Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - "In the chapter 'The Last Night', How does Stevenson present the Gothic genre"

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Angelo Nicholas                11H

        Dr Jekyll and My Hyde

The Gothic genre was an extremely popular literary tradition in Victorian times. It combines elements of both horror and romance which proved highly popular to the Victorian audiences. The Gothic genre often involved tales of mystery and terror and many chilling supernatural phenomena. Novels written in the Gothic genre would often be set in dark landscapes, decaying mansions with secret passages – original Gothic novels were set in gloomy castles. I will be analysing the presentation of the Gothic genre in ‘The Last Night’ of ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ and identifying and discussing the many aspects of the Gothic genre in this chapter such as social, historical and cultural. Stevenson wrote ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ in 1885 which was under Queen Victoria’s reign.

The Victorian era brought a lot of technological progress and the advancement of European power. However, Stevenson focuses on a milieu he knew well: the upper middle class, highly social world of powerful men in which issues such as appearance are extremely important. Stevenson examines that superficial existence and targets the hypocrisy of social strata and the danger of allowing the innate evilness of human nature to run free in his narrative of a respectable doctor who transforms himself into a savage murderer. There is a lack of female characters throughout most of the novel which reflects the low status given to women in Victorian society and would have been normal to a Victorian audience when Stevenson wrote the novel. The dual nature of man, as shown in characters, is not just a Victorian concept but particularly relevant to the Victorian era where supposedly respectable people were often not what they seemed. There was concern about the rapid progress of science with God’s natural order during the Victorian era. Victorians were confused about the scientific discoveries which were made at the time, which often seem to conflict with their more religious beliefs such as Darwin’s theory of evolution versus the traditional belief of God as the creator of life. A Victorian audience would have seen Dr Jekyll as a reckless scientist who was interfering in God’s work of creation and the malevolent Mr Hyde would be the inevitable result of unnecessary experimentation. Stevenson presents the main themes throughout ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’.

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The idea of duality is constant throughout the novel. Stevenson examines the duality of human nature as most clearly expressed in the revelation that Mr Hyde is in face Jekyll evil characteristic. Hypocrisy of Victorian values is an indictment of society Stevenson makes. He suggests that good and evil are inseparable in human nature. Violence is also a basic theme of the novel. We unearth earlier on the novel that Hyde enjoyed committing violence. Through this imagery f senseless violence against innocent victims, Stevenson expresses the true depravity and pure evil of Mr Hyde, Stevenson focuses on the struggle between ...

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