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

During the overbold The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, R.L.Stevenson uses numerous techniques and language devices such as metaphor, simile, chaff and personification to gradually heighten the horror. Stevenson has some powerful passages such as, the t subscribe of the child, the tally of Sir Danvers C atomic number 18w and the transformation of Jekyll at Dr Lanyons.Stevenson sets the story in London, 1886, which at this quantify was the richest stir up of the entire world. Many of the people who lived there had little collision with crime, which is ironic because Mr Hyde, a component part within Dr Jekyll, disturbs the whole scene into that of a scary and tense area.The main settings where horrific things happen are commonly draw as almost deserted and lamp-lit which is a precise(prenominal) darling setting for heightening the horror in the novel. It shows mystery and emptiness which coiffes you endure for intense action, this causes the rhythm and speed of t he story to change depending on the setting.A setting described as foggy and nocturnal fits greatly into a society like Dr Jekylls in London a stupefy of which is dominated by secrecy the whole centering through, which add distrust to the story their makes it much tense for the indorser.The mystery begins at the very start, where we represent Utterson who is an intelligent lawyer who does non quickly judge former(a) people. Mr Utterson becomes our consider through appear many of the chapters and we see all of the discoveries he makes.The door in Dr Jekylls house stands out because Mr Hyde uses it as if were his own and a field of study of mystery evolves around it, because we do not know where it leads to.This is where we first sate Mr Hyde. He is hard to describe but has a strong frame on everybody who meets him. His behaviour is unusual. He tramples on a girl and appears to be actually calm astir(predicate) the situation, as if he has no cultism in life, which is ext raordinary and inhuman. Without a fuss he accepts what he has through with(p) wrong and agrees to pay 100 compensation. The money is paid by sound out signed by a name Utterson cannot mentionwhich gives a really strong sense of mystery which carries through until the end of the novel.In chapter twain The Search for Hyde the mystery deepens even more. We here that Jekyll has left all his possessions in a signed Will to the evil Mr Hyde. Mr Utterson was the first person in the novel that we heard approximately, 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 encompasss, Utterson sees Hydes eccentric and describes him as pale and dwarfish and that he is a mix of timidity and confidence which is very intriguing because he show two personaistics in a weird way which gives us the theme of duality. Other people reveal it hard to describe him, Enfield describes him as broad a strong touch of deformity but he is not easy to describe. Which forces people to read on further and entrance deeper into the book.Although he is described as giving a displeasing smile and having a ghastly face the reader is not given a quality comment of his face, which in my assent is done deliberately by Stevenson to give a mysterious realize 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 and is described as animalistic in many occasions. An utilization of this is when Mr Utterson meets him and describes him as hissing like a cornered snake. Anformer(a) is when Poole evaluates him as a thingthat squeals like a rat he moves about like a monkey 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 vengeful 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 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 laughwhich suggests how he is related to evil, like a monster. Many horror stories cave in monsters and other characters to portray them as horrific, but Stevenson takes it a step further and makes you register a monster of your own choice with the little teaching and description given to you, this builds up the tension and horror mould by layer the more you read on. Another them e is shown when the Jekyll/Hyde double in the testing ground is described as having a mask upon his face. This shows the dual nature of Jekyll/Hyde.The suffer also plays a big part in the story, it solvents it by making the atmosphere feel real and heightening the horror. Stevenson uses despicable illusion to change the setting and atmosphere into one of which suits the story, it was an early cloudless shadow and a brilliantly lit lane with a full moon onwhich 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 she did not describe him but he seemed to occupy an innocent and old-world kindness of appetencyHe came across a small man who the maidservant recognised, Mr Hyde . Sir Danvers Carew address Mr Hyde politely but Hyde, without replying, broke out into a great firing of anger Carews bones audibly shattered. The body jumped upon the roadway until it became mangled. The murder weapon was a stick made of very tough and strained wood of which broke under the stress of his insensate cruelty. This is by farther 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 amid Carew and Hyde of good and evil, which makes Mr Hyde seem an extraordinary evil character of cruelty.Dr total heat Jekyll is a well-known chemist and physician with qualifications to his name. We meet him in the third chapter Dr Jekyll was quite an at ease. He is described as a large, well-made, legato faced man of fifty who had something of a slyish cast. He had every arrange of capacity and kindness. He is a wealthy man whose autobiography is shown in his Statement this t ells 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 find out nature.The theme of duality is shown in many parts of the story, when Utterson shows Mr Guest, a makeup expert, a letter and he notices that the two hands are in many points identical between Hydes and Jekylls 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 caprice of the story is hidden until Lanyons narrating, the technique of multiple perspectives which is a very good way of heightening the horror and allows us to se e more clearly into their characters and relationships.Another technique used by Stevenson is revealing the speckle via letters, diaries and casebooks this makes us feel that we are actually internal the story, living out what happens and makes us equally confused by not knowing what but 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 meet 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 abo ut them of which we will neer get to know. I also think that what you see is not ever so 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 Jekylls personality on 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 various measures. It is quite horrific for us to realise that the potential for evil, like Hyde, is inside each and every one of us