How does Stevenson create a sense of intrigue throughout Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and what effect does this have upon the reader?
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a morality tale about the human condition. It’s about how all of us are confronted with evil, evil is amongst us and evil can destroy us. It is a novel before its time as it indicates that drugs will destroy you and refers to the way that man interferes with nature.
There is definitely a sense of intrigue in the novel, a lot of this comes from the character Mr Utterson. Mr Utterson is a lawyer described as “a man of rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow loveable.” Throughout the novel Utterson knows as much as the reader. He is confused over a Will belonging to his friend Dr Jekyll. The Will leaves everything to a man named Mr Hyde, no one has heard or seen of him before so it is strange that the Will should leave everything to him. “In the case of the decease of Henry Jekyll, all of his possessions were to his “friend and benefactor Edward Hyde” but in the case of Dr Jekyll’s disappearance or unexplained absence for any period exceeding three calender months the said Edward Hyde should step into Henry Jekyll’s shoes without further delay”. The Will makes Utterson suspicious as he doesn’t understand why Dr Jekyll has changed the Will so suddenly. His confusion becomes the readers confusion. As the story progresses more and more information is told, this is the writers way of involving the reader. Utterson then trys to find out about Hyde and why Jekyll wants to leave everything to him. As he begins to understand more about Mr Hyde he helps the reader understand too. Utterson talks to a man called Mr Enfeild who tells him about a man who has assulted a young girl in the street, he saw the man bump into the girl and trample all over her without stopping even to help her up. The man is made to pay a check to the girl’s family. It reads the name Hyde. After hearing this Utterson becomes obssessed with finding out who Mr Hyde is. He also finds out that Hyde has been seen on a number of occasions entering a strange cellar door in the street, no one has ever been through before but somehow Hyde has a key to get through. This adds intrigue to the novel as the reader becomes more involved in wanting to find out what’s going on.
