Seems like the main reference to have open while I read J&H is a text of the King James Bible.

Humour me for a minute, and check this out:

On the first page of Jekyll and Hyde, RLS establishes a comparison between Utterson and Cain.

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Utterson says he "incline[s] to Cain's heresy...I let my brother go to the devil in his own way."

I previousy suggested this was suspect -- Cain, after all, kills his brother.

I've also noted that the word "countenance" features for both Utterson and the biblical Cain

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But it gets better.

This is the relevant extract from Genesis 4:

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"If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him."

In other words, Cain is warned by God about "good" behaviour, and about mastering the temptation of sin.

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"if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him"

If you don't do what is right, sin is waiting for you. Sin desires you but you must overrule it.

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And that's who Utterson is at the start, a representation of repressed desire. Someone who is "austere with himself" to keep his temptations in check.

So I'm pretty sure Stevenson knew exactly where his Cain reference led.

Also...

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The use of the image of a "door" in the King James is so so intriguing given that doors are a big motif in Jekyll and Hyde. The first chapter, of course, is the Story of the Door.

Much more to ponder -- this is only page 1 -- but interesting start. For nerds. Like me.

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