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How Does Stevenson Create Tension Between Jekyll And Hyde

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Recommended: An analytical note on gothic fiction

Jekyll and Hyde practice In this extract, Robert Louis Stevenson has used his description of the setting to create mystery and tension. This can be seen with his use of “great chocolate-coloured pall lowered over heaven” and “here it would be dark like the back-end of evening”. Stevenson’s use of pathetic fallacy and imagery in this extract sets up the mystery of the chapter, as his use of language portrays the gloominess and darkness of the area of London that Utterson is in. This adds to the mystery and tension, as the surroundings are obscured from vision by the weather, thus creating uncertainty within the reader of what is to happen. Furthermore, Stevenson also describes the surroundings to be dismal, and set in a part of London suffering …show more content…

This use of zoomorphism with Hyde portrays him to be animalistic, as if he is a rat that is stalking the night. Furthermore, the use of ‘rat’ has connotations of the plague in the 1600’s, making Hyde seem as if he is a deadly and infectious illness. This use of zoomorphism and animalistic qualities may or may not also relate to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, and the controversy that was surrounding it at the time Stevenson was writing, possibly in that he is trying to portray the inner animal within …show more content…

He is careful to never reveal too much at any one time, and in doing so he successfully wills the reader into continuing the story until they are able to find out what happens. Furthermore, the very heart of the plot is only revealed in the final chapter ‘Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement on the Case’, which Stevenson has deliberately done in order to prolong the reader’s feelings of mystery, tension and anticipation for as long as possible. Linking to the above, Stevenson occasionally drops big chunks of information throughout the story, such as with ‘Dr Lanyon’s Narrative’, where the reader is given a bigger understanding of the plot. Whilst it could be said that this has been done purely just done to move the story along, It also could be said it is deliberately done to create a sense of tension, and perhaps even frustration, in the reader, in that they think they are going to be given the whole story, but are left missing key bits of information. This heightens the tension in the novella, as it makes the reader desperate to uncover the case that they are solving through

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And thirdly, but not less important, the author uses a lot of foreshadowing. Especially at the beginning of the story, Stevenson uses dialogues to hint at something that will come later on in the story. In chapter two, for example, Lanyon is talking with Utterson about his friendship with Dr. Jekyll, and when he reveals that he hasn't heard of him in a while, he declares and defines what Jekyll has been doing and caused him to go wrong in mind as “unscientific balderdash”. With this, Stevenson is unavoidably referring to Dr. Jekyll’s experiment that brought out Mr. Hyde. The reader now knows that Dr. Jekyll is up to something strange and mysterious, and the suspects also fall on Mr. Hyde, since he has already been introduced as an enigmatic

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Deception in ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ ‘The strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ is a novella by the scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1886. Stevenson, born November 13, 1850, is also the author of the well known book; ‘Treasure Island’. Robert L. Stevenson, who died December 3, 1894,, was said to be influenced by authors such as Charles Dickens and Edgar Allen Poe. This book is part of the gothic genre, a genre of literature that combines fiction, and horror, death and at times romance. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or simply Jekyll and Hyde is about a London lawyer named Mr, Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend Dr. Jekyll and the evil Mr. Hyde.

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In the article “Dr. Jekyll and the Emergence of Mr. Hyde” the author, Masao Miyoshi discusses how this story is portrayed by readers as a crude science fiction or a moral allegory. Miyoshi then begins to explain the structure that Stevenson used when writing. He does this by going through each main character that is presented throughout Stevenson’s stories and describes how they felt thought out the story during specific scenes. This article evaluates these characters by comparing them to each other. An example, of how Miyoshi does this is by taking a main scene from the original story and compares how different characters reacts towards the certain event.

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Overall, Stevenson’s presentation of the duality of man is conveyed by the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde because towards the end of the novel. Jekyll begins to realise that the schism which once caused them to despise one another, help them understand each other situation. Jekyll even begins to ‘pity’ Hyde toward the end of novel, praising his ‘love for life’ by calling it ‘wonderful’, as his creator he consequently acknowledges the condescending attitudes towards Hyde, unfairly for his appearance, however rightfully so for his actions. Moreover, like Darwin’s theory, Hyde could never be accepted into society, often being characterised as a ‘brute’. Additionally, Jekyll’s actions would be condemned by the Victorian readers, as he was

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As the theory of evolution became popular in the Victorian times Stevenson gives Hyde the attribute of a troglodyte which would frighten the society as Hyde was someone in an earlier step of evolution. It also creates fright as people in Victorian times were religious and the theory of evolution was something blasphemic which would frighten the society as it dared to

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Hyde’s physical factors were: “pale and dwarfish; he gave an impression of deformity without any namable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky whispering somewhat broken voice” (10). Jekyll is large while Hyde is small in stature, because of Hyde’s ethics being lower than of Jekyll’s. Hyde is also smaller because he is suppressed; he is hidden and shameful to Jekyll’s moral value. Hyde is described as “deformed” and has a “broken” voice. A voice is used to be heard by all; it is your projection onto the world.

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So, perhaps Jekyll’s experiment reduces his being to its most basic form, in which evil runs freely without his reputation as Jekyll being tarnished at all. Jekyll and Hyde are not the only examples of duality in this novel. The city of London is also portrayed in contrasting terms as both a foggy, dreary and ‘nightmarish’ place, and a well kept, bustling center of commerce. Indeed, just as men have both positive and negative qualities, so does society.

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Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic novella, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde unveils various gothic elements. It is a mesh of different stories into one. The several narratives embraced by Jekyll do not exist separately, but instead rely on one another, (Germana 98). The Gothicism in, and concept of the novella shocked readers of its time. The novella offered new scientific thought, which many feared and could not accept.

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Robert Louis Stevenson’s literary work, “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, is one of his most notable works. It was written during the Victorian era when there were huge emphasis placed on social morality. He sets out to understand the differences between dual personalities, good and evil (evil definitely not being within the social norm). He sums up his story by stating: “All human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone, in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil.” Robert explains his reasons for writing the book that he did, while talking about the time and era.

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Williams depicts the “realist compulsion” as the need to “make everything “all charactered and notable, seizing the eye”” (Williams 414). This is especially true in Stevenson’s use of visual imagery that “[seize] the eye”. Such is evident in the depiction of the characters Dr. Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, and their environments. Dr. Jekyll is depicted as a man of “tall, fine build” (Stevenson 1699) while Hyde is constantly illustrated as a “pale and dwarfish” being (Stevenson 1684) and has strength that is visually compared to that of a “Juggernaut” (1683).

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