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The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Dark, mysterious, supernatural and suspance atmosphere.
      - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde creates a new type of gothic novel (the "modern gothic"), which doesn't portray isolated natural contexts anymore. Instead, it is set in a modern, industrialized (and so, polluted) town.
  - - - It involves the occurence of a crime, which is investigated and finally solved. The story revolves around the searching for the truth
      - ENDING
        
        At the end: the presence or absence of happy ending is symbolic because it is based on the author's idea of justice :check:
      - First examples of detective story:
        
        First english detective story is considered to be: the Murders in the Rue Morgue (in Paris), written by Edgar Allan Poe. First to intoduce the Detective figure, Auguste Dupin (prototype for Sherlock Holmes).
        
        Bleak House, written by Charles Dickens
        
        The Moonstone, written by Wilkie Collins. Cosidered to have enstablished the basis for all later detective fictions
      - Main features
        
        a professional detective (very intelligent and brilliant). :check: (Utterson has the role of the "detective")
        
        sometimes, the detective's companion, which provides a contrast to the detective ("mentally slower"). He may be the narrator of the story
        
        a mysterious crime, which is reconstructed in detail. :check:
        
        An inefficient local police force
        
        Presence of false supects and false clues
        
        Gradually unwinding of the mystery :check: (after the detective enters the story)
        
        An unexpected final twist showing the importance of reasoning and psychological analysis
    - - Explores the ‘malevolent’, ‘wicked’ characters or actions :check:
      - Portrays feelings of fear, shock or disgust; sense of the uncanny (inquientante) and strong sense of the unknown and/or mysterious :check:
      - Contains scary and/or shocking plot twists and story reveals :check:
    - - To first to ever write an horror story: Edgar Allan Poe
  - - - Duality of man (good and evil)
        
        Reinforced by the symbolism of Jekyll's house. It displays two opposite façades: one, used by Dr Jekyll, is respectable; the other, used by Hyde, is sinister (metaphor for the evil that lies behind victorian society's decorous façade; and the duality of men)
        
        Most of the action takes place, in the poorer district of London (considered the place where evil stayed), and at night (only artificial lighting): when Hyde assault a little girl; when Hyde kills a respected man; when Jekyll commits suicide
        
        Hyde= evil; the monstrous, illogical human aspect. During the tranformation, Jekyll changes both phisically and psychologically
        
        ugly face, pale and dwarfish, dark and hairy hands,
        he seems deformed
        
        Hyde slowly overthows Dr Jekyll (this process is emphasized by his growing in stature) and totally destroys the original balance between good and evil
        
        Jekyll= good; respectable, virtuous middle-class man
        
        handsome face, white and well-shaped hands, harmonious body proportions
      - the double nature of Victorian society: aristocracy was kind and refined on the outside, but hid many secrects.
- - - - Mr Utterson, who has the role of a detective. he follows leads and investigte to find the truth
      - Enflield, a distant relative of Mr. Utterson. The two are very different. This may be another metaphor of the duality of man
      - Dr Lanyon, friend and colleague of Dr Jekyll. He is the first to witness Jekyll's transformation. It traumatizes him, he decided to die rather than keep living in a world where nature has been twisted
    - - Jekyll, who, at the end of the story, speaks in first person and describes all the events from his point of view
- - - - symbol of psychologic repression (Victorian society, in fact, was founded on anethical values and sexual repression)
        
        Jekyll is the typical man in conformity with society's rules. And that's what made him feel incomplete and what led him to make the experiment. Jekyll projects his hidden pleasures onto Mr Hyde and can be considered as a "Victorian Faust"
        
        Goethe's Faust is a scientist who portrays how men are aware of their limits but keep try to overcome them (Jekyll is aware he cannot divide himself into two but keeps trying?)
    - - Jekyll's discovery (duality of man) may symbolize the journey inside our psyche, exploring unkown regions
- - - - The rational world
      - The irrational world