Section one: The Haunted House
In this story we see Dr Jekyll’s house and understand that it is a very expensive and good looking house. Any normal person who would walk past would probably understand that it belongs to a well known and respectable person. It also consists of a laboratory which normal people do not usually have. Though the more you go towards the back entrance of the house the worse it gets.
The front of the house is well decorated and is the place where Dr Jekyll enters his house. Then there is Dr Jekyll’s mysterious back door where Mr Hyde lives. The term ‘back door’ is usually also associated with something mysterious. It also seems as if there is something strange going on there because Mr Hyde leaves the house early in the morning and returns late at night which leaves the reader thinking to what goes on there during the day. Dr Jekyll uses the front door and Mr Hyde uses the back door. Despite the fact that they are both the same person it shows a contradiction of character that one uses the good, easy and normal entrance to where the other uses the mysterious and bad looking side. This shows us the type of character they are.
The use of doors in this book are quite symbolic in the sense that they all represent something important. Like above I explained what the front door and back door symbolise. In Jekyll’s house the entrance to the laboratory is blocked off by a huge and thick wooden door. Only if there was something secret behind the door that they would use such a type of door so that without the key it is extremely hard to normally break into.
Section two: The Monster
Mr Hyde by appearance is a very ugly and scary to see man. Our first impressions of him is that he is pure evil and has nothing on his mind except committing some sort of evil crime. As we read on later and see the confrontation between him and Mr Utterson we realise that he is a calm and collected man in the places he has to be but when he does commit crime he becomes an uncontrollable man.
This first incident was when a young girl was playing on the street and Mr Hyde viciously tramples her leaving her crying her eyes out. Though to avoid any sort of trouble he decided to pay a hundred pounds in gold, ten pound in coins and the rest on a cheque. Strangely to the surprise of Mr Utterson and Mr Enfield the signature on the cheque is of a respected scientist known as Dr Henry Jekyll. This is when there search begins of Mr Hyde’s true identity. But Mr Hyde decides to carry on his evil deeds.
Mr Hyde gives himself a bad image after this. He attacked a young girl and young girls are associated with innocence. So in a way Mr Hyde is attacking innocence which off course makes himself look even worse.
The second incident was witnessed by a close by maid who was horrified by the whole incident. Mr Hyde in the night murdered a respectable judge Sir Danvers Carew. He brutally beat Sir Danvers Carew with a heavy metal cane and was said to have crushed every bone is Sir Danvers Carew’s body. According to the maids statement they met as if they were good friends and knew each other. The book states “…the older man bowed and accosted the other with a very pretty manner of politeness.” This means that they must be friends because a man would not usually greet another with “…a very pretty manner of politeness.” The book also states “It did not seem as if the subject of his address was not of great importance…” As we know Sir Danvers Carew is very well respected and it would almost be an offence not to greet him with respect. This shows he was greeted informally meaning that Mr Hyde must be his friend. According to the maid though this was an unprovoked murder so it is it confusing about the fact that a normal human being would not brutally murder a friend.
Mr Hyde’s alter ego Dr Jekyll on the other hand highlights the fact about how bad Mr Hyde actually is. This is because of the way Dr Jekyll is made to look ‘extra good’. He has a good public image. Also in the letter he writes shows that he knows he has a made a mistake and is very sorry for it making him look extra good again. Linking back to my recent point his ‘extra goodness’ makes Mr Hyde look even worse.
Section three: Multiple narratives
Gothic novels tend to use multiple narratives to show the story through the view of others and the relationship between the narrators. Showing the story through multiple narratives is similar to a court case in which people’s different stories tell us things that another’s story might.
The reason Stevenson used multiple narratives is because he wants to keep suspense by first using people who are discovering the case so it remains a mystery that is until we hear Dr Lanyon’s and Dr Jekyll’s narrative. This way it keeps the reader intrigued and wanting to know what goes on next.
The story first starts through the thoughts of Mr Utterson and Mr Enfield as they try to discover who Mr Hyde actually is and what his relationship with Dr Jekyll is. Then much later on we see Dr Lanyon’s narrative in which he explains his side of the story and we also get to read a note which he has received from Dr Jekyll. Then in the last chapter we are given Dr Jekyll’s narrative in his full statement of the case. This clears up everything and now we fully understand all events that took place because we have heard the statement of the man this story is based on. By keeping the main story to the end Stevenson has managed to keep us reading the book and has kept us intrigued throughout the book.
The relationship between the narrators are,
- Mr Utterson and Mr Enfield are cousins
- Dr Lanyon and Dr Jekyll are close friends
- They both are also scientists
- They all know each other quite well
- They all except Dr Jekyll only talk about what they have seen, experienced and had evidence of rather than talking about what they have heard
Conclusion
In this essay I have gone through the main points of the story. From the beginning where Mr Hyde tramples the young girl and Mr Utterson and Mr Enfield decide to track Mr Hyde.
Then I carried on by going onto how the doors of houses and other places can symbolise what is behind them and what type of person uses them.
After that I analysed Mr Hyde in depth and discussed his actions. Including when he trampled the young girl and paid her family money to avoid any sort of trouble. Then he brutally murdered Sir Danvers Carew, even though from the maids perspective it seemed as if they were friends.
Then I commented on the use of multiple narratives and the relationship between the narrators.
By Athar Mahmood 10PN
