Stevenson uses the split narrative to create intrigue as both are well educated and prominent figures of London’s community. Stevenson uses Utterson to represent a character that the audience of the time can relate to, a quintessential Victorian gentleman, whose popularity stems from his loyalty to his friends. The other narrator, Dr Jekyll, only narrates the final chapter, his “full statement” where the doctor reveals some of the questions that Stevenson creates in the unraveling story and it also proves you can never trust appearances. The “full statement” helps to bring authenticity to the novel and makes the audience feel that they can trust it.
Some critics of this novel think that, as there are no women mentioned in “Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Jekyll’s dark alter–ego may be homosexual and holding back a repressed sexual desire. This may not be an irrelevant theory as, in 1886, when the book was published no one in Victorian society would have accepted homosexuality. Many of the men in the book have secrets, for instance Utterson seems to have a desire to dabble in the hands of criminality because he sees so many of his clients getting a thrill out of doing crime. These dark activities create intrigue and engage the reader.
Stevenson centres upon the concept of humanity as being dual in nature in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, although the theme does not emerge fully until the last chapter, when the complete story of the Jekyll-Hyde relationship is revealed. Jekyll describes man as being “not truly one, but truly two,” and he imagines the soul as being a battleground for an “Angel” and a “Fiend” each struggling for mastery. As people in the Victorian Epoch people were highly superstitious this book was highly entertaining and created intrigue and new understanding
For the characters in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, preserving one’s reputation emerges as all important. This is mainly to do with the era the book was published. The Victorian system of society is far from the likes we have today. Similarly, when Utterson suspects Jekyll first of being blackmailed and then of sheltering Hyde from the police, he does not make his suspicions known; part of being Jekyll’s good friend is a willingness to keep his secrets and not ruin his respectability.
According to the indefinite remarks made by his overwhelmed observers, Hyde appears repulsively “ugly and deformed”, “small”, “shrunken”, and “hairy”. His physical ugliness and deformity symbolizes his moral hideousness and warped ethics. The text repeatedly depicts Hyde as a creature of great evil and countless vices. The natures of both of Hyde’s crimes underline his wickedness. Both involve violence directed against innocent, everyday people. The fact that Hyde ruthlessly murders two harmless beings emphasizes the extreme corruption of Jekyll’s dark side.
Stevenson, as well as using setting to explain a characters personality, he also uses pathetic fallacy. For example “black winter morning” suggests something bad will happen in the near future, which it does as Mr. Hyde kills the small girl. So he creates an atmosphere of darkness and evil.
In ‘Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ there is a slow release of information from the author which creates intrigue and engages the reader. Stevenson does not reveal that Hyde is in fact part of Jekyll until the final chapter. In the Victorian era, this probably shocked the readers and created a sense of intrigue. In relation to today it was probably the equivalent to a major cliffhanger on a popular television show. The revelation in the story probably made Victorian’s want to share the book with their friends.
Overall, I think that Stevenson uses different literary techniques to create intrigue and engage the reader well. Stevenson draws in the reader by taking the reader into a world that is not to different from their own, especially in the Victorian era. He also makes a point that Dr. Jekyll is a well liked, prestigious gentleman that you would not suspect anything bad to come from him. However, when he takes the potion and transforms into the incarnation of evil, Mr. Hyde, Jekyll is no longer trustworthy and Stevenson uses this idea to represent that there is a ‘duality of nature’ and that ‘appearances can be deceiving’.
