As well as Stevenson successfully using a sudden contrast to throw the reader off course to create a sense of suspense right from the start, he goes on to describe ‘the story of the door’, creating not only suspense, but of horror and mystery. One of the most successful examples of suspense, horror and mystery Stevenson uses is the story of Enfield. Partly since the setting to describe the story is so strong, ‘about three o’clock of a black winter morning’. The use of the word ‘black’ engages the reader by giving off a sense of cynicalness and negativity, or of something bad in general. The word ‘black’ creates a pessimistic point of view that something unfortunate is going to occur, and the reader is engaged to see what happens next. He goes on to doing this again by doing several things. He emphasises the use of repetition, ‘street after street’, ‘listens and listens’, secondly, the deliberate use of punctuation: Street after street, and all folks asleep – street after street, all lighted up as if for a procession, and all as empty as a church – till at last I got into that state of mind when a man ‘listens and listens’ and belongs to long for the sight of a policeman. The clever use of repetition makes the sentence seem longer, as well as the deliberate use of no full stops makes the sentence drag on. This plays in well with the fact that Enfield is secluded, as the sentence seems to have no end, similar to Enfield who is on his own with nothing or no one to be seen it is almost as if there’s no end to his isolation, since there’s ‘nothing to be seen but lamps’. This use of punctuation creates suspense since the reader has an idea that something is going to happen, yet the sentence is dragging on and seems to be never ending. It adds to the suspense as you do not know when something is going to happen, everything seems more sudden than usual. At the point where Enfield discovers that he is not by himself, Stevenson cleverly uses the word ‘figures’ instead of people. This is to create a sense of horror and suspense as you do not know who these ‘figures’ are, and there’s no confirmation if they’re human or not, or even their reason to be out. There’s no other description of these ‘figures’, leaving the reader pacing to find out who or what these things are, or what their purpose is, creating a sense of suspense and mystery. One of these ‘figures’ is described as ‘one little man who was stumping’. Something bad is expected to happen, yet ‘one little man stumping’ has appeared. Once again, the reader is unprepared by an act of cruelty, especially one on ‘a girl of maybe eight or ten’. So when this cruel occurrence occurs, it is more surprising and unexpected. Stevenson highlights how callous this act is through a chain of aggressive verbs, ‘screaming’, and ‘hellish’, ‘trampled’. As well, the abrupt contrast of ‘one little man who was stumping’ to ‘some damned juggernaut’ is horrifying since our character is described as an unstoppable force, and you do not know what else he is capable of doing. The unexpected change from ‘one little man’ to ‘some damned juggernaut’ is scary, as you do not know when he is going to change from one to the other, thus everything seems more tense and sudden than usual, creating a sense of suspense and horror.
In addition to Stevenson using setting to create a sense of suspense, horror and mystery, he goes on to create mystery through Jekyll’s will. Although the reader expects there to be some mystery and suspense in the second chapter from reading the title ‘Search for Mr Hyde’, Stevenson exceeds this in making it surprisingly more mysterious. He does this through Dr Jekyll will. One of the very first things the will says: that in case of Dr Jekyll ‘disappearance or unexplained absence for any period exceeding three calendar months’, the said Edward Hyde should step into the said Henry Jekyll shoes without any further delay. Stevenson instantly creates a sense of mystery by emphasising the phrase, ‘disappearance or unexplained absence’, this gives off the impression that perhaps Dr Jekyll knows something he shouldn’t do, and that perhaps he knows his days are counted, or perhaps on the contrary, that Hyde is in some sort of trouble, and that this will is only to help Hyde, thus making everything more tense and mysterious throughout the chapter. As well as this, the fact that Hyde should ‘step into the said Henry Jekyll shoes’, and that all his processions are to pass to him causes some mystery. This is since so far there has been no established relationship or encounter between the two, so why is everything going to Hyde, especially since the reader has hardly heard of Hyde. Is Henry Jekyll in some sort of debt to Edward Hyde? Is Henry Jekyll being blackmailed by Edward Hyde? Stevenson has deliberately put the reader out of their comfort zone by creating all of these unexplained questions throughout the chapter, thus making the reader more confused as the chapter goes on, as these unexplained questions are waited to be answered. Stevenson creates a contrast, between good and evil, between our character, Dr Jekyll, a reputable doctor, and Edward Hyde, ‘some damned juggernaut’. A slight contrast has developed and this goes on throughout the book, between the good personality of Dr Jekyll, and the ‘hardly human’ side of Edward Hyde. It is almost if the evil side wins, as Hyde seems to have the ‘upper hand’ over Jekyll. Since there is this constant contrast between good and evil, does this mean Hyde has the ‘upper hand’ over Jekyll throughout the book?
On top of Stevenson using unexplained answers to create a sense of mystery throughout the second chapter, he goes on to use the description of Hyde during the encounter between Utter son and Hyde to create a sense of not only mystery, but suspense and horror. Stevenson makes this scene especially horrific by using the setting: It was a ‘fine’ ‘dry’ night; frost in the air; the streets as ‘clean’ as a ball-room floor. The scenario used makes this seem a particularly gentle and peaceful night; the reader consequently is not engaged for any sense of suspense or horror. The actual encounter between utter son and Hyde is short; however Stevenson successfully creates a sense of suspense and horror by using several techniques. Firstly, he highlights the use of verbs to describe Hyde, such as: ‘hardly human’, ‘displeasing’, ‘deformity’. Secondly, by the sensation that is left on Utterson after the encounter: ‘he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness’, ‘unknown disgust, loathing and fear.’ Even after an abrupt conversation with Hyde, he seems to leave a chilling impression on Utterson this is scary for the reader, as even after the conversation, Utterson left with a cold unsettling feeling of ‘disgust’. As well as this, in several examples e.g. the story of the door, everyone Hyde manages to encounter with, he seems to have some sort of loathsome effect on them, ‘sick and white with the desire to kill him’. The fact that he has this strange effect on people around him is shocking for us, especially since we ourselves do not know what he looks like, adding to the suspense and horror as we do not know how he could have this effect. In addition to this, there is an obvious contrast during this scene: he was ‘small’, ‘dwarfish’. However he is then later on referred to using the characteristics: ‘snarled’, ‘savage laugh’, ‘hissing’, ‘quickness’, and ‘hardly human’. This huge contrast here is scary for the reader, since one moment Hyde seems like an ordinary human being, the next he is being referred to acting in a ‘hardly human’ manner or ‘troglodytic within seconds. The reader doesn’t know how or when he can change, thus making everything all the more sudden and unexpected, adding to the suspense of the chapter. The verbs and adjectives used to describe Hyde in the scene initiate the impression that he’s animal like. During the Victorian times, Darwin’s theory of evolution had become public, and had shocked all, with his thoughts that humans were of descendants to apes and are in some way or another related to them, contradictorily to that of Adam and Eve. The fact that Stevenson used these verbs and adjectives to illustrate Hyde as an animal, would have shocked his original audience, reminding them of the fact that they’re descendants of mere apes, thus creating a scary sensation, adding to the suspense and horror of the novel itself. Is Darwin’s theory of evolution accurate, if so, as portrayed in the second chapter, in which ways does this mean we could act as mere animals ourselves?
Stevenson uses different techniques to create a mood in which he feels is suitable to the scene, for example, setting, punctuation and vocabulary to set the scene, and character descriptions, in which adding to the suspense, horror or mystery of the scene. During the first two chapters of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, he uses a range of different methods to create a sense of suspense, horror, mystery. There are examples of these throughout the chapters, and the novel itself. Stevenson does this even more shockingly, with the human – animalistic characteristics throughout the book, which would of undoubtedly of been shocking at the time.
