How Successfully Does Stevenson Present Evil and Create Tension in 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'

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How Successfully Does Stevenson Present Evil and Create Tension In “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”?

Stevenson has created a piece of exceptional Victorian Gothic fiction.  It conjures up the contrasting emotions that people have inside them.  He uses Jekyll to portray the different sides within people, creating a monster out of Jekyll, a completely new persona – ‘Hyde’.  Stevenson turns a good man into some evil creature.  Lots of the book has some reference to Charles Darwin’s ‘Theory of Evolution’.  When "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" was released, Charles Darwin had just revealed his theory of man evolving from apes. When the Victorians read this book, Hyde was referred to as evidence of Darwin's theory by the use of phrases such as: "With ape-like fury" and "Like a monkey, jumped", which gives you an image of primate characteristics.

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Stevenson presents evil through the form of Hyde, the way he describes the Victorian London setting and also the fact that it is set mainly at night, producing a dark and creepy effect.  There are no women in the book other than the little girl, who Hyde knocks over.  A lot of people saw him trample over a small girl in the middle of a street, so when they saw him, they felt “hatred and disgust”, and could feel the eerie evil and nastiness about him. The book described Hyde as being “monster-like” and “like some damn juggernaut”. When ...

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