Mr Utterson

Outer characterization

Mr Gabriel John Utterson is one of the main characters in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In terms of his appearance, he is an older gentleman with nothing remarkable about him. He is described as “a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile; […] lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable.” (p. 5). 

He is a bachelor and lives alone (p. 11). He works as a lawyer and employs a number of people including his clerk Mr Guest.

Inner characterization

He is respectable and austere

Mr Utterson appears to be a stereotypical Victorian gentleman, who is quiet and restrained. He is described as “cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment.” (p. 5) He doesn’t often express emotion: “he was undemonstrative at best” (p. 5). Utterson is strict with himself and doesn’t let himself have the things he enjoys too often: “He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of o...