all as empty as a church - till at last I got into a state of mind when a man
listens and listens and begins to long for the sight of a policeman.’
Enfield tells his friend of how creepy the night can be. He says that it was
so dark that he listened and listened and wished he had the sight of a
policeman.
This shows how well night suits Hyde for his crimes; the fact that it is hard to
see because of the darkness helps him sneak around doing his evil deeds.
Stevenson also builds up a sense of dread by using a child as the first victim
of Hyde’s wrath. This shows good contrast as a child is normally depicted
with innocence against Hyde’s nefarious character.
On page 20 Mr Utterson has a nightmare about the story told to him by Mr
Enfield. In all phases of his dream, Hyde appears to be ubiquitous in all the
events that occur. Utterson is being haunted by the figure of Mr Hyde.
‘Mr Enfield’s tale went by before his mind in a scroll of lighted pictures. He
would be aware of the great field of lamps of a nocturnal city; then of the
figure of a man walking swiftly; the of a child running from the doctor’s; and
then these met, and the human Juggernaut trod the child down a passed on
regardless of her screams.’
Stevenson describes Hyde as a Juggernaut to show his colossal ape-like
strength. Hyde is made out to be very evil by the fact that he did not stop
after he hit the child. He merely carried on, ignoring her screams. This
builds up the sense of dread because it shows the awfulness of Hyde.
Stevenson uses the weather, in particularly fog, to create a sense of dread
in several parts of the story. The first reference is on page 32 just after the
terrible murder of Danvers Carew. Fog is a very obfuscating substance that
does well at with concealing the evil acts of the criminals and general law-
breaking people.
‘A great chocolate-coloured pall lowered over heaven, but the wind was
continually charging and routing these embattled vapours; Mr Utterson
beheld a marvellous number of degrees and hues of twilight; for a moment,
the fog would be quite broken up, and a haggard shaft of daylight would
glance between the swirling wreaths. The dismal quarter of Soho seen
under these changing glimpses, seemed, in the lawyer’s eyes, like a district
of some city in a nightmare.’
The words that are used in this passage help to build the sense of dread.
Stevenson uses imagery of fighting to describe the sordid surroundings.
Word such as ‘embattled’, ‘conflagration’ and ‘combat’ are chosen for the
purpose that they relate to fighting and therefore evil. This helps build the
suspense and trepidation that is often associated with something bad
happening. The words are also used to describe the conditions in which
Hyde lives. There are lots of verbs that are associated with death and
destruction, like Hyde’s mind.
Fog is used because of its concealing nature. It also helps to show how
Hyde is a master of deception and how disappear so easily.
Another descriptive passage is on page 48. It describes the night of
Utterson’s journey to Jekyll’s house.
‘It was a wild, cod, seasonable night of March with a pale moon, lying on her
back as though the wind had tilted her, and a flying wrack of the most
diaphanous and lawny texture. The wind made talking difficult, and flecked
blood into the face. It seemed to have swept the streets unusually bare of
passengers, besides; for Mr Utterson thought he had never seen that part of
London so deserted.’
It is written as if something dreadful is about to happen, the way Stevenson
describes the night and the setting so well helps immensely to build
suspense.
The fact that Utterson has never seen the part of London so deserted seems
to indicate something wrong.
The novel was written in the 1800s and therefore is a reflection of its time.
The book reflects the views and beliefs of the people of the Victorian
society. The main theme of the book is duality and the Victorian obsession
with morality. Where gentlemen would work and care for their families in
the daytime and then go out to brothels in the night. The Victorian society
made men disguise their natural sexual instincts. It was thought to be the
women’s job to clean, cook and look after children. Husbands and wives
would only have sex to make children and not for pleasure, it would be
thought as being disgusting and wrong if this was not the case.
Freud’s theory comes into the book as Jekyll attempts to separate is baser
self. He turns into a complete opposite in Hyde. All of his bad thoughts,
and bad actions come out in Hyde. Things that would never be accepted in
the Victorian society come out in Hyde. Freud’s theory was that we have a
split personality. One in which we act the way we have been taught and the
way we should. And another where we do everything we cannot do but want
to do.
Stevenson does a good job in using his descriptive passages to build up the
mood of dread. He uses the weather very effectively, along with the night
and Hyde’s association with it.
