Therefore a book which merges both genres successfully has been a rare and intriguing treat for readers over the last 123 years. This type of genre cross-over is unusual due to gothic/horrors rarely involving detective work and detective stories seldom using paranormal activity/beings such as Edward Hyde. These two genres work well together to create an intriguing and interesting novella. Two excellent examples of gothic/horror used in the story to create intrigue are in “The Story Of The Door” and “The Carew Murder Case.”
In “The Story Of The Door” Stevenson captures our attention immediately in a scene involving both the horror and detective genres with Mr Enfield recounting to Mr Utterson the horrific story of a brutal attack on a young girl. The first part of the chapter involves horror when Mr Enfield describes Mr Hyde as a “juggernaut” as he charges down an innocent, young girl without any hesitation. As this moment occurs within the first few pages it is the first time we meet the character of Mr Hyde and Stevenson successfully introduces him as a loathsome and detestable man. Mr Enfield states that “he was perfectly cool and made no resistance, but gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running.” This scene makes the reader ask themselves many questions such as: Why doesn’t this man go back to help her? Why doesn’t he care about what he has done? Who is this terrible man? And why doesn’t he resist Mr Enfield’s clutch? With few of these questions being answered it leaves the reader yearning for more information about who this man is and why he is so evil.
Then comes the detective part of the chapter when Mr Enfield seizes the attacker and the Doctor, the girl’s parents and he decide to blackmail Mr Hyde for £100 instead of calling the police. So Mr Hyde enters a run-down building through a lone door promising that he will return with the money. All readers feel mystified by this door (as did Mr Enfield and Utterson) because it is the only way into a dirty, old, neglected building and Stevenson creates a sense of intrigue by having this obviously evil man enter this building as if it was his own and this causes the reader to wonder what could be going on in the decrepit house behind the old, mysterious door. Meanwhile Mr Enfield performs some detective work by asking several witnesses for information which could make the reader intrigued about Mr Enfield capturing villains.
The reader’s second encounter with Mr Hyde involves the gothic/horror genre to create intrigue. It is set a year later within Chapter 4, “The Carew Murder Case,” where on one dark October night Mr Hyde viciously beats Sir Danvers Carew with a cane until death. Sir Danvers Carew is the second known victim of Mr Hyde, as at first Mr Enfield witnessed the trampling of the young girl by Mr Hyde, but he did not kill her, or seriously injure her. Rather, his behaviour seems to show an utter disregard for the girl’s humanity or her right to walk down the same street as him. In contrast, Sir Danvers Carew is viciously murdered with no apparent reason and it seems to me that Mr Hyde is merely trying to demonstrate his power. Thus, proving that Hyde is gaining more control, which forebodes further tragedy to come. The attack is set late at night and “The lane was brilliantly lit by the moon,” as Mr Hyde menacingly approached Sir Carew and “the moon shone on his face as they spoke.” After a few words passed to one another Mr Hyde viciously struck Carew with his walking cane. The one witness, a maid looking through her window above them, instantly fainted. This chapter involves an appropriate amount of gothic/horror to intrigue the reader and cause themselves to wonder why Mr Hyde would attack a supposedly innocent man with no apparent reason.
Horror is similar to gothic but without the strong feeling of romance, but with extra horror and frightening moments to make the reader enjoy and keep reading the story.
Throughout the chapter “Search For Mr Hyde”, Stevenson uses Mr Utterson as the amateur detective to lure the reader into thinking that the secret of Hr Hyde will be discovered soon. The reader is then curious of what is happening between Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll and would therefore want to continue reading in the hope of finding out.
In “Search For Mr Hyde” Mr Utterson truly seems to be the amateur detective as he reads Dr Jekyll’s will and discovers that “in case of the decease of Henry Jekyll, M.D., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., &c., all his possessions were to pass into the hands of his friend and benefactor Edward Hyde, but that in case of Dr Jekyll’s disappearance or unexplained absence for any period exceeding three calendar months, the said Edward Hyde should step into the said Henry Jekyll’s shoes without further delay and free from any burthen or obligation, beyond the payments of a few small sums to the members of the doctors household.” Mr Utterson is disgraced that his dear friend, Dr Jekyll, would leave his entire wealth to a criminal. This new information about Mr Hyde sets the story for Stevenson’s novel as the objective of the story revolves around Mr Utterson discovering who Mr Hyde is? How does he know Dr Jekyll? And how is Dr Jekyll so close to Mr Hyde without Mr Utterson having never heard him mentioned? Stevenson used the will to make the reader aware that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde know each other, without anyone physically saying it, which leads the reader to believe that nobody knows about their mysterious friendship.
As Mr Utterson now knows that Dr Jekyll is a good friend of, the criminal, Mr Hyde he decides to confront Dr Jekyll after a dinner party and asks him about Mr Hyde. Subsequently the doctor gets upset and lies to Mr Utterson, one of Dr Jekyll’s closest and most loyal friends, which foreshadows the degree to which Hyde’s evilness will gain power over the otherwise respectable Jekyll. Yet Mr Utterson probes him further until Dr Jekyll reveals that he believes he can be “rid of Hyde at any point,” which later proves to be tragically false. Thus, Stevenson examines the issue of control and mentions that although Jekyll believes to be in control of the situation, he is not. In this small chapter the readers realise that despite Dr Jekyll supposedly being great friends with Hyde, Utterson’s conversation with Dr Jekyll reveals that Dr Jekyll does not want anyone to speak of Mr Hyde therefore strengthening the reader’s perception that he is not a friendly character which adds to his mystery as the readers no little about him yet.
An example of Stevenson creating intrigue in the storyline and structure is the limited third person viewpoint. A novel written in the third person viewpoint is similar to one written in the first person viewpoint which is when thoughts and feelings are channelled through the first person’s perception. Third person is similar except thoughts and feelings are limited and must be expressed by speech. However, this viewpoint means that there is usually more than one main character and the plot and setting can be described more deeply than in first person. The third person viewpoint helps create a level of intrigue in “The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde” that a first person viewpoint could never achieve.
This method is used in “The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde” when characters in the novella can see things which the reader wants to see but cannot interpret. In the novel, the third person viewpoint is based around the amateur detective, Mr Utterson. Stevenson also uses other third person narratives such as the maid in “The Carew Murder Case.” This helps to create a feeling of mystery and suspense. For example, if the novella had been from Dr Jekyll’s perspective, there would never have been the dramatic and engaging which the reader experiences and everything exciting and mysterious would have been revealed very near the beginning, with no sense of intrigue throughout the novel.
An example of Stevenson using the limited third person viewpoint in an intriguing way is in the “Incident of The Letter” when Dr Jekyll gives a letter from Mr Hyde to Mr Utterson and asks Mr Utterson what he should do with the letter. Mr Utterson reads the letter, but the actual reader cannot tell what the contents of the mysterious letter are because the contents of the letter are not described. The reader wants to know what the contents of the letter are, so they want to read on because they are interested and engaged. This is a fine example of Stevenson using the limited third person perspective to create a sense of intrigue and force the reader to read on.
Stevenson had obviously realised that to fully describe the setting in this novella it would need to be written in third person. This third person viewpoint allows the author to describe the setting more deeply than if it was written in a first person viewpoint. This novella is set in London in the 1880’s and the setting plays a large part in the telling of this story. Many of the scenes of intrigue have a lengthy paragraph describing the setting of which it is taking place. There are several examples of good use of setting to create intrigue including “The Story Of The Door” and “The Carew Murder Case.”
In “The Story Of The Door” Stevenson describes the setting as a very dark street with only artificial light from lamps showing the way. “My way lay through a part of town where there was literally nothing to be seen but lamps.” This represents the mass of evil and very little good of the moment and with the only light being lamp-light this could mean that the only good around was unreal or artificial. Additionally the act of horror took place at 3:00 am representing the theory that evil lives at night and good roams at day.
The gothic/horror style of setting is used with great effect by Stevenson in “The Carew Murder Case” to express the despair and violence of the situation. As before when Mr Hyde trampled the innocent girl, the dirty deed was committed at night time backing the theory that evil lives at night and good roams at day. “Her window was brilliantly lit by the full moon,” the full moon mentioned would have been deliberately used to coincide with the many, various horror stories where a full moon is present. Another mention of the full moon is when Mr Hyde confronts Sir Danvers Carew “the moon shone on his face.” These examples bring a spooky effect upon the reader which causes the murder to seem more genuine and credible. This disastrous event happened to have occurred on the 18th of October which is during the run up to Halloween and the Victorians strongly believed in evil during the October period. This could have aroused a great fear of the paranormal in the Victorians and backed up the belief that October is a menacing and evil time.
Looking at these two examples about how Stevenson creates a sense of intrigue using the setting, it shows that the theory of “evil rules the night and good roams the day” is definitely supported by the two passages giving examples of how the settings creates a sense of intrigue. This can be elaborated, because during the novel all of the bad, evil and mysterious deeds such as the girl being trampled, the murder of Sir Danvers Carew and Hyde transforming, all take place during the night. However, no evil deeds or events happen during the daytime in the novel. Stevenson places the evil events during the night-time in order to sustain the reader’s interest and to make the events seem even more thrilling and credible.
Stevenson develops an intriguing storyline throughout the novella mainly because he does not give away the mystery of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde being the same person until Chapter 9, “The Doctor Lanyon’s Narrative.” In this chapter there is a full copy of a letter that Lanyon intended Mr Utterson to read after both Mr Lanyon’s and Dr Jekyll’s death. It explains to Mr Utterson why Dr Lanyon was given a mysterious letter from Dr Jekyll. The letter requested him to break into one of Jekyll’s cupboards and take home all the contents of a certain drawer and that someone would come to collect them from Mr Lanyon at midnight. Mr Lanyon obeyed these instructions and it was Mr Hyde who arrived at midnight. Then with Dr Lanyon’s full permission, Mr Hyde mixed his received items and drank it menacingly. Subsequently, Mr Hyde’s face literally “melts” into Dr Jekyll before Mr Lanyon’s very eyes.
This chapter relieves the reader and answers nearly all theories and questions that the reader may have had. The surprising revelation that Dr Jekyll, a good, well mannered scientist, and Mr Hyde, an evil criminal, were in fact the same person with different motives in life. This is a very interesting conclusion to the story because everyone has an alter-ego but the thought of our opposite self breaking loose and running wild could really be a worrying thought for a lot of people. Though this answers most of the questions which arose in the novella, it could still leave the reader wondering how Dr Jekyll managed to transform himself into Mr Hyde. But Stevenson leaves nothing unanswered by revealing this in the last chapter, “Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement Of The Case.” This odd ending could have been a great shock to some but to others who had pieced the puzzle together it may have seemed like a well earned achievement. Stevenson created a lot of intrigue during “The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde” by gradually dropping small hints that give the reader an inkling that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde could be the same person. A good example of this is when it was discovered that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde have the same handwriting. This would leave the reader wondering whether they are the same person or whether it was merely a coincidence.
The character of Dr Jekyll becomes more mysterious as the novella progresses because his health begins to deteriorate and his personality begins to change. His good side literally disintegrates as he rejects Mr Utterson and denies him any access to his home. This is very mysterious and intriguing because Mr Utterson is supposedly an old friend of Dr Jekyll. Therefore it is abnormal that Dr Jekyll would reject him like this. The reader then begins to ask questions such as why is Dr Jekyll acting like this? And why is he rejecting his friends?
Then in the last chapter, Dr Jekyll reveals everything, and explains how he isn’t a good or friendly person after all and how it was just a facade. He explained how he was “leading a dual life”, with his good side constantly feeling guilty for not being on the dark side. Then he explains how he made the potion which would transform him into another person and upon looking at himself in the mirror, he was not disgusted by his new, truly hideous form. The narrative also explains why he murdered Carew and the terrible price of the potion. This dramatic ending to the novel is utterly fantastic and worth reading because all of the questions and answers which the reader wants to know are revealed
The most intriguing theme in “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” is the “duality of nature” Clearly, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is an examination of the duality of human nature, as most clearly expressed in the revelation that Mr. Hyde is in fact Dr. Jekyll, only transformed into a personification of Dr Jekyll's evil characteristics. Mr Utterson's discovery of Dr Jekyll's astounding work occurs in the final chapter of the novel, after Stevenson has laid the groundwork of evidence for the extreme duality inherent in human nature. We have already witnessed Mr Hyde's powerfully vicious violence and have seen the contrasting kind, gentle, and honourable Dr. Jekyll. In approaching the novel's mystery, Mr Utterson never imagines that Hyde and Jekyll are the same man, as he finds it impossible to reconcile their strikingly different behaviour. In pursuing his scientific experiments and validating his work, Dr Jekyll claims, "man is not truly one, but truly two." Therefore, in Dr Jekyll's view, every soul contains elements of both good and evil, but one is always dominant. In Dr Jekyll's case, his good side is dominant, but he knows there is evil inside of him. However, as a respectable member of society and an honourable Victorian gentleman, Jekyll cannot fulfil his evil desires. Thus, he works to develop a way to separate the two parts of his soul and free his evil characteristics. However, as Vladimir Nabokov (a Russian novelist and novella writer) explains in an introduction to the Signet Classic version of the book, “Dr Jekyll is a composite being, a mixture of good and bad... Jekyll is not really transformed into Hyde but projects a concentrate of pure evil that becomes Hyde.” Unfortunately, rather than separating and equalizing these forces of good and evil, Dr Jekyll's potion only allows his purely evil side to gain strength. Dr Jekyll is in fact a combination of good and evil, but Hyde is only pure evil. Thus, there is never a way to strengthen or separate Dr Jekyll's pure goodness. Without counterbalancing his evil identity, Dr Jekyll allows Mr Hyde to grow increasingly strong, and eventually take over entirely, perhaps entirely destroying all the pure goodness Dr Jekyll ever had.
Other theorists have argued that perhaps Stevenson concludes that man is not in fact a purely dual being, but is at his heart a primitive being, tamed and civilized by the laws of society. Stevenson does portray Mr Hyde in highly animalistic terms – “short, hairy, and like a troglodyte with gnarled hands and a horrific face.” In contrast, Dr Jekyll is described in the most gentlemanly terms - tall, refined, polite and honourable, with long elegant fingers and a handsome appearance. Thus, perhaps Dr Jekyll's experiment reduces his being to its most basic form, in which evil runs freely without considering the constraints of society and civilization. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are not the only examples of duality in the novel. The city of London is also portrayed in contrasting terms, as both a foggy, dreary, nightmarish place, and a well kept, bustling centre of commerce. Indeed, just as men have both positive and negative qualities, so does society.
In conclusion, Robert Louis Stevenson uses several different methods of writing to cause intrigue throughout the novella such as: the third person viewpoint; the duality of humans; use of setting and mixing genres. But over and above this, I believe that the most intriguing part of this story is how Stevenson tells the story by continuously altering the point of view. Stevenson’s use of this creates suspense and reinforces the novella's concentration on duplicity. An example of this is at the start when the story opens up with a focus on Mr Utterson, Dr Jekyll's friend and attorney, and his gradual uncovering of the horror that lies at the heart of the story. Then the narrative immediately shifts to Mr Utterson's friend and relative, Richard Enfield, who first informs Utter-son of the existence of Edward Hyde. Robert Louis Stevenson’s ability to use all of these various writing skills to create intrigue and curiosity is the reason why his novella, “The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde,” is one of the most well-known stories worldwide.
