There are lots of
allusions present in the text. For example, on the first page, Mr. Utterson is quoted as saying,
"I incline to Cain's heresy . . . . I let my brother go to the devil in his . . . own
way." Cain and Abel were the first two sons of Adam and Eve, and when God preferred Abel's
sacrifices to Cain's, Cain grew angry and slew his brother. When God came to him to ask him were
Abel was, Cain replied, "'I know not; am I my brother's keeper?" Thus, Utterson
compares his own attitude toward his fellows with Cain's; it is not his job to keep track of
others or to regulate their behavior.
Using another, Mr. Enfield says that
Hyde "was like some damned Juggernaut." We now use the word juggernaut (with a
lowercase "j") to refer to some unstoppable force, but it was, originally, the name
for a giant wagon bearing a statue of the Hindu god Krishna, under which devotees would allow
their bodies to be crushed as a sacrifice to the god. Hyde moved like just such a wagonas
though...
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