Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde build of Tension

        Chapter 9, “The Last Night” hugely develops the tension as there is a sudden change in behaviour from Poole. At the beginning of the chapter Poole gives the reader a sense of urgency. For example, when Stevenson tells us “Poole, who had kept all the way a pace or two ahead,” This shows us he is desperate to reach his master, but also wants to avoid conversation with Utterson. However we also know he is very scared so this could be why he avoids conversation, this effectively builds tension. Another factor in this chapter that increases suspense is the way Stevenson continually refers to the fact that Poole is scared, but he doesn’t reveal why until more than half way through the chapter. We can directly see Poole dodging that very question: “What are you scared of?” “I’ve been afraid for about a week Poole blatantly, and deliberately, avoids this question. Stevenson keeps referring to the fear in order to inform the reader something terrible has happened, without unveiling what.

        Stevenson also uses pathetic fallacy in “The Last Night” in order to build tension. He uses it when Poole and Utterson are travelling to Jekyll’s house. It says, “It was a wild, cold, seasonable night of march with a pale moon, lying on her back as though the wind had tilted her, and a flying rack of the most diaphanous and lawny texture” Here the harshness of the weather matches the emotions of Poole and Utterson. This scene is not important at all to the plot but Stevenson includes it as it is a very effective and recognised method of building tension in gothic novels. It works perfectly in this part of the story as it is forever building up to when they open Jekyll’s lab. In addition to this Stevenson uses similes and metaphors, for example, “the hair stood upon my neck like quills... he cried out like a rat,” Stevenson is again using similes to fully describe the scene to result in maximum amount of tension for the reader. Although chapters 1 &9 when tension is at its highest, Stevenson adds small elements to the story to increase, or sometimes decrease suspense. For example, the death of Lanyon. In the chapter where he dies Lanyon reveals he had an argument with Jekyll that he will never forgive him over. He then goes on to tell us that he is ill from a terrible shock. Stevenson never reveals what the argument was or what the shock was. This again raises questions and adds suspicion and suspense to the story.

        Another key moment in the build of tension in the story is in the Carew murder case. Stevenson starts the paragraph which describes the incident with “London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity”.  This is not only a strong abstract noun of ‘ferocity’ but it also personifies ‘London’, saying that it is capable of being startled, this helps to raise tension as London is the biggest city in England and one event has managed to shock it, this emphasizes the incident and its horror, therefore effectively raising tension. Stevenson uses strong language throughout the murder case, towards the end he uses shocking imagery when he says “the bones were audibly shattered”, audibly is a strong adverb which means to hear something, it strongly emphasises the brutality of the murder because if a woman a floor above watching the incident who can clearly hear bones shattering, the attack was extremely vicious. This adds even more tension. Finally in the case Stevenson describes the murderer with “ape-like fury”. This simile is still strong today as apes are depicted as angry beasts, but when the novel was written Charles Darwin had just published his Theory of Evolution, which stated that people had originated from monkeys. Stevenson is practically comparing Mr Hyde to a pre-evolution form of man, this effectively adds tension as it connotes that a man whom at one stage is an upper class Dr, turns into a vicious, angry, animalistic murderer.  

        Throughout the whole novel tension fluctuates; at the beginning you see Hyde and Jekyll as two people who know each other. As tension builds you see them get closer and closer. Links to one another grow until the tension peaks. This is when you realise they are the same person. After this realisation Stevenson uses the last chapter as a brief autobiography for Jekyll to fully explain the whole story, leaving all unanswered questions, answered. This results in tension falling back down and giving the story a satisfactory end.

        After fully analysing the story I think that it is portraying the fight between humanities sense of good and evil. I see it though Stevenson is telling the reader that good and evil exist in everyone, and that failure to accept this results in a Mr Hyde type character emerging.

        This novel is tense throughout making it very interesting and effective in what it is trying to achieve. However, it is a victim of its own success, people know the twist before reading the novel, losing the effects of it being a crime story and in some cases spoiling the end.