It's difficult to say whether The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde confirms or defies this point. What is startling about this book is that it seems as though everyone knows the "secret" and yet we, the audience, are really never made privy to it. When we discussed this topic in class I brought up a point about the dream Utterson has about Jekyll's bedroom that I would like to further explore.
This scene is a reflection of the greater story on several levels. First, the way that the dream is describes doesn't actually tell the reader anything about what Utterson is actually seeing. Instead, the passage is filled with innuendos that we are left to interpret on our own. He dreams that Hyde awakens his friend and " there would stand by his side a figure to whom power was given, and even at that dead hour, he must rise and do its bidding" (Stevenson 19). Now, this can clearly be taken as a sexual reference. The blackmailing that Utterson assumes is taking place historically falls in line with the idea of homosexuality as cause for this sort of action. He presumes that Jekyll's debt to Hyde must be the result of "the cancer of some concealed disgrace" (Stevenson 28). So for Stevenson to make the setting of this imagined encounter in the bedroom seems to be a direct implication of sexual "misgivings."
I consider this dream to be the most apparent inference of the "secret" that none of these gentleman are willing to actually talk about. Jekyll's dual-personality can be interpreted this way based on Stevenson's own experiences and the Labouchere Amendment- which we talked about in section. The "blackmailer's charter," as it was referred to, is what seems to have been Stevenson's motivation behind this novella. That being said, Utterson's dream is the most explicit that Stevenson gets in reference to sexuality (homo or hetero), and even so, he really doesn't say all that much.
There is also the idea I brought up in section about how this moment shows the lack of privacy that is conveyed throughout the entire book. We talked about how everyone knows the business of everyone else and that no one can escape the surveillance of their peers. Really, what else do bored old men without wives or families have to talk about? They all gossip about Hyde and everyone has a different opinion about the appearance and manner of the man.
Even though this scene is the figment of Utterson's imagination, it is a particularly extreme invasion of Jekyll's privacy. Utterson is essentially watching a man in his bedroom and the actions taking place in his bed. A person's bed represents one of the most personal sanctuaries that exists. For Utterson to watch- even in his minds eye- Jekyll sleep as well as "do [the] bidding" of another man is to know everything about him (Stevenson 19). Despite the obvious existence of a "secret" throughout the entire story, there is really no way for anything to be secret. Everyone sees everything and nothing escapes the watchful eye of society.
The moment that "the curtains of the bed plucked apart" so is the thin veil that Stevenson has placed over the true nature of this story (Stevenson 19). There is no need for Jekyll's "secret" to be openly revealed to us during his confession, because when it comes down to it, Stevenson told us what it was as early as page 19.
The boys club that these men belong to clearly has less to do with being a gentleman, and more to do with protecting the reputation of a pal so he'll do the same in return. I guess I could amend the title of this post to "two (or more) can keep a secret if both of them have dirt on one another." Or maybe "two can keep a secret if there wasn't a secret to begin with." Then again, Jekyll does die, so maybe the saying is true.
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