How Does Stevenson Use Victorian Social Norms To Create Suspense In 'The Last Night' Chapter Of Jekyll And Hyde?

Authors Avatar

How Does Stevenson Use Victorian Social Norms To Create Suspense In 'The Last Night' Chapter Of Jekyll And Hyde?

Robert Louis Stevensons novel Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde included revolutionary ideas and themes for the period in which it written. The book is said to have been inspired by the early life of Stevenson in Edinburgh, a city of two halves – the industrial side of the city, home to the lower classes and the more residential side, home to more upper class families like that of Stevenson. It is widely thought that his fascination with the industrial side,the seedier side of Edinburgh inspired Stevenson to push the boundaries of gothic literature and challenge the ideas of the social norms and the rules of social etiquette that were defined by the higher classes, who are more likely to read novels such as Jekyll and Hyde. In this essay I will be writing about how Stevenson used the ideas of the social norms and etiquette to create suspense in 'The Last Night' Chapter.

The behaviour of Poole, the servant of Dr Jekyll helps to create suspense in 'The Last Night' as soon as soon as he knocks on the door of Mr Utterson. This starts the build up of suspense and tension in the chapter because in Victorian society unless there was an emergency a servant would either be with his master or be expected by the person they are visiting and because Poole is without Jekyll and unexpected it creates tension and makes the reader suspicious. Poole's unusual behaviour continues when he is asked what the problem is, he is asked to reply plainly by Utterson but he ignores this request and avoids answering the question directly. This creates tension and drama because the reader is intrigued by what Poole is talking about. The reader is also intrigued and somewhat afraid because Poole says “I don't like it, sir – I wish I may die if I like it” because it makes 'it' seem dangerous. When asked again what the problem is he continues to avoid answering the question, something that would have been considered very rude and could have meant that Poole would have lost his job. This would have created suspense because it would meant that something was desperately wrong for someone to risk loosing their job in a time when it would have been hard to find another, especially with a bad reference. Poole seems scared and desperate when he repeats the phrase “I can bear it no more”, especially as 'his eyes directed to a corner of the floor' which would have suggested he was scared and with repetition, that he was desperate. When Poole finally answers Uttersons question he remains vague and his voice his hoarse, but he will not go into detail and invites Utterson to see for himself which does show his loyalty to Jekyll because he is worried about being believed if he tells the truth. This creates suspense because it suggests that 'it' is very strange and possibly dangerous.  Further on in the chapter Poole bends the rules of social conduct when he takes control and orders Utterson around, he also takes charge of other servants of Utterson, showing that he is in control. This would have been very unusual behaviour and a breakdown of etiquette.

Join now!

Throughout the chapter there are many breakdowns in etiquette that help to build up suspense for the reader. The first starts when Poole decides to leaves Jekylls house and visit Utterson uninvited and without permission,breaking rules of social etiquette because it does not normally happen unless there is an emergency and creating tension because of that. When inside Uttersons house Poole continues to disregard the rules if social etiquette, he doesn't look directly at Mr Utterson, which creates suspense for the audience because it implicates Utterson in whatever is happening, it is also a sign of disrespect, and of ...

This is a preview of the whole essay