The story has a mixed genre of mystery and gothic horror. The mystery is expressed through the plot about Mr Hyde, and the connection between him and Jekyll. The strange happenings also contribute to the mystery. For a great part of the story you are unsure what the mystery is, and readers are left guessing until the end. Gothic horror is expressed through the brutal violence of Hyde, the murders he commits, and the spooky settings. Both the narratives and genres express mystery and gothic horror, so there is definitely a link and these themes are greatly shown.
There are differences between the impact on modern and Victorian audiences. In the Victorian times, the audiences would have seen grand and spooky buildings in real life, like the ones described in the story. Therefore, they would not feel uneasy about the setting. However the Victorian audience could also be more scared by it, because nowadays people are watching horror film all the times, where as Victorians would not have, so in some ways it can have a bigger impact on Victorians, and a big impact on a modern audience.
In the story RLS seems to be exploring the themes of secrecy and duality. Secrecy is shown with Hyde being violent towards others for no reason; Hyde’s boarded up house, Jekylls strange behaviour as he disappears and other features of secrecy which are shown. Duality is explored with the dual personality or Jekyll/Hyde (Good and evil), also Jekylls house with the grand front of it and the spooky rear of the house which is the laboratory; there are other elements of duality explored in the story. The biggest impact to theme of duality is the Double life of Jekyll.
The settings have an impact on showing the themes of secrecy and duality and in this section they will be looked into, in detail.
First the settings, that contributes to secrecy. One example of secrecy is Hyde’s home and where he disappeared after trampling over a child. “It was two storeys high; showed no window, nothing but a door.” This shows secrecy because Hyde wants to be secluded, not seen, he wants no company and wants to keep to himself. Another point to show he wants to be left alone is where it says, “The door, which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker.” This again shows that he wants no company and wants to be left alone.
The next example, which shows secrecy, is the fog, when Utterson goes to Soho. The fog is described as, embattled vapours and swirling wreaths. Also it says “The fog lifted a little and showed him a dingy street.” This portrays secrecy because it is as if the fog reveals to him the street as if he didn’t know it was there. Another point of the fog being secretive is where it says “and the next moment the fog settled again upon the part. This was the home of Henry Jekyll’s favourite.” This shows secrecy as well because the fog has cut him off from everything else apart from this building which he goes into. Both these points show how the fog has a secretive impact on the story.
Jekylls property contributes to the theme of duality this is because it has two sides to it both different. On the one side is the big grand house which is decorated nicely, however the other side which is the laboratory, has barred windows and appears very spooky.
The last example shows secrecy. It is Jekyll stating in his will which says “In case of the decease of Henry Jekyll, all his possessions were to pass into the hands of his friend and benefactor Edward Hyde” as well as “In the case of Dr Jekylls disappearance or unexplained absence for any period exceeding three calendar months” This is all very secretive and when the readers read this they do not know why Jekyll would do this and why he actually has. It is all very secretive.
R.L Stevenson was influenced to focus on duality and secrecy; these influences were from the Victorian times. Some men were highly respected, wealthy, married and successful men however they just like Jekyll lead a secret life, they went to prostitutes and lead lives secretly which no one knew about and definitely wouldn’t have expected. A lot of people like grave robbers were skulking around, and in the Victorian times scientists were all experimenting trying new medicines and different potions and constantly experimenting like Jekyll. All of this Shows Duality and secrecy and shows how he got the influences to focus on the themes.
In this section I will compare two characters and to see what they are like, what language is used to describe them and how does the characters relate to the themes. First of all Hyde is like an animal and the language used to describe him is inhumane, in the story, the phrases used to describe him are: like a cornered animal, like an animal evil looking, out of control like a wild animal and unpredictable. These all make him sound savage and a very evil man. However when you compare him with Carew the two are very different. Carew is described as: an aged beautiful gentleman, pretty manner of politeness and innocent. Carew is portrayed as a very kind gentleman who wouldn’t hurt anyone and the language used to describe him is very innocent because of his kind personality. When you directly compare the two they are like complete opposites berceuse of where Hyde is evil and animal like, but whereas Carew is very kind.
One of the moral ideas in this story is be careful what you wish for. This is because Jekyll wanted to be free of a moral conscience, however when he did and became Hyde it overpowered him, and then he wanted to be free of the thing he wanted in the first place, so much so he even took his own life. Another moral idea is not to overlook anyone because they don’t know if they lead double lives like in the story Utterson knew Jekyll and never could’ve guessed he could have done what he did.
The message for the reader at the time was that the well respected gentlemen are not what they seem to be and should not be overlooked.
The story is still relevant to the modern society because men are having affairs that people are not aware of, so this relates to the theme of duality which is expressed in the story. Also because of the moral decline in modern society the story is important because of the good men in the story, which relates to respectability which is shown in the story, for example Jekyll is well respected for being a well known doctor, however in modern times people are not very well respected because there are less morals and as people are turning to drugs or alcohols and the crime levels many people are not respected and possibly less, than in the story. Morals from the story involving secrecy and duality and nowadays I think they are still very valid.
