English GCSE Pre-1914 Prose Study

Authors Avatar

English GCSE Pre-1914 Prose Study.

How does Stevenson Explore the Divided Nature of Human Personality and Victorian Society in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a Horror story written by Robert Louis Stevenson. The novella explores the divided nature of human personality and Victorian society by telling the story of a respectable gentleman named Dr Jekyll, who devolves into a beast by the name of Mr Hyde.

The dominant theme of the novella is the theme of the double. Stevenson explores this in many different ways throughout the novella. Some of the characters in the book turn out to be very different from what they at first appear to be. For instance, Gabriel Utterson has a very “rough countenance” and looks quite ugly but he is a very nice, respectable gentleman of the novella and he is also a lawyer that helps “down-going men”. Also, Dr Jekyll, one of the main characters of the book, is very different from what he appeared to be. He becomes the most hideous character of the novella, Mr Hyde.

The first time we encounter Mr Hyde, is during Enfield’s terrible sight of a little girl being trampled over. Stevenson conveys how dark the streets are by focusing on the ‘lamps’ which can be seen on‘street after street’. Stevenson also draws our attention to the emptiness of the streets, emphasising this by using the simile “all as empty as a church”. Stevenson builds up a sense of mounting fear by adding that Enfield is so frightened that he “listens and listens and begins to long for the sight of a policeman”.  Stevenson uses the character of Mr Hyde because he is everything a monster is. He is the definition of a monster and his appearance is very easy to picture. Mr Hyde is often described using animal imagery. An example of this is when Mr Enfield witnesses first hand a terrible sight of a little girl being trampled over, “for the man calmly trampled over the girl’s body. Elsewhere, in the novella, he is compared to a ‘hissing snake’, a ‘snarling dog’ and an ‘athletic monkey’ and this reinforces the idea that he is some way sub-human. It is also significant that Hyde is only ever seen in the shadow, darkness or fog because he represents the hidden and mysterious side of man’s personality.

Join now!

Stevenson uses language in a way that reveals to us the characters insincerity or sincerity by the way they speak. In the novella, there are many different characters which use their language in different ways. For example, Dr Jekyll speaks in a very indirect, reserved and cagey way of speech. He proves this in chapter three, when he become quite angry and tries to dissuade Utterson from pursuing the topic of his will, “You do not understand my position”, and this shows that he is reserved and unwilling to express his emotions. Utterson is also reserved ...

This is a preview of the whole essay