The author not only wrote this novel to present his views on human personality but also because he wanted to shock contemporary readers out of their complacency. Show how parts of Jekyll and Hyde read as a horror story

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Coursework "The author not only wrote this novel to present his views on human personality but also because he wanted to shock contemporary readers out of their complacency. Show how parts of Jekyll and Hyde read as a horror story." There are many aspect of the horror genre that contribute to making a story scary in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Fighting and violence are evident as well as conflict between good and evil; the supernatural and the transformation; also the weather. These all appear in the novel and each contribute to the horror side of the narrative. The first element of horror that I will discuss is fighting and violence. This is a very prominent element of horror in the novel. At the start of the book Mr Enfield describes an incident where he sees Mr Hyde trample a young girl "then came the horrible part of the thing for the man trampled calmly over the child's body and left her screaming on the ground. It sounds nothing to hear but it was hellish to see." This was quite a horrific graphic description of Mr Hyde and this is just the start of the build up of Mr Hyde's character. At this early description of suspense and horror the reader has a sense of the type of character of Mr Hyde and the tension is built up throughout the novel. A reader will have a sense of anticipated horror and repulsion every time they read about him, knowing what he

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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To what extent can 'The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' be viewed as a 'gothic novel'

To what extent can 'The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' be viewed as a 'gothic novel'? Jekyll and Hyde is a gothic novel. It was written by Robert Louis Stevenson, he got the idea for the story after a dream he had. The word 'Goth' is originally from a German tribe and has come to mean 'barbarian' and later know as 'Gothic'. In Gothic Literature certain features are expected. These are supernatural events, have villains and hero characters, strange weather, horror, mystery and deaths. Older Gothic literature was in castles and deserted buildings. Modern Gothic novels were written is more populated areas. Another text that can be classed as 'Gothic' is the novel 'Frankenstein'. The reason for it being a 'Gothic' novel is the way it has a mutant character. Frankenstein is a mutant and is made by a crazy scientist 'I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be, for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.' Here the crazed scientist is describing his creation coming to life. This quote describes the vision of the scientist looking at the monster he created. The images in this quote evokes some of the key gothic themes, such as the horrific

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Discussion as an example of Gothic Fiction and as a critique of Victorian society.

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Discussion as an example of Gothic Fiction and as a critique of Victorian society. This book was written at a time of change in the world of fiction as a new form of gothic literature emerged. Fin de Siecle was a new type of New Gothic that had elements that differed from previous gothic stories. Stevenson's story is based around various shards of the gothic and is mainly focused on exposing the "duality of man" and his struggle to hide it from the outside world. The symbolism of Jekyll and Hyde is truly extended to all with differing parts in all of us. It was not a new idea as it had been seen in the classic example of a good and bad guardian, a devil on one shoulder and an angel on another, and also in gothic literature before it, such as Frankenstein with the duelling personalities of Frankenstein and the monster, creator and creation which is easily comparable with the roles of Jekyll and Hyde, ". Stevenson had his influences apart from classic novels, his past had a tremendous affect on this novella as the language, used by Jekyll in particular is similar to Stevenson with possible links between the two, gives the reader an insight into his mind. His Calvinistic upbringing has a bearing on the way Jekyll tries to describe Hyde in his final statement. We get a lexical set of words like "hellish but inorganic", "That child of

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Examine how a sense of mystery, terror and suspense is created and maintained in 'The Old Nurse's Story' By Elizabeth Gaskell. You should consider specifically, how successful the story is as a piece of Gothic fiction.

GCSE Coursework Assignment: The Pre-Twentieth Century Unit Examine how a sense of mystery, terror and suspense is created and maintained in 'The Old Nurse's Story' By Elizabeth Gaskell. You should consider specifically, how successful the story is as a piece of Gothic fiction. The Gothic Novel is a type of prose fiction, first introduced around the 1760s by Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story (1764). This style of writing was popular until the mid 1800s. Primary examples of the Gothic Novel are William Beckford's Vathek in 1786, and perhaps the best known, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein of 1817. It was only into the 19th Century that the Gothic Novel started to appear a little outdated, as Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey in 1818 satire of the genre showed. The stereotypical view of women harboured in Gothic fiction, discussed later, became less and less apparent as time drew on, views of women changed, and more of the authors were female. The main characteristics of the Gothic tradition are its medieval context, with the typical settings of large, sprawling mansions and castles, harbouring hidden tunnels, secret areas, dungeons and unexplored rooms. Outdoors were desolate moors and twisted, dead trees, and events usually took place at nighttime or when it was snowing. This bleak setting reflected the macabre atmosphere of the stories, which usually involved

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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With particular reference to the construction of Mr Hyde, discuss how portrayal of the character places the novella into the Gothic Horror genre.

With particular reference to the construction of Mr Hyde, discuss how portrayal of the character places the novella into the Gothic Horror genre. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886, a time where the "Gothic Horror" story was at its fullest expression, and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde continues to remain one of the most well written, exciting and terrifying Gothic Horror stories to date. The Gothic Horror story has adapted over time, first being associated with dark, mysterious forces of the personality which were though of as uncivilised and therefore medieval and Gothic. However, it was then being used to describe the mysterious, the fantastic and occasionally, the horrific, appealing to the emotional side of human experience and throwing off the shackles of reason. Gothic Novels all shared similar settings, which were not just castles but anywhere that created a dark and mysterious atmosphere, and by the nineteenth century, Gothic Horror began to develop into ordinary human beings in familiar environments, to make the reader even more inclined to believe the unbelievable; that such dreadful events could actually happen; and this is exactly what Stevenson has done. Stevenson wrote Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at a time where science was still relatively new; Darwin's theory of evolution had turned what was a very religious world

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde coursework

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde coursework 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has appealed to a wide audience from the first time it was published in 1886 to the present day. What do you think are the reasons for this?' The story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was first published in a time when classes separated the rich and the poor. These classes never mixed and never talked. The poor classes lived on one side of London and the rich classes lived on the other. The rich would of never had been thought about the poor because there was very few means of learning. Before the story of Dr Jekell and Mr Hyde the two classes would have read different books but when the book was published it had elements that appealed to both classes. The genre of the book is 'gothic horror and fiction'. The elements of gothic in it are the horror, super natural and the mystery. It also has a dark and very gloomy setting and it talks about the smog lying very low on the floor. "For a moment, the fog would be quite broken up, and a haggered shaft of daylight would glance in between the swirling wreaths." This is gothic because it is quite mysterious and spooky. This could appeal to many people because this is like real life with the smog coming under the door. People could relate to this. It always has a dark and gloomy character in it to. In this case it's Mr Hyde. This dark and gloomy character first appears in the

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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How doesStevenson use the gothic novel to explore the nature of good and evil in "thestrange case of doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde"?

How does Stevenson use the gothic novel to explore the nature of good and evil in "the strange case of doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde"? The story is about a doctor called Jekyll who has an alternate identity called Hyde. Until the last two chapters it is told from the view point of Mr Utterson; a friend of Jekyll's who is trying to piece together the story. It uses features of gothic novels such as doppelganger which is an alternate identity. It also uses multiple narratives to make the reader think, it also helps the reader solve the case themselves, and piece the story together, from the evidence given. To a certain extent Stevenson also uses the monster feature in the form of Edward Hyde. In this novel, Stevenson was trying to show that good and evil are not separate within us but are a combined part of us so instead of trying to split them we should except the unity and only then will we be able to make our good side prevail in the struggle of good and evil. One of the features of a gothic novel used is the haunted house. Authors of gothic novels use a character's house to reflect the characters psychological manner. In this story Jekyll's house is described as being "grand and having an air of wealth and comfort". This mimics Jekyll's personality as he is portrayed for the reader," a large, well-made, smooth-faced man". The description "smooth-faced man" gives the

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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To what extent can Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea and Jamaica Kincaid's Ovando be classified as Postcolonial Gothic texts?

To what extent can Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea and Jamaica Kincaid's Ovando be classified as Postcolonial Gothic texts? Before starting this essay, it is important to acknowledge the fact that the term 'postcolonial gothic' is quite difficult to define accurately. For the most part of this essay, I will be taking for granted the fact that these texts are essentially postcolonial in form, in so far as they are texts that have 'emerged in their present form out of the experience of colonization and asserted themselves by foregrounding the tension with imperial power.'1 It is with this certainty in mind that I will be looking more specifically at the gothic elements of the pieces, which separate the texts from other typically postcolonial works. Nevertheless, certain distinguishing postcolonial features will arise throughout the essay and this will be especially explicit when I look at the contextual aspects of the pieces. Turcotte identifies the fact that 'it is certainly possible to argue that the generic qualities of the Gothic mode lend themselves to articulating the colonial experience in as much as each emerges out of a condition of deracination and uncertainty, of the familiar transposed into unfamiliar space.'2 As such, the idea of displacement presents itself clearly though the two texts. In Wide Sargasso Sea for instance, we feel a strong sense of Rochester's

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Is Jekyll and Hyde just a gothic horror story or does it have something to say about human nature?

Is Jekyll And Hyde Just A Gothic Horror Story Or Does It Have Something To Say About Human Nature? 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' by Robert Louis Stevenson is a typical Gothic horror story in the way the novel is written and described. Some people may disagree with this statement because in the Cambridge guide to English literature, Gothic fiction is described as - a type of novel or romance popular in the late 18th and early 19th century and the word 'Gothic' had come to mean 'wild' 'barbarous' and 'crude'. Gothic novels were usually set in the past and in foreign countries, they took place in monasteries, castles and dungeons. Plots hinged on suspense and mystery often involving the supernatural. Having read the statement and also 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' some parts of the statement do not agree with the novel, for example, the novel is set in London and there are no castles or dungeons. Where as in Dracula by Bram Stoker and also Frankenstein by Mary Shelley are both set in foreign countries and also in mysterious locations - Dracula being set in a castle and Frankenstein in a laboratory. To deal with human nature Stevenson discusses the ideas of Charles Darwin. Around the 19th century Charles Darwin began to write theories of animals and evolution, Stevenson was obviously influenced by these ideas and uses them to describe one of the main characters - Mr Hyde. Stevenson

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Discuss the insight which 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' gives the reader into Victorian society.

English course work: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Discuss the insight which 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' gives the reader into Victorian society. Quote 'The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' gives an insight into Victorian society because they address some key characteristics which can be attributed to Victorian society, for example the supernatural, the fog, Victorian buildings and finally the advances in science which the Victorian society feared. This paper will now address these issues in more detail. 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' was written in 1886 by Robert Luis Stevenson when he was thirty-six years old. The structure of this novel is unique in that it is not cast entirely as a first-person narration, it could have been possible to tell the story in the manner of a confession from Jekyll's point of view. Robert Louis Stevenson uses multiple narrators to give the effect of different points of view. The story shows three different genres, detective story, horror story and gothic novella. Gothic novella became a very popular genre as other gothic novellas were written at this time, including 'Dracula' and 'Frankenstein'. The reasons gothic novellas became increasingly popular within the Victorian era this is because the fear of advances in science this is shown in the story. Also the fear of foreign or exotic elements taking over the mind and spreading doubt over a religion.

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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