R.L.Stevenson in ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ to Heighten the Horror Essay

During the novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,’ R.L.Stevenson uses many techniques and language devices such as metaphor, simile, irony and personification to gradually heighten the horror. Stevenson has some powerful passages such as, the trampling of the child, the murder of Sir Danvers Carew and the transformation of Jekyll at Dr Lanyons. Stevenson sets the story in London, 1886, which at this time was the richest part of the entire world. Many of the people who lived there had little contact with crime, which is ironic because Mr Hyde, a character within Dr Jekyll, disturbs the whole scene into that of a scary and tense area. The main settings where horrific things happen are usually described as ‘†¦almost deserted†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and ‘†¦lamp-lit†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ which is a very good setting for heightening the horror in the novel. It shows mystery and emptiness which makes you wait for intense action, this causes the rhythm and speed of the story to change depending on the setting. A setting described as ‘†¦foggy†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and ‘†¦nocturnal†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ fits greatly into a society like Dr Jekyll’s in London a place of which is dominated by secrecy the whole way through, which add suspense to the story their makes it more tense for the reader. The mystery begins at the very start, where we meet Utterson who is an intelligent lawyer who does not quickly judge other people. Mr Utterson becomes our guide throughout many of the chapters and we see all of the discoveries he makes. The door in Dr Jekyll’s house stands out because Mr Hyde uses it as if were his own and a theme of mystery evolves around it, because we do not know where it leads to. This is where we first meet Mr Hyde. He is hard to describe but has a strong effect on everybody who meets him. His behaviour is unusual. He tramples on a girl and appears to be really calm about the situation, as if he has no fear in life, which is extraordinary and inhuman. Without a fuss he accepts what he has done wrong and agrees to pay à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½100 compensation. The money is paid by cheque ‘†¦signed by a name [Utterson] cannot mention†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢which gives a really strong sense of mystery which carries through until the end of the novel. In chapter two ‘The Search for Hyde’ the mystery deepens even more. We here that Jekyll has left ‘†¦all his possessions†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ in a signed Will to the evil Mr Hyde. Mr Utterson was the first person in the novel that we heard about, we trust him the most and therefore share in his concerns about Jekyll which appears to be blackmail. All of the mystery that Stevenson adds to the story helps make it more horrific and tense for the raeder. As the story continues, Utterson sees Hyde’s face and describes him as ‘†¦pale and dwarfish†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and that he is a mix of ‘†¦timidity and boldness†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ which is very intriguing because he show two characteristics in a weird way which gives us the theme of duality. Other people find it hard to describe him, Enfield describes him as giving ‘†¦a strong feeling of deformity†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ but ‘†¦ he is not easy to describe.’ Which forces people to read on further and get deeper into the book. Although he is described as giving ‘†¦a displeasing smile†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and having a ‘†¦ghastly face†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ the reader is not given a quality description of his face, which in my opinion is done deliberately by Stevenson to give a mysterious image to Mr Hyde. This causes the reader to concentrate on him and want to learn more about him, therefore would be more horrific for the reader because he does not even know what the mutant looks like, we only know his actions. Mr Hyde represents ‘†¦the beast in man†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and is described as animalistic in many occasions. An example of this is when Mr Utterson meets him and describes him as ‘†¦hissing†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ like a cornered snake. Another is when Poole evaluates him as a ‘†¦thing†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢that squeals ‘†¦like a rat†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ he moves about ‘†¦like a monkey†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and screams in ‘†¦mere animal terror.’ These are examples of similes which suggest that Hyde is abnormal and is compared with the characters of animals-which relates to the Charles Darwin theory of apes and backward evolution, which would be terrifying for a Victorian reader because they did not believe in the theory. Mr Hyde shows how evil and spiteful he is by making the transforming of character involuntary, for Jekyll to see that his hand is ‘†¦thickly shaded with a swart. growth of hair†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ which makes him describe his double personality and character as ‘†¦the animal within me licking the chops of memory.’ Hyde was haggard in the way that he ‘†¦snarled aloud into a savage laugh†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢which suggests how he is related to evil, like a monster. Many horror stories have monsters and other characters to portray them as horrific, but Stevenson takes it a step further and makes you picture a monster of your own choice with the little information and description given to you, this builds up the tension and horror layer by layer the more you read on. Another theme is shown when the Jekyll/Hyde double in the laboratory is described as having ‘†¦a mask upon his face.’ This shows the dual nature of Jekyll/Hyde. The weather also plays a big part in the story, it effects it by making the atmosphere feel real and heightening the horror. Stevenson uses pathetic fallacy to change the setting and atmosphere into one of which suits the story, ‘†¦it was an early cloudless night†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and ‘†¦a brilliantly lit lane†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ with a ‘†¦full moon†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢which gives a sense of calmness. Stevenson then gives intense action, which has a strong effect on the reader and therefore effectively heightens the horror. The action is a murder, which is very horrific anyway. A maidservant witnessed the murder from her bedroom window. The maidservant described the victim, Sir Danvers Carew, as ‘†¦an old aged beautiful gentleman†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ she did not recognise him but he seemed to have ‘†¦an innocent and old-world kindness of disposition†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ He came across a small man who the maidservant recognised, Mr Hyde. Sir Danvers Carew addressed Mr Hyde politely but Hyde, without replying, ‘†¦broke out into a great flame of anger†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Carew’s bones ‘†¦audibly shattered.’ The body ‘†¦jumped upon the roadway†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ until it became ‘†¦mangled.’ The murder weapon was a stick made of ‘†¦very tough and heavy wood†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ of which broke ‘†¦under the stress of his insensate cruelty.’ This is by far the most intense and scariest part of the book because Stevenson uses emotive language and other language devices to show a great contrast of description shown between Carew and Hyde of good and evil, which makes Mr Hyde seem an extraordinary evil character of ‘†¦cruelty.’ Dr Henry Jekyll is a well-known chemist and physician with qualifications to his name. We meet him in the third chapter ‘Dr Jekyll was quite at ease’. He is described as a ‘†¦large, well-made, smooth faced man of fifty†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ who had ‘†¦something of a slyish cast.’ He had ‘†¦every mark of capacity and kindness.’ He is a wealthy man whose autobiography is shown in his ‘Statement’ this tells us that he was born into a well-off family and he had a brilliant education. Jekyll is hypocritical to himself because he sees the evil side of his nature (Hyde), yet does not accept him as a natural part of him in his life and is also arrogant, thinking that he can control nature. The theme of duality is shown in many parts of the story, when Utterson shows Mr Guest, a writing expert, a letter and he notices that ‘†¦the two hands are in many points identical†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ between Hyde’s and Jekyll’s handwriting. Stevenson uses irony to make profound statements about the personality of humans, this helps the main theme and adds more information to explain the moral of the story. During the novel, we are told the story through the eyes of many people such as Enfield, Utterson, Lanyon and eventually Jekyll himself. The whole moral and idea of the story is hidden until Lanyon’s narrating, the technique of multiple perspectives which is a very good way of heightening the horror and allows us to see more clearly into their characters and relationships. Another technique used by Stevenson is revealing the plot via letters, diaries and casebooks; this makes us feel that we are actually inside the story, living out what happens and makes us equally confused by not knowing what exactly is happening. Stevenson also uses dreams as the technique of authentication because he uses things like diaries etc to continue the story; an example is when Utterson has a dream, which is full of evil foreboding, which causes the reader to have a greater desire to unmask the mysterious hidden face of Mr Hyde. This is very intense because it is what happens in real life, you have nightmares of bad things and cannot get them off your mind. In conclusion I found out that Stevenson gives a sense of tension throughout the narrating of each character, by using pathetic fallacy, detailed settings, literary devices and strong themes and morals. I think each character has a sense of mystery and horror about them of which we will never get to know. I also think that what you see is not always what you get, because nobody would have known that such an evil character could have came from someone as kind and well mannered as Dr Henry Jekyll. Evil Hyde was a natural part of Jekyll’s personality along with the good side, but because Jekyll was so arrogant he destroyed himself by trying to separate the two. The main theme is that all humans have at least two facets of their personality, good and evil, and that these exist in different measures. It is quite horrific for us to realise that the potential for evil, like Hyde, is inside each and every one of us!!