How can you account for the success and continued popularity of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde? You might want to explore your ideas drawing on a close reading of a particular part of the text.
Stevenson’s novella, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde has had a lot of success and continued popularity which can be accounted to several factors, of which most can be explored through a close reading of the chapter Search for Mr. Hyde.
Stevenson uses descriptive imagery throughout the novella and this could be one of the factors which account for his success and popularity. Imagery is used in Search For Mr. Hyde to create a sense of mystery and suspense. An example of this is ‘It was a fine dry night; frost in the air; the streets as clean as a ball room, the lamps, unshaken by wind, drawing a regular pattern of light and shadow.’ Stevenson creates a dark cold night setting, which gives the reader a sense that there is a cold, chill to the events that are about to occur (the entrance of Hyde). This subtle descriptive passage gives the reader the reader a feeling of suspense and mystery. Also the several pieces of punctuation, makes the passage full of short, sharp descriptions which also add to the increase of tension. In addition to creating a sense of chill, Stevenson adds to the mystery, suspense and tension by the use of further imagery, ‘the by street was very solitary, and, in spite of the low growl of London from all around, very silent’. Stevenson creates a silent isolated setting which also adds to the suspense and mystery as it gives the reader a cold, chill feeling which may provoke them to feel a nervous shiver in suspense. The manner in which Stevenson’s novella creates this tension, mystery and suspense may be one of the factors that adds to its continued success and popularity.
Stevenson’s involvement of Mr. Utterson as the narrator to be given his thrilling, vicarious experiences. Mr. Utterson’s growing Obsession of Mr. Hyde, shown in the chapter Search For Mr. Hyde, not only makes Mr. Utterson himself more curious about Mr. Hyde but it also allows the reader sympathise with Mr. Utterson, and also increase the reader’s feeling of suspense towards Mr. Hyde. An example of this is during Mr. Utterson’s reasoning for why he must see Hyde’s face, ‘ a face worth seeing: the face of a man who was without the bowels of mercy…’ The extended metaphor which Stevenson uses, ‘without the bowels of mercy’ is very effective as it exaggerates Mr. Hyde’s characteristics, which in turn makes the reader feel the suspense and mystery of such a character who is so merciless. Mr. Utterson’s obsession is summed up by the quote, ‘If he be Mr. Hyde, I shall be Mr. Seek’. In addition to being slightly witty it also depicts the strength of Mr. Utterson’s obsession and encourages the reader to also adopt this obsession and subsequently causes the reader to become more curious about Mr. Hyde. By allowing the reader to adopt Mr. Utterson’s experiences vicariously Stevenson increases the curiosity and obsession of the reader towards Mr. Hyde and this could be one of the reasons attributing to the novella’s continued success and popularity.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is part of the gothic literature genre and also has elements of Science fiction. This is one of the attributing factors to the continued success and popularity of the novella. It has most of the typical themes that other books of the genre have, such as mystery, experimenting and isolation. The mystery and experimenting aspects to the novella can be drawn from the chapter search for Mr. Hyde, in which Mr. Utterson visits Dr. Lanyon, ‘ “Henry Jekyll became too fanciful for me. He began to go wrong, wrong in mind… such unscientific balderdash” added the doctor flushing suddenly purple’ The reader receives a sense of suspicion when Dr. Lanyon mentions Jekyll becoming ‘wrong in mind’ and the theme of experimenting is exposed when Lanyon says ‘unscientific balderdash’ the mysterious feel is created because not only does Dr. Lanyon mention the subject of this ‘unscientific balderdash’ but also he ‘suddenly flushes purple’ this creates more mystery for the reader because they know that even speaking of the activities that Jekyll is doing makes Lanyon uncomfortable and subsequently makes the reader more curious and creates an even more mysterious feel.
Stevenson gives the novella several detective fiction and puzzling aspects which alsocontribute to its success and continued popularity. Stevenson cleverly structures the novella so that the reader is guided through the puzzle or mystery by Utterson. Stevenson does this throughout the whole novella by allowing the reader to obtain information concerning the Jekyll/Hyde mystery at the same rate that Mr. Utterson obtains it. This adds to the novella’s continued success and popularity as many readers like to be actively involved in the unfolding of a mystery. Also in the last two chapters, The reader is effectively given the answer to the mystery and all the information that Stevenson gives out through the whole novella is collated for the reader to understand the full story. This contributes to the continued popularity because many readers enjoy putting the pieces of evidence together to solve the mystery.
A contributing factor to the novella’s success is the manner in which Stevenson draws upon social problems, such as addiction, which can relate to our society as well as the audience of the time. The manner in which Stevenson portrays a very well respected character, Jekyll as an addict of some potion making him become Hyde, allows the audience to see the true complexity of addiction. Although throughout very much of the novella Mr. Hyde is casted in a negative light, Stevenson also make us sympathise for Hyde, particularly in ‘The Last Night’ where Hyde is ‘weeping like a woman for a lost soul’. This gives the reader the impression that Hyde also has some Human qualities and it allows the audience to release the amount of pain and suffering Hyde is feeling. This contrasts to the previous description of Hyde in the chapter ‘Search For Mr. Hyde’ where Utterson describes Hyde as having the face of a man without the bowels of mercy.
Stevenson uses descriptive imagery throughout the novella and this could be one of the factors which account for his success and popularity. Imagery is used in Search For Mr. Hyde to create a sense of mystery and suspense. An example of this is ‘It was a fine dry night; frost in the air; the streets as clean as a ball room, the lamps, unshaken by wind, drawing a regular pattern of light and shadow.’ Stevenson creates a dark cold night setting, which gives the reader a sense that there is a cold, chill to the events that are about to occur (the entrance of Hyde). This subtle descriptive passage gives the reader the reader a feeling of suspense and mystery. Also the several pieces of punctuation, makes the passage full of short, sharp descriptions which also add to the increase of tension. In addition to creating a sense of chill, Stevenson adds to the mystery, suspense and tension by the use of further imagery, ‘the by street was very solitary, and, in spite of the low growl of London from all around, very silent’. Stevenson creates a silent isolated setting which also adds to the suspense and mystery as it gives the reader a cold, chill feeling which may provoke them to feel a nervous shiver in suspense. The manner in which Stevenson’s novella creates this tension, mystery and suspense may be one of the factors that adds to its continued success and popularity.
Stevenson’s involvement of Mr. Utterson as the narrator to be given his thrilling, vicarious experiences. Mr. Utterson’s growing Obsession of Mr. Hyde, shown in the chapter Search For Mr. Hyde, not only makes Mr. Utterson himself more curious about Mr. Hyde but it also allows the reader sympathise with Mr. Utterson, and also increase the reader’s feeling of suspense towards Mr. Hyde. An example of this is during Mr. Utterson’s reasoning for why he must see Hyde’s face, ‘ a face worth seeing: the face of a man who was without the bowels of mercy…’ The extended metaphor which Stevenson uses, ‘without the bowels of mercy’ is very effective as it exaggerates Mr. Hyde’s characteristics, which in turn makes the reader feel the suspense and mystery of such a character who is so merciless. Mr. Utterson’s obsession is summed up by the quote, ‘If he be Mr. Hyde, I shall be Mr. Seek’. In addition to being slightly witty it also depicts the strength of Mr. Utterson’s obsession and encourages the reader to also adopt this obsession and subsequently causes the reader to become more curious about Mr. Hyde. By allowing the reader to adopt Mr. Utterson’s experiences vicariously Stevenson increases the curiosity and obsession of the reader towards Mr. Hyde and this could be one of the reasons attributing to the novella’s continued success and popularity.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is part of the gothic literature genre and also has elements of Science fiction. This is one of the attributing factors to the continued success and popularity of the novella. It has most of the typical themes that other books of the genre have, such as mystery, experimenting and isolation. The mystery and experimenting aspects to the novella can be drawn from the chapter search for Mr. Hyde, in which Mr. Utterson visits Dr. Lanyon, ‘ “Henry Jekyll became too fanciful for me. He began to go wrong, wrong in mind… such unscientific balderdash” added the doctor flushing suddenly purple’ The reader receives a sense of suspicion when Dr. Lanyon mentions Jekyll becoming ‘wrong in mind’ and the theme of experimenting is exposed when Lanyon says ‘unscientific balderdash’ the mysterious feel is created because not only does Dr. Lanyon mention the subject of this ‘unscientific balderdash’ but also he ‘suddenly flushes purple’ this creates more mystery for the reader because they know that even speaking of the activities that Jekyll is doing makes Lanyon uncomfortable and subsequently makes the reader more curious and creates an even more mysterious feel.
Stevenson gives the novella several detective fiction and puzzling aspects which alsocontribute to its success and continued popularity. Stevenson cleverly structures the novella so that the reader is guided through the puzzle or mystery by Utterson. Stevenson does this throughout the whole novella by allowing the reader to obtain information concerning the Jekyll/Hyde mystery at the same rate that Mr. Utterson obtains it. This adds to the novella’s continued success and popularity as many readers like to be actively involved in the unfolding of a mystery. Also in the last two chapters, The reader is effectively given the answer to the mystery and all the information that Stevenson gives out through the whole novella is collated for the reader to understand the full story. This contributes to the continued popularity because many readers enjoy putting the pieces of evidence together to solve the mystery.
A contributing factor to the novella’s success is the manner in which Stevenson draws upon social problems, such as addiction, which can relate to our society as well as the audience of the time. The manner in which Stevenson portrays a very well respected character, Jekyll as an addict of some potion making him become Hyde, allows the audience to see the true complexity of addiction. Although throughout very much of the novella Mr. Hyde is casted in a negative light, Stevenson also make us sympathise for Hyde, particularly in ‘The Last Night’ where Hyde is ‘weeping like a woman for a lost soul’. This gives the reader the impression that Hyde also has some Human qualities and it allows the audience to release the amount of pain and suffering Hyde is feeling. This contrasts to the previous description of Hyde in the chapter ‘Search For Mr. Hyde’ where Utterson describes Hyde as having the face of a man without the bowels of mercy.
This was originally written by Jackie Watson
