Patrick Bagaza
The Body Snatcher
“Robert Louis Stevenson ‘the Body Snatcher is as scary as it was when it was first published.”
Robert Louis Stevenson the writer of The Body Snatcher was mostly if not through out his whole life he was ill. The medication he took seemed to help his imagination greatly this is why he was able to write such fantastic stories. He was and still is famous because of his horror and fantasy writing such as The Body Snatcher, Treasure Island and the very famous Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Robert was interested in the fight between science and religion.
The body snatcher was based in the 1820s and published in 1884. When he wrote the story in the 1880s people believed in the sanctity of the body and would have been shocked greatly by the contents of the short story. It is a tale of grave robbers and anatomy students. At the time grave robbers were feared but nearly everybody. The story mostly revolves around two characters Fettes and Macfarlane. The story takes place in the 1880’s at that time people were scared of body snatchers and still are today. The story might not be as scary as it was then but it is still got its edge. People still believe in the sanctity of and the content of the book does still tend to shock the reader. The book seems to tell the reader that crime and gangsters are the same thing because without crime you don’t have gangsters and vice versa. The story is set in Edinburgh in 1828.
NARRATIVE
Every night in four friends (Fettes, the undertaker, the Landlord and the narrator) meet in the George to drink and talk. Fettes is an old drunken Scotsman but he is known to be clever. In his past he was a doctor and some people address him as one. He has a shadowed past and doesn't easily give in to a bribe. As the story progresses it starts to show that Fettes had a bad past. He knew Macfarlane in the past. Dr Macfarlane is shocked when he sees Fettes. Fettes studied medicine in his young days. The narrator is the one who finds out about Fettes past and tells it to the readers. Fettes was very clever in school and the teachers noted this he acted and behaved mature and was a good example for all the other students. He got lodged by Mr K in a room above the dissecting room his task was to open the door for body deliverers and pay them for the bodies. These bodies were the ones used in the dissecting lessons and they were usually homeless people who wouldn't be noticed or missed by any if they vanished. The body snatchers were usually gangsters or in some way affiliated to the mob. One day the body deliverers brought a body Fettes did what he usually did he checked the body if it was in good condition but this bodies was different it was of a girl and he immediately recognised her. He didn't know what to do so he paid the men and waited for Macfarlane to come. Once he told him Macfarlane told him that no-one would notice and that he should act as if he didn't know who she was. Even though Fettes was worried that someone would recognise her he still put the body out to be dissected. Every one got busy dissecting and no one recognised the girl. Fettes went to a popular tavern after work and met Macfarlane with a stranger named Gray. The stranger seemed to exercise a great deal of control over Macfarlane. Gray seemed to like Fettes and even told him about how he used to be a “bad fellow”. He ordered “Toddy” to get Fettes a drink or he would have to close the door. Macfarlane got angry because Gray called him Toddy and so makes a joke about dissecting dead friends. Gray ignores Macfarlane joke and invited Fettes to join them at dinner. He ordered a feast so great that it caused commotion in the tavern. After they finished eating Gray made Macfarlane pay for the feast. The three men then went around the taverns drinking, when Fettes left the group Gray was heavily drunk and Macfarlane wasn't happy for getting made to use his own money to pay for Gray's expenses. At four o'clock Fettes heard a knock on the door when he opened it he was surprised to find Macfarlane in a gig with a body bag. Inside the bag was a dead Gray Macfarlane told Fettes to take the body and pay him. Fettes was hit hard by the shock and did what he was told. Fettes is confused and starts drinking. The amounts of bodies’ available start decreasing and so the two men went into the country side to dig up dead farmer’s wife who died recently. The light started getting dim and it started raining. The got to the grave and so started they digging it didn't take long before they got to the casket. In side it was a body in a body bag and so they took it between them and placed into the gig and started to make their way back to the city. The light started becoming brighter and the rain became heavier it outlined the body's shaped. The two men looked at the body and realised that it didn't resembles a woman's body. They got of the gig and slowly opened the body bag inside was a dissected Gray Macfarlane let out a loud and ear piercing cry that scared the horse pulling the gig and so it sped down with is sole occupant into the city.
