But the novel is permeated by other silences as well,
more akin to refusals than failures to speak: Lanyon refuses to
describe to Utterson what he has seen; Jekyll declines to discuss
his relationship with Hyde; after witnessing Jekyll’s strange disappearance
from the window, Utterson and Enfield say almost nothing about it;
and Utterson carries out an informal investigation of Hyde and Jekyll
but never mentions his suspicions to anyone. This second set of
silences derives not so much from being involuntarily awestruck
by the uncanny, but rather points to an acknowledgment of a situation
that exceeds the boundaries of logic, yet with an unwillingness
to pursue it further or express it openly. Such unwillingness seems
to stem, in turn, from a concern for reputation and public morality.
Significantly, both Jekyll and Lanyon leave written records of what
they have seen and done but insist that these records not be opened
until after their deaths. In other words, the truth can be exposed
only after the death of the person whose reputation it might ruin.
Stevenson may suggest that such refusals to discuss the grittier
side of life mirror a similar tendency in Victorian society at large.
