To what extent can "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" be defined as Gothic Literature?
Ben Davey 5c English Coursework 27/09/04 To what extent can "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" be defined as Gothic Literature? Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" is one of the most famous works of horror fiction ever written. Like the tales of "Frankenstein" and "Dracula," a version of its central idea resides in the collective human consciousness. Stevenson wrote his most famous work in October 1885 at the age of 35. At the time he was dependent on his father, but this work enabled him to become financially independent for the first time. Originally intended as a 'shilling shocker' for publication at Christmas 1885, it was delayed until January of the following year due to a rather full market. Many other such novels were produced in this tradition, including other works by Stevenson, such as "The Body Snatchers" and "Olalla." From the very start this story was noticed to be different from other such novels, far more subtle, disturbing and complex in some ways, whilst when it is stripped to the basics it is just about the conflict between good and evil, a concept almost as old as time. I will now begin to compare aspects of this book with other famous works of Gothic and horror fiction. In terms of plot it is quite unusual, as the classic Gothic story is set in some distant
Discuss the aspects of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel that make it a horror story showing awareness of particular social, historical and cultural influences
In this essay I will be discussing aspects of Robert Louis Stevenson's, "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" that make it a horror story, whilst showing an awareness of what was happening in Victorian England at time the novel was first written and published. Victorians were often concerned with the concept of a 'double self' or 'twin', often referred to as a Doppelganger. This is relevant to the novel with the theme of metamorphosis and the fact that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the same person. The genre of the story is gothic horror. This nineteenth century genre began with a story about a type of double, when Dr Frankenstein created his monster in 1818. 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' was written in 1866. This novel was not the only story which expressed Stevenson's fascination with dual personality of man. In two other works, the short story 'Markheim' and the play Deacon Brodie there are characters who also lead double lives. At the time people, especially authors were concerned with many ideas such as high crime rate, medical and technological breakthroughs and people scared of the unknown. All of these ideas are relevant to the novel. High crime rate is relevant to the novel because of Mr Hyde committing crimes. Medical breakthroughs are appropriate to the novel because of Dr Jekylls experiment splitting good from evil. 'People being scared of the unknown' is relevant
Gothic Art.
GOTHIC ART Gothic Art In 1250, the European art was totally transformed in what today we call Gothic art. This architectural style has three periods: The transition from Romanesque to Gothic from the 12th and 13th centuries, the height of its period in the 13th and 14th centuries, and the fall or decadence in the 15th and 16th centuries. Of these, the period that maybe the most difficult to understand is the transition period. First, the Gothic style is like a continuation of the Romanesque. This causes confusion when you want to distinguish the end of Romanesque and the start of the Gothic period. Second, many monuments have important characteristics of both styles. Therefore, many of these monuments do not have their own style, and certain conflicts exist about what style is really being used. The architecture used is what best defines Gothic, by this is what starts the movement. The two basic elements of the architecture are the pointed arches and the vaults made of many pointed arches. If Romanesque art is a classic art, the Gothic for me would be considered an extravagant, passionate, and romantic art. For that reason I believe that it is one of the favorites in the 19th century. The Gothic architecture is much more complicated than the Romanesque, this is probably because the period was full of religious competition and very fine materials. The kings and
Discuss how Stevenson uses descriptive passages to evoke a mood of horror in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Discuss how Stevenson uses descriptive passages to evoke a mood of horror in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Jackie Randall 11A This book was written in a period known as the "Gothic genre", making Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde a "Gothic novel". As soon as we hear this term, you immediately think of things such of shadows, darkness, mystery and murkiness. Stevenson described this novel as a "Shilling Shocker". Like most gothic novels, Stevenson wanted to shock and spook the reader. Jekyll and Hyde fits into "urban gothic horror" as Stevenson, throughout the novel, will go out of his way to create a link between the urban landscape of Victorian London and the dark events surrounding Hyde. He creates this effect through the use of nightmarish imagery, in which dark streets "twist and coil" or "lie draped in the fog". Chilling images of the city appear in Uttersons nightmares, the novel reads: "He would be aware of the great field of lamps of a nocturnal city... the figure of Hyde haunted the lawyer all night; and if at any time he dozed over, it was but to see it glide more stealthily through sleeping houses, or more swiftly... through wider labyrinths of lamp-lighted city, and at every street corner crush a child and leave her screaming". This novel also represented fears that common people faced during that period of time. Some critics believe that it reflected
Explore Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and the Body Snatchers as both gothic and mysterious texts.
EXPLORE STEVENSON'S DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE AND THE BODY SNATCHERS AS BOTH GOTHIC AND MYSTERIOUS TEXTS. The novels Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, written in 1885, and The Body Snatchers, written in ______ can be seen as novels with a gothic genre as well as mystery stories. They allow the reader to become captivated and absorbed within the text so that they can find out the intriguing nature of the novel, coming across as the story unfolds via clues and hints as to what twists are involved in the plot and characters to unveil the mystery. In the era these novels were written, they were the first in their kind in terms of the gothic genre and as mysterious texts where the turn of events or the characters behaviour was not predictable. They can be considered as novels which look at the darker side of a persons capabilities, this was a new concept to the Victorians in the 19th Century. The book, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde raises issues of and supports the concept of the dual nature of man, Victorian hypocrisy, the bestial nature of man and the experimentation with science and drugs. The issues within the book created a whole new genre in the nineteenth century for such books including The Body Snatchers and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which can also be categorised into this genre. In this essay I will explore Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as a mystery and a gothic story. I will include
Gothic Short Stories
Gothic Short Stories Gothic stories are usually dark and mysterious, set mostly at night, and frequently have the appearance of bad weather. Gothic stories hit a peak in Victorian times, when Jack the Ripper and other famous lawbreakers struck fear into peoples hearts. This grim time was not helped by the very inefficient police force, this left people wanting to hear of more heroes in their world. I have read 3 famous gothic short stories, and in my essay I am going to explore them in detail to decide how suspense has been created, and how effective this is. The three stories are: The Body-Snatcher The Red Room The Adventure of the Speckled Band. All of these titles start with "The"; this is to show it is a more definite article. All of these titles give away as little about the story as possible, adding mystery to the stories. The Red Room conjures up lots of different images, for example, blood, danger, evil and pain. But then again, it could just be about a room painted red! This makes the reader want to continue to find out how the title actually relates to the story. The Body-Snatcher immediately gives images of mystery, graveyards, bodies and moonlight. This gives the title a spooky and mysterious touch, which is vital for a gothic story as it gets the reader interested in what the story is about so they want to read more and more. This is a very effective gothic
The Development of the Gothic Genre of Literature over the Last 200 years
The Development of the Gothic Genre of Literature over the Last 200 years Gothic Literature has developed in some ways a lot over the last two hundred years, but in other ways, not much of it has changed. The things that have mainly stayed the same over the years are the inclusion of monologues in gothic novels. Most gothic novels to date have in them at least a couple of monologues. Another element is mystery. Gothic novels have maybe a murder case or in 'Jekyll and Hyde' there is the idea of body switching, where Jekyll is Hyde and vice-versa. Things that have changed in one way or another over the last two hundred years are the sentence length. Edgar Allan Poe used short, snappy sentences that were just what the character was thinking. Sometimes he would even break a sentence with a chain of thoughts, then return to the sentence and finish it. Whereas authors such as R. L. Stevenson and Angela Carter used what we refer to as normal sentence length, and irregular patterns of paragraph length. An example of this is in 'Jekyll and Hyde', (R. L. Stevenson), there is a paragraph that is one page long. The name gothic initially came from a style of architecture that dates as far back as medieval times. The menacing looks of gothic architecture make it well known. An example of gothic architecture is shown in many arches, as arches from the gothic period are known for
How does Stevenson create fear for the reader in the opening chapters of the novel 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'?
How does Stevenson create fear for the reader in the opening chapters of the novel 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'? Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a popular novel published in 1886.this book related to many of the Victorian readers. During the Victorian period people lived two lives one side is the almost stiff powerful dull society with more concern of their reputation. However when they were in the comfort of their own homes, emotions which are ceased to be seen and bottled up in public are relieved by drinking alcohol, smoking socializing with friends and intimacy with a partner. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was a successful horror novel of the time, one reason for this is Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Most Victorians rejected the theory as it questioned their faith and powerful race. His theory raised a few eye brows and put many people on edge scaring them at just the thought of evolving from apes and even re-evolving back. Stevenson uses this public fear to shock and scare his audience with horror novel. Gothic horror was every popular around this time and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde included many gothic horror features. Some of these features are ; mystery, Gothic architecture, death, decay and secrets. All these create fear tension and a good horror novel. A old dark dangerous London is a good setting for fear and action. London's scenery was full of medieval and run down neglected
The Well - Gothic Horror by Elizabeth Jolley.
The Well - Gothic Horror The Well written by the talented Western Australian writer, Elizabeth Jolley is a suspenseful and chilling novel comprising elements of the Gothic genre. It centralizes on Herster Haper the eccentric, crippled and surrogate mother to Katherine, an unwanted child who together commit a crime. Adding to this psychological thriller is the apparent mystery body down the well. Gothic novels are horror stories of a more or less macabre nature exploring the darker side of life. They are tales of the supernatural, the paranormal, and set among isolated, haunted landscapes. They are characterised by marginalised lonely people and involves unknown origins. The fragmented narrative structure of the Well, wherethe author's omniscient voice regular intrudes, is abundant in silences, ambiguities, and surprises, a characteristic feature of Jolley's fictions and a key element of a gothic genre. One morning when birds were echoing across the paddocks...Mr Harper having unsuccessfully made a partial change over to beef died. It is these sentences that causes the reader to feel bewildered by the inappropriateness of the information to which the sentence actually leads. The sentence starts with a lyrical description of nature but has little to do with the tragic event of Mr Harper's death. The flash backs, a suspense-creating device is purposely utilised in the novel to
How effective is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as a Gothic narrative?
Freskim Rushiti 10V Mrs.C.Lynch How effective is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as a Gothic narrative? In our G.C.S.E English class, we have been reading the Stevenson classic of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Whist reading this, we have been discussing how effective the book is as gothic literature and now we have to write an essay around the question, including the elements of a gothic narrative and how Jekyll changed when he got older. First of all, I will talk about a gothic setting. Before reading the book, when I knew nothing about the story I thought it would be similar to Frankenstein (by Mary Shelley) and that it would have an Eastern European Eastern Europe type of setting, concentrating around graveyards a lot of the time but I was very wrong. It is mostly set in laboratories or in the dark streets of Victorian Scotland. In the text it explains the whole setting of back street Scotland best in this section, "Round the corner from the by street there was a square of ancient handsome houses now for the most part decayed from their high estate and left in flats and chambers to all sorts and conditions of men." The quotation explains that, although the by street did once look nice and well cared for it is now old looking and decayed. The setting in this part of the book can be compared to the gargoyles on the buildings in the Hunch Back of Notre Dame. Now I will consider the