The supernatural features which break into reality in ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ gives it the classification of a Gothic Fiction, which became increasingly popular in nineteenth-century-Europe, and particularly in Britain, where other novels such as Dracula and Frankenstein were written. The term ‘Gothic’ covers many different stories, but certain motifs and themes define the genre. Gothic novels may contain supernatural material as Dracula does, or imply supernatural phonomena without directly stating it, as ‘Jekyll and Hyde does’. They may not even hint supernatural events at all, just convey a sense of strangeness, or dark elements which break the routine of the norm. Gothic novels also centre around secrets such as Jekyll’s connection to Hyde, or doppelgangers, a German term referring to people who resemble other characters in strange ways. The monster which Frankenstein made is a doppelganger for the scientist, as Hyde is for Jekyll. Nearly every gothic novel relies on its geography for most of its appeal, they take place in strange eerie locations where the characters find it hard to escape ie Dracula’s castle or for ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ the fog blanketed world of night time London.
We read that Mr Utterson has dreams in which he views London as a nightmare landscape through which Hyde stalks committing violence against the innocent. The image of the city as a place with hidden terrors recurs to Mr Utterson but this time he is in the company of the police and is driving to Hyde’s room early in the morning. A fog has masked the city seem ‘like a district of some city in a nightmare’ Stevenson shows great descriptive skill on this passage, here he describes the “great chocolate-coloured pall lowered over heaven…here it would be dark like the back-end of evening; and there would be a glow of rich, lurid brown…and here…a haggard shaft of daylight would glance in between the swirling wreaths.” It is important to note that this speech comes from Mr Utterson and however it may seem out of character for the unimaginative lawyer, but one could also interpret it as Hyde’s sheer horror. Perhaps the disturbing nature of Hyde brings out another side to Mr Utterson, one in touch with the supernatural terrors lurking behind the mask of the everyday world.
Dr Jekyll lives in a well-appointed home, characterized by Stevenson as having “a great air of wealth and comfort.” His laboratory is described as “a certain sinister block of building … [which] bore in every feature the marks of profound and sordid negligence.” With its decaying disguise and air of neglect, the laboratory quite neatly symbolizes the corrupt and madness of Hyde. Correspondingly, the respectable, prosperous-looking main house symbolizes the respectable, upright Jekyll. Moreover, the connection between the buildings similarly corresponds to the connection between the personas they represent. The buildings are joint, but look out on two different streets. Because of the layout of the streets in the area, the casual observer cannot detect that the structures are two parts of a whole, just as he or she would be unable to detect the relationship between Jekyll and Hyde.
The Victorian society’s reaction to the book and the potion which Dr Jekyll takes made the audience worried about the advances in science. The writing skills of Stevenson made the audience believe that it was actually able for a scientist to make that kind of drug. The audience feared that the drug would take over the human mind as human civilization as a whole. This is another effect which made the book a gripping read. Because the fear of people being to clever and producing drugs which take over the mind this made the book appeal to the Victorian audience resulting in many more sales off the book.
With the idea of a single body containing both the knowledgeable Dr. Jekyll and the depraved Mr. Hyde, Stevenson’s novel imagines a link between civilization and savagery, good and evil. Jekyll’s attraction to the freedom from restraint that Hyde enjoys mirrors Victorian England’s secret attraction to the savage non-western cultures.
In conclusion the novel shows great insight into the Victorians upper class society we see this in Dr Jekyll’s house; as well as upper class society we see a side of the lower class this is shown through Mr Hyde. Also we read about the supernatural horror which taunts the reader, another factor is the fog, this gives the impression of a mask for Mr Hyde’s rampages.