Textual Hyde and Seek: "Gentility," Narrative Play and Proscription in Stevenson's "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" Author(s): Robbie B. H. Goh Source: Journal of Narrative Theory, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Spring, 1999), pp. 158-183 Published by: Journal of Narrative Theory Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30225726 . Accessed: 17/05/2013 12:02 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Journal of Narrative Theory and Department of English Language and Literature, Eastern Michigan University are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Narrative Theory. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 187.121.40.54 on Fri, 17 May 2013 12:02:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TextualH yde and Seek: "Gentility," NarrativeP lay and Proscriptioni n Stevenson's Dr Jekylal ndM rH yde RobbiBe . H. Goh In discussingw hat is perhapst he nineteenthc entury'sm ost famousa nd endurings tory of split identities,R obertL ouis Stevenson's1 886 short novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, critics have quite pre- dictablyu sedD r.J ekyll'ss cientificp rojecta s an analoguef ort he narrative itself. Stevenson'sta le,i t is arguedo, ffersa plethorao f signss plito ff from their signifieds, voices disembodieda nd dislocated,a nd distinctions elided.1T his in turni s seen as parto f Stevenson'sa ttemptt o undermine patriarchyw, hich-variously, accordingt o differents cholarlyv iews-is parto f a projectt o createa "reimaginedm ale bourgeoisi dentity"o ut of the asheso f the flawedo ne the text dismantleso, r an Oedipalc onflictw ith ThomasS tevensonc enteringa roundt he pleasurep rinciplea ndt he figure of the mothero, r a gestureo f deviance( sucha s the sexualc ode of homo- eroticism)w ithint he constraintos f hypocriticaVl ictorianso ciety.2 An extensiont o this overtlyp oliticalr ole ascribedt o the text is the view of it as engagingi n narrativep lay intendedt o frustrateth e linear codes of "readerly,""r ealist"e xpectationsT. husA lan Sandisons peakso f Stevenson'sp ervasive" metafictionaslt ructures,h"i s "subversived, econ- structiveu ndertow"w hich is parto f modernism'"s antagonismto wards the literaryt radition"o f nineteenth-centurrye alism( 4-5, 15). Scholars JNT. Journal of Narrative Theory 29.2 (Spring 1999): 158-183. Copyright c 1999 by JNT. Journal of Narrative Theory. This content downloaded from 187.121.40.54 on Fri, 17 May 2013 12:02:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TextuaHl ydea ndS eek 159 like Williams and Arata invoke Stevenson's essays "A Chaptero n Dreams,"a nde specially" AN ote on Realism,"a s evidenceo f the author's predilectionfo r literarye xperimentatioann dd ivergencef rom" traditional humanistn otionso f bothr ealisma ndi dentity."3 The notiono f divergence-literarys,e xualo r political-does not, how- ever, offer a completelys atisfyinga ccounto f Stevenson'sn arrativep ro- ject. In particularit, offersn o satisfactorya ccounto f instanceso f the nar- rative'sa pparencto mplicityin moralc odeso rj udgementso, f conservative or authoritariasntr andsin the text-not merelyt he ironicallys mugp atri- archalv oice of characterlsi ke Uttersona ndL anyonb, ut also the corrobo- ratingv oice of the quasi-omnisciennta rratorS. cholarshipo n Stevenson has oftenb een troubledb y the presencei n this novel of whatG arretct alls the "strongc onservatives train"( 60), and Thomasa "ploto f exclusion" (73), whichi n fact contradictth e "savagep leasure"o f its iconoclasticim - pulses.T he inabilityt o accountf or this contradictoriym pulsel eads Gar- rettt o concludet hatt he novellai s guiltyo f "fictionailr responsibilitya," "refusaol r failuret o offera ny securep ositionf or its readero r to establish any fixedr elationb etweeni ts voices"( 70), andT homass imilarlyc alls the novel a "schizo-text"(8 3). Furthermorteh, e notiono f a textual" deviance" (fromr ealistc onventionst)h ate choesa socio-sexuadl eviancei mputest oo much teleologicalp urposea nd coherencet o a narrativew hich is com- plexly pre-moral", plaisir"ra therth anl ogicali ntentioni;t is to foreground the thematicso f the Hydeant ransgressionw, hile neglectingt he narrative performancwe hichc ontainst hatt ransgressioant the samet ime thati t re- pudiatesi t. In this novel,n arrativiet selfi s the site of meaningo, f textualp rocesses thato peratep riort o narrowetrh ematicc oncernsa ndt o simplifyings ocial oppositionsT. his reinforcesw hatm ightb e termedt he intentionanl ature of values andj udgementsw, hich do not stando utsideo f the text (in the seeminglyp re-textuarle ferentos f "Victoriasno ciety"o r "history"b),u ti n- steadf ind meaningp reciselyi n the acts of interpretativjue dgements truc- tureda nd sustainedb y the narrativeS. ocial criticismi s very much sec- ondary,a nd cannotf ormt he interpretativkee y, to this formo f modernist narrativew, hose primaryc oncerni s the creationo f a semiotice xercisei n the act of reading,a lthougho f courset his exercisei s also a social, sys- temic function. This content downloaded from 187.121.40.54 on Fri, 17 May 2013 12:02:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 160 j N T The centrals ignifyingc odes,i n this as well as otherS tevensoniann ar- ratives,a ret hoseo f shamea ndg uilt,k inshipa ndp roscriptivbea nishment, which are playedo ut in an unmistakeablOy edipalp atternT. his is most apparenti n the Scottish (pseudo)r omances,W eiro f Hermiston,K id- napped,a ndD avidB alfour( or Catrionaa, s the latterw as knowni n Eng- land and Scotland).4C haracterisn these novels strugglel iterallya gainst the name of the father,e ithera s a repudiationo f the biologicalf ather's "coarsea ndc ruel"n ature( as is the case withA rchieW eiri n Weiro f Her- miston,w ho effectivelyr enouncesh is kinshipw ith his fathert he "hang- ing"j udge);5o r else as a conflicto f emotionaal ndp oliticala ffiliationsin the troubledJ acobites trugglesw hichi s the settingo f the lattert wo novels. Namingt he protagonisot f Kidnappeda nd its sequelD avidB alfour( this being the familyn ame of Stevenson'sm other)a lso allows Stevensont o write elementso f his own troubledr elationshipw ith his fatheri nto this politicald rama. The problematicos f namingi n thesen ovels suggestst he fundamental crisisi n identityt hatS tevensoni s very muchc oncernedw ith,n ot the less becauseo f his fascinatidnw itht he namea ndl egendo f RobR oy MacGre- gor: ... Stevensonh opedh e mightb e descendedfr omR ob Roy MacGregoorr at anyr atef romt he clan.O bviouslyh, e was nevera ble to provei t, and the "perfecte vidence"h e mentionisn a letter. .. amountosn lyt o thef act--ifi t is a fact-that whent he nameo f MacGregowra s proscribed someo f thec lanc alledt hemselve"sS tevenson(.A" lding- ton 10) David's quest might be seen as that of gainingh is rightfula ppellation ("DavidB alfouro f Shaws")a ftert he deceitfuld isinheritancpee rformed by his uncle Ebeneezerb, ut this can neverb e madep ublic:6a t the end of the first novel, he comes to a compromising agreement in which the shamedu ncle is financiallyp enalised,b ut remainsi nstalleda t Shaws,t o all appearancetsh e Lairds till. David, in fact the rightfulL aird,s pends most of the two novels sans identitya ndr oots,t ossedt o and fro between different clan affiliations and power factions. David's outlawed Jacobite friend,A lan Breck Stewart,f aces a similarp light throughoutt hese novels, This content downloaded from 187.121.40.54 on Fri, 17 May 2013 12:02:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TextuaHl ydea ndS eek 161 caughtb etweent he prideo f bearing" a king'sn ame,"a ndt he shamea nd guilt of having publicallyt o hide that name in HanoverE ngland( Kid- napped6 0, 219-220). The eponymoush eroineo f Catrionat, oo, endures hardshipa nd disgraceu nder a variety of names-as "the daughtero f JamesM ore,"t he wardo f "Mrs.O gilvy/LadyA llardyce,"a nd finallya s the wife of "DavidB alfour"( Catriona9 , 57). In the troubledc limateo f the Scottishr omancesi,d entityi s not merely oppositionalb, ut is constantlya mbivalenat nds hifting.I ndividualds o not merely struggle to choose between two affiliations-the legal and Hanoveriano, r the oppositionalo, utlawedJ acobinical-butc ontinually re-negotiateth eirp lurali dentitiesi n each differents peech-actD. avid,f or example,d oes not "regress"b y "submittinhg imselft o a serieso f father- figures,"a s Sandison( 190) suggests;r atherh, is career( if it has any signif- icancea t all) is thato f a continuapl rocesso f acceptancea ndr epudiation of differentf ather-figureTs.h ush e moves fromt he authorityo f his Whig Campbelml entort o the Jacobitein triqueos f AlanB recka ndJ amesS tew- art, from the Stewartst o their enemiest he MacGregorsf,r om the petty outlawe scapadest o the higher( buta lso contradictoryr)e alpoliks ymbol- ised by SimonF rasera ndP restongrange. In the end, he andC atrionah aven ot so muchr esolvedt heseq uestions of identitya nd forged their own place, as they have stumbledn olens volens throughd ifferentc, ontradictorpyo sitions.T he romanced evice of the endingm arriagec annotc oncealt he fact thatt heiru nions tandsi n the face of competingc laimst o their individuallo yalties,a pointw hich the readeri s remindedo f even at the verye nd,a s theirt wo childrena ren amed for Alan and for Prestongrange('sth e LordA dvocatew ho persecutest he Stewarts)d aughterD. avid may well say that he marriesC atriona" as thought hereh ad been no such persona s JamesM ore"( 290), but Catri- ona's own renunciationo f her fatheri s muddleda nd irresolute": I am a daughtero f Alpin! Shameo f the sons of Alpin,b egone!"( 286), she pro- claims, proscribingh is name by resortingt o the legendaryc lan of the Alpins,a lthoughin so doings he perpetuatehse rk inshipt o him undera n- otherc lan signifierY. et again,s he andD avida lso re-affirmth eirt ies to the MacGregorbs y seekingt he blessing of the exiled chieftaino f the clan, who implicitlya ssociatest hemw ith JamesM oreo nce again,b y refusing (andf orbiddingth em)p ubliclyt o repudiathe im (mucha s Ebeneezerc an- not be publiclyd enounced)": we area ll Scotsf olk anda ll Hieland"(2 90). This content downloaded from 187.121.40.54 on Fri, 17 May 2013 12:02:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 162 J N T These narrativest hus accentuatet he romance pleasure (the plot structure of growth, marriagea nd hope) by a perverse, sado-masochistici nvocation of the cruelty, shame, and pain of the betrayals (including self-betrayals) upon which the romance ending must be founded. Oedipal relations are marked by surface affections and (ultimately) deeper betrayals and proscriptions,t his narratives chadenfreuder eplacing the promised but undelivered plot structures of the bildungsroman. In reading David's relationshipw ith James Stewart,f or example, one is com- pelled to work through a perversely sado-masochisticp rogression:J ames is the symbolic father, himself proscribed and persecutedb y the Camp- bells, who provides temporarys helter to David and Alan: "Jamesc arried me accordingly into the kitchen, and sat down with me at table, smiling and talking at first in a very hospitablem anner"( Catriona, 186, emphasis added). The peculiarity of this novel is that David moves from a plethora of motives ("justice,"" vanity,"g entlemanly" essence")u rging him to risk his life in James's defence, to a graduala bsorptioni nto the affairsa nd con- cerns of James's Whig enemies. Yet this betrayali s repeatedlym arkedb y David's own sympathetic sentiments on precisely this betrayal: in his comment on the political machinationsw hich sacrifice James, he observes that "therew as only one person that seemed to be forgotten,a nd that was James of the Glens" (150). Yet David is himself complicit (by his silence) in James's fate: Therew as nevert he leastw ordh eardo f the memorial, or noneb y me. Prestongrangaen dh is Gracet he LordP res- identm ayh aveh eardo f it (forw hatI know)o n the deafest sides of theirh eads;t hey kepti t to themselvesa, t least- the publicw as nonet hew iser;a ndi n thec ourseo f time,o n November8 th, and in the midsto f a prodigiouss tormo f winda ndr ain,p oorJ ameso f the Glensw as dulyh angeda t Lettermorbey Ballachulish(.1 87) David, too, has kept his testimony "on the deafest side," as he puts it. He attempts to dilute this act with the complacent rationalizationt hat "inno- cent men have perishedb efore James, and are like to keep on perishing( in spite of all our wisdom) till the end of time" (187), and to naturalizeh is This content downloaded from 187.121.40.54 on Fri, 17 May 2013 12:02:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TextuaHl ydea ndS eek 163 actions as a young man's spiritedr ejection of an unfair emotionalb urden, a lost cause. Proscription( etymologically "pro scribere")-writing as elision, rejec- tion or banishment-is an inherentlyp aradoxicala ct, not only in its play of presence/absence( as a declarationw hich names he who henceforth,b y the authorityo f that declaration,i s not to be named), but also in the ad- mixture of pity and cruelty, pain and pleasure, as David shows. Thus the foregroundingo f David's feelings of guilt and anxiety are parto f the very pleasure of their catharsis,a nd the reader( whose investmenti n the titular hero and heroine of these novels finds pleasure in the unfolding of their destinies, even if this denouementn ecessarily glosses over ethical and af- fective complexities) is no less complicit in this textual process. Following Julia Kristeva, we might describe Stevenson's textual plea- sure as an instance of "jouissance,"w hich is only in partt hat covert plea- sure which phallocentricn arrativess eek to suppress,a nd which may man- ifest itself in a delight in deviance or alterity:i n primal terms the mother, that "other [who] has no penis, but experiencesj ouissance and bears chil- dren"( About2 6). Beyond this, Kristeva( in her analysis of that most patri- archal of symbolic systems, Christianity)a lso speaks of "ecstatic" and "melancholic"j ouissance, which are "two ways in which a woman may participatei n this symbolic Christiano rder"( 27, 28). In such attemptsb y the other "to gain access to the social order,"j ouissance comes to assume ambivalent nuances: as the "reward"t hat the subject acquires from the symbolic order,t he "triumph"o f "sublimateds adistic attacks"o n the other whom the subject now disavows or proscribes, but also as the "tearful" submission which brings the acceptance of self-recrimination( 30). Thus the subject on the one hand assumes the position of the undifferentiated entity who is pleasurably accommodated by the patriarchalo rder (al- though only at the cost of losing distinctness);a nd on the other hand, re- lates to that order as a difference which must submit to punishment( but which punishment also brings the pleasure of acceptance). This complex duality incorporatesb oth the proscriptiono f the self (in the hysteric's "un- utterablej ouissance") as well as the proscriptionp ractised by the self on an other, in the name of the father-law( "True-Real"2 30). This ambivalentu nion of ecstatic sadism and melancholic masochism is not, of course, confined to the daughterw hose symbolic lack is so evi- dent; Freud describes a similar ambivalence in the process of ego forma- This content downloaded from 187.121.40.54 on Fri, 17 May 2013 12:02:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 164 J N T tion which he describes in the Oedipalt erms of the son-fatherr elationship. According to Freud, the self ultimately "absorbsi nto itself the invulnera- ble authority"( superego) and consequentlye nters into the dual role of au- thority and rebel (Civilization 115). The boy's discourses assume their own characteristics-recurring in Freud's accounts as tropes of hostility and symbolic violence towards the father (murder,c astration)c onfirmed by acts of proscription( guilt feelings, displacement,j okes, the taboo). For Freud, the locus classicus of these tropes is totemism and taboos among the "primitive"a boriginal and Polynesian tribes, a primitivist ethnology reflected in some ways in Stevenson's view of the Pacific Islanders-and thus, by association, with the Scottish highlandersS tevenson frequently comparedt o the Polynesians.7F or both Freud and Stevenson, totems and taboos were only the "ambivalente motional attitude"o f the father-com- plex in modem society writ in large and savage letters (Totem 141). The totemic symbols and relatedd iscourseso f "avoidance,"t aboo laws and re- ligions are thus essentially narratived evices to negotiatet he self's anxious and pleasurabler elationshipw ith authority.8 Jouissance and proscriptiona re even more complexly interwoven in Jekyll and Hyde, where a numbero f complex narratives igns and (mis)di- rections take the place of the historical drama and action of the Scottish novels. Despite its evasive fragmentation-Sandison says that it is "not one story but ten enigmatic stories" (219), and Thomas speaks of the "fragmentingo f the self into distinctp ieces with distinctv oices" (73)-the novella neverthelessr eads at some levels like a moral, cautionaryt ale. An- drew Lang calls it "Poe with the additiono f a moral sense," and Stevenson himself insisted quite heatedly on a particularw ay of reading Jekyll, "be- cause he was a hypocrite-not because he was fond of women," and for his "cruelty and malice, and selfishness and cowardice."9H owever, this moral indictment( if it ever appearsc learly in the narrative)i s more prob- lematic in respect of Jekyll's peers-Utterson, Lanyon, Enfield, Carew- and the whole patriarchals ociety they represent.T his is certainly a form of modernist "janiformity"w herein "organic"a nd conservative views of society can be preserved covertly, in the performanceo f the narrative,t o create a critical project mounted in some bad faith.l0 However, what dis- tinguishes Stevenson's narrativef rom, say, the hesitant imperialism and racism of Kipling and Conrad, or the divided Anglo-Irish political con- sciousness of Yeats-modernism in its mode of melancholic, identifica- This content downloaded from 187.121.40.54 on Fri, 17 May 2013 12:02:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TextuaHl ydea ndS eek 165 tory socialc riticism-is thatt he contradictioenx ists,n ot as a statemenot r vision within( whatR olandB arthesw ouldc all) the "culturaclo de,"b uta s a clash within/between" hermeneutic,""s emic"a nd "symbolic"c odes (55-60).11T herei s thusn o organicr, e-visionedm odelo f societya ndh is- toryt o be uncovered( as a set of cluest o the informedr eader)b, utr athera moralg oal througha textualp erformancien to whicht he readeri s inter- pellatedT. hatg oal is no less ideologically-fraugthhta nm odernism'ost her visions;h owever,i t consists,n ot in articulatioonr statementb, utr atherin narrativea s a functiono f the socials ystem. Sucha view of Jekylla ndH ydep oses one kindo f answert o the many problemso f the text, one of the mostv exingb eingt he roleo f the shadowy, quasi-omnisciennta rrato(rh enceforthf,o r conveniencec, alledt he Steven- soniann arratorw), ho at times suggestst he role of moralc ommentarpye r- formedb y the omniscientr ealistn arratoorf nineteenth-centuaryn dm od- em fiction, and at othert imes more closely resemblest he non- (or pre) moralr ole of the narratoirn metafictionT. hisS tevensonianna rratoirs elu- sive, variouslyp resenta nda uthoritativteh, enc loselya lignedw itht hep er- spective of a narratingc haractert,h en elsewheres eeminglya bsenta nd giving way to disparatev oices. It is thus hardlys urprisingth att he exis- tence of such a narratoirs not usuallyr ecognisedo r concededI. n arguing his claimf ort he "disappearancoef the author,R" onaldT homasn amest he majorn arratorisn the novella:J ekyll,w ho possiblyh as the least control over what is ostensibly his own story, Utterson, and Enfield. We should add to this list the shadowy narrativev oice whose textual presence is per- haps most clearly seen at the beginning of the novella: Mr Uttersont he lawyerw as a man of a ruggedc ounte- nance,t hatw as neverl ightedb y a smile;c old, scantya nd embarrassedin discourse;b ackwardi n sentiment;l ean, long, dusty,d rearya nd yet somehowl ovable.A t friendly meetings,a nd when the wine was to his taste,s omething eminentlyh umanb eaconedf romh is eye; somethingin deed which never foundi ts way into his talk,b ut which spoke not only in theses ilents ymbolso f the after-dinnefra ce,b ut moreo ftena ndl oudlyi n the actso f his life. He was austere with himself;d rankg in when he was alone,t o mortifya This content downloaded from 187.121.40.54 on Fri, 17 May 2013 12:02:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 166 J N T tastef orv intagesa;n dt houghh e enjoyedth et heatreh,a d notc rossedth ed oorso f onef ort wentyy ears(. 7) A numbero f detailsw hichw ill provei ronica ree stablishedin thiso pening passage:U tterson'ss elf-despised" tastef or vintages"is one of the promi- nent links between him and Jekyll's social circle, "all judges of good wine"( 22), but his gin drinkingid entifiesh imselfw itht he socialo therh e encountersin Hyde's domaino f Soho, with its "gin palace"a ndw omen addictedt o their "morningg lass"( 27).12T he seeminglyi rrelevanpt oint abouth is long absencef romt he theatrea nticipatetsh e significants cene when Uttersonp asses throught he doorso f Jekyll's" surgicatlh eatre,"a liminals pacew hichm arkst he boundaryb etweenU tterson'sr ationasl oci- ety and the irrationaal lterityo f Hyde'sw orld( 43). Perhapss ignificantly, thatl ong-disusedth eatrei s surreallyc lutteredw ith "cratesa ndb ottles,"a hint of the public house and the lower appetitest o which it caters.I n Jekyll'sd efensives tatemenat t the end of the novel,h e comparesh is con- ditiont o that" whena drunkarrde asonsw ith himselfu ponh is vice"( 69). This suggestiono f uncontrollablaep petiteis reinforcedin the samec hap- ter when Uttersonr eadsJ ekyll/Hyde'sd esperatele tterst o the chemists, who are called "MessrsM. aw"-once agains uggestingc onsumptiona nd appetite,i n particulatrh ato f a "voraciouas nimal."l1J3e kyll'sa ddictionto the drugi s of courseh ighly suggestiveo f anotherV ictoriana nxiety,t he base appetitef or opium. That prevalentf in de siecle trope-the hypocrisyo f the respectable middle class-is almostl ost in these subtle-one mighte ven say over- subtle-hints. This playfuls ubtletys eemst o be the point:w hati s created is a sly, teasing,a ndp rovocativelyco nfidentianl arrativveo ice, whichs ug- gests its intimatek nowledgeo f Uttersona ndh is world,w hile suggesting at the samet imet hats omeo f thosep articularssh ouldn ot be articulatedI.t is a narrativew hich seems to proscribew hile it describes-Uttersonw, e are told, is not the most emotionallye xpressivep erson,a ndh as qualities which "neverf ound[ their]w ay into his talk,"s o thati t devolvesu pona close confidanteli ke the narratotro revealh is secret," eminentlyh uman" aspect.H owever,t his intentionis not followedt hrougha, ndt he readeri s insteadr eferrede nigmaticallyto "theses ilents ymbolso f the after-dinner face," seeminglyi nterpolatedin to a scene of affectionatea nd intimate communityb, ut one whichi s continuallyd eferredT. he closesto ne comes This content downloaded from 187.121.40.54 on Fri, 17 May 2013 12:02:15 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions