Chapters 1 & 2

English Lit: AQA GCSE Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, topic 1.1.1

Chapter 1: The Story of the Door

Here's a summary of what happens in Chapter 1:

Utterson is introduced as the first character. He is a rather dry and boring man who drinks gin when he is alone to try to prevent himself from drinking socially. He doesn’t indulge himself with hobbies or anything fun.
He has a distant relation called Mr Enfield, a well-known man about town who he used to walk around London with.

One day, they are walking in the busy streets of Soho when they pass a “sinister block of building” that looks different from the rest.
Enfield tells Utterson that he once “saw two figures: one a little man who was stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe eight or ten who was running as hard as she was able down a cross street.”
This strange recount of events starts the investigation into Hyde, and invokes Utterson’s curiosity.

Here's a summary of what happens in Chapter 2:

Utterson goes to his study and gets out a will he drew up for his friend Dr Jekyll.
It states that in the event of the death or disappearance of Jekyll, all of his property should be given to Mr Hyde.
This strange will troubled Utterson for a while, and he has concerns that Hyde has a powerful influence over Jekyll.
He seeks to unravel the mystery and he visits Dr Lanyon, a friend of Jekyll’s. Lanyon has not spoken to Jekyll in a long while, after a dispute over their medical theories. Lanyon refers to Jekyll’s most recent scientific research as "unscientific balderdash".

Later that same night, Utterson is haunted by nightmares in which a faceless man runs down a small child. Utterson is so disturbed that he decides to revisit the run-down building where Enfield saw Hyde enter, in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Hyde.
Eventually, Hyde appears and Utterson approaches him and asks him to show his face, which Hyde eventually does.
Hyde gives Utterson his address. Utterson sees this as a sign that Hyde hopes that Jekyll will soon die and that his will shall be released.
Utterson is horrified. He cannot quite explain the "unknown disgust, loathing and fear" he feels towards Hyde.

Utterson visits Jekyll, and discovers that the run-down building that Hyde frequently visits is actually a laboratory attached to Jekyll’s well-kept townhouse, which faces outward on a parallel street.
Poole lets Utterson in, and he tells Utterson that Hyde has a key to the laboratory and that all the servants have orders to obey Hyde!
The lawyer heads home, worrying about his friend. He assumed Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll, for some wrongdoings that Jekyll has committed in his youth.