Jekyll's "back door," which would defame Dr. Jekyll, who Mr. Utterson is obviously trying to protect, even until the end. When they get there, they meet Hyde's housekeeper, a woman with an "evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy."
This type of housekeeper is idealistic for Hyde since she would be closed-mouthed about Hyde's evil doings, but even this evil housekeeper seems to take delight in the fact that Hyde has gotten into trouble. Again, we only confirm the fact that Hyde’s range and scope for evil has only increased over the one year.
When the inspector has the murderer identified and discovers that the murderer has several thousands of pounds (in today's monetary spending capacity, this would be more than fifty thousand dollars), he is sure that he will be able to apprehend the criminal. Yet, as he wants to prepare a description of Hyde and publish a photo of him, he can find only a few people who can describe him, but no photograph of Hyde exists. It is as though Hyde doesn't exist — as indeed he doesn't, except in terms of Dr. Jekyll.
Her mood is broken when she gazes beneath the window, and recognizes the "small" figure of Mr. Hyde, a man who had once visited her master and for whom she had immediately taken an dislike towards, once again highlighting Hyde’s ominous and distasteful character. She saw "an aged and beautiful gentleman with white hair" meet Mr. Hyde, when suddenly, after a few words, Mr. Hyde lifted his heavy walking stick and clubbed the old gentleman to death, and the blows which he struck were of such huge force that "bones were audibly shattered," and then, "with ape-like fury," Hyde trampled the old gentleman underfoot. Horrified, the woman fainted, and she only called the police when she had awoken from her shock, at two o’clock. By then, the murderer, Hyde, had already left the scene long ago.
They found no identification on the body, and they are fascinated to find that neither the victim's gold watch nor his wallet was taken. The only bit of evidence they discover concerning the man's identity is a sealed envelope addressed to Mr. Utterson. Henceforth, they call Utterson, who immediately identifies the man as Sir Danvers Carew. The police are visibly stunned. "This will make a deal of noise," meaning that the case will draw a lot of publicity because Sir Danvers was such a well-known figure in London society and politics.
Utterson also recognizes the weapon immediately – the battered half of a walking cane, which he himself presented to Dr. Jekyll many years ago. He reflects for a moment and then tells the police officer to come with him because he knows the whereabouts of the murderer.
On the way to Hyde's apartment, the narrator describes in much detail the "chocolate-colored wreaths" of fog that they drive through on their way to "the dismal quarter" where Hyde lives. This district, says the narrator, seems "like a district of some city in a nightmare." Yet this is where Edward Hyde, heir to Jekyll's quarter of a million pounds, lives, which gives us an irony as Jekyll is supposed to be very rich, and the heir to his rich should, and is insinuated to have as much money – only to realize he lives in an evil, distasteful area.
The woman who answers their knock tells them that Hyde is not at home; in fact, last night was the first night that he had been home in nearly two months; "his habits were very irregular." When Utterson introduces the officer as being from Scotland Yard, he is sure that the old silver-haired woman seems almost to relish the prospect of Hyde's being in trouble. They search Hyde's apartment and immediately see that Hyde left in a hurry. Clothes are thrown here and there, drawers are pulled out, and on the hearth is a pile of grey ashes.
The inspector stirs the embers and finds half of a checkbook. Behind a door, he also discovers the other half of the murder weapon, the heavy walking stick.
Delighted with what he has found, the inspector and Utterson visit Hyde's bank and ascertain that Hyde's account contains several thousand pounds. The officer is sure that Hyde can be captured now because "money's life to the man." All he has to do now, he says, is post handbills with Hyde's picture and a description of the man. However, this proves to be an almost impossible task because Hyde has no family, and seemingly, he was never photographed. Moreover, of those who have seen him, no one has seen him more than two times, and they disagree on how they look, a characteristic of eye witnesses. The only thing that everyone agrees on is that Hyde carries "a haunting sense of unexpressed deformity."
Analysis: Chapter 4
Since a year has elapsed since the last Chapter, we can never know what Hyde has been doing, and to what degree Hyde has been degraded to, and to what extent Hyde has grown to.
Here, it is clear that he has degraded immensely, since he has moved from being a creature who tramples on a child in the first Chapter to this Chapter, where he commits an unprovoked murder. In other words, Hyde's capacity for evil is increasing, and it is increasing uncontrollably.
Here, we also know that soon Dr. Jekyll will try to make up for his mistakes, and go against what Mr. Hyde is doing, and tries to reverse the process – however, it is too late when he tries to. Once again, this shows that Dr. Jekyll was extremely fascinated in this aspect of human nature as he did not reverse it when he could do it at any time he wanted to, as seen in the second chapter.
The crime, a murder of a distinguished, well-known social and political figure, is committed by the light of the full moon. Here, Stevenson is using the full moon so that from a practical point-of-view, the upstairs maid can clearly see and describe the encounter between Hyde and Sir Danvers, but also, the full moon, in terms of superstition, is the time when evil beings, often in the shape of deformed men or werewolves, commit their most heinous acts.
The crime seems to be without motivation. As an illustration, the police are puzzled over why he has not took any of the valuables on the man. However, Stevenson is careful to describe Hyde's reaction to Sir Danvers. Sir Danvers is described as "an aged and beautiful gentleman with white hair." He also seemed to "breathe . . . an innocent and old-world kindness of disposition"; in addition, he was also noble and high-minded.
Perhaps it was a result of the fact that Hyde represents pure evil, and therefore, he would naturally detest meeting such a "good" gentleman, one who is the direct opposite of Hyde's loathsome self.
When committing the murder, Hyde is described as having an "ape-like fury," and he is raged to the point he commits unspeakable actions against the innocent man. It is as though Hyde was not content to simply murder the distinguished man — he had to completely destroy him and obliterate him; he even mangled the dead body so that the bones were audibly shattered and even then, he was not yet content, and he trampled on the victim. A fascinating note is that the pure good of sir Danvers had further brought out the already enough evil of Hyde.
Utterson is unexpectedly drawn into the case since Sir Danvers was another of his distinguished clients, again suggesting the ultimate importance and influence of Utterson. This seeming coincidence then allows Utterson to be in on the investigation of Sir Danvers' death and to report accurately all of the findings.
When the body is definitely identified as being that of Sir Danvers, Inspector Newcomen of Scotland Yard is immediately appalled, suggesting, therefore, the public fame connected with the murdered man. Thus, this is not just a murder, but the murder of a renowned man of government, and his murder affects the entire nation more than would, say, the murder of a common citizen; the murder of a high public official directly interferes with the smooth and safe operation of the government.
When Utterson takes the inspector to Hyde's address, he, of course, takes him to the address in Soho, not to Dr. Jekyll's "back door," which would defame Dr. Jekyll, who Mr. Utterson is obviously trying to protect, even until the end. When they get there, they meet Hyde's housekeeper, a woman with an "evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy."
This type of housekeeper is idealistic for Hyde since she would be closed-mouthed about Hyde's evil doings, but even this evil housekeeper seems to take delight in the fact that Hyde has gotten into trouble. Again, we only confirm the fact that Hyde’s range and scope for evil has only increased over the one year.
When the inspector has the murderer identified and discovers that the murderer has several thousands of pounds (in today's monetary spending capacity, this would be more than fifty thousand dollars), he is sure that he will be able to apprehend the criminal. Yet, as he wants to prepare a description of Hyde and publish a photo of him, he can find only a few people who can describe him, but no photograph of Hyde exists. It is as though Hyde doesn't exist — as indeed he doesn't, except in terms of Dr. Jekyll.