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Setting In Jekyll and Hyde - Coggle Diagram
Setting In Jekyll and Hyde
Victorian London
Victorian London was the center of high society and acts as the backdrop for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It was a city of both great wealth and great poverty, with a very large gap between the lower and upper class.
Due to this division in wealth, London was also a place of danger. At the time that Stevenson was writing his novella, London was plagued by a serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, whose crimes were widely known. By choosing London as his wetting, Stevenson adds yet another element of fear and mystery to his narrative.
The streets of London were known for being narrow and hardto navigate, acting as a maze for his characters to move within and therefore adding another atmosphere of mystery.
Gothic London
“a
fog
rolled over the city in the
small hours
, the early part of the
night
was cloudless, and the lane, which the maid's window overlooked, was brilliantly lit by the
full moon
”
“
the moon shone on his face
as he spoke, and the girl was pleased to watch it”
Thetime of day, weather and lighting all create fear and tension.
The full moon, which allows the maid to witness the murder - rreinforcesthe reader’s suspicion of Hyde as an almost supernatural ‘devil’.
The fog is another gothic motif which covers the city - it literally obscures the city suggesting secrecy and hidden
“It was
two o'clock
when she came to herself and called for the police. The murderer was gone long ago;”
The morning after the murder when Utterson starts to look for Hyde:
“It was by this time about nine in the morning, and the first fog of the season. A great
chocolate-coloured pall
lowered over heaven [...] Mr. Utterson beheld a marvelous number of degrees and hues of
twilight
; for here it would be
dark like the back-end of evening
; and there would be a glow of a rich, lurid brown, like the
light of some strange conflagration
. [Hyde’s street was] like a district in some city of a
nightmare
.”
Fog reinforces the idea of mystery and hidden secrets
(the murder itself, but also Carew’s reasons for speaking to Hyde and being out in London at midnight).
The full moon is another gothic trope that hints at Hyde having a supernatural quality.
Carew's Murder
Carew’s murder is described with traditionally gothic motifs to reinforce Hyde’s monstrous behaviour.
The time of day, weather and lighting all create fear and tension.
The fact that the murder is observed from a window increases the sense that the reader is missing key information: yet more secrecy and hidden ideas.
Fog reinforces the idea of mystery and hidden secrets (the murder itself, but also Carew’s reasons for speaking to Hyde and being out in London at midnight).
The full moon is another gothic trope that hints at Hyde having a supernatural quality.
The morning after the murder when Utterson starts to look for Hyde:
“It was by this time about nine in the morning, and the first fog of the season. A great
chocolate-coloured pall
lowered over heaven [...] Mr. Utterson beheld a marvelous number of degrees and hues of
twilight
; for here it would be
dark like the back-end of evening
; and there would be a glow of a rich, lurid brown, like the
light of some strange conflagration
. [Hyde’s street was] like a district in some city of a
nightmare
.”
“It was
two o'clock
when she came to herself and called for the police. The murderer was gone long ago;”
“
the moon shone on his face
as he spoke, and the girl was pleased to watch it”
“a
fog
rolled over the city in the
small hours
, the early part of the
night
was cloudless, and the lane, which the maid's window overlooked, was brilliantly lit by the
full moon
”
The Door - Chapter 1
It is also hidden in a backstreet - in the same way Hyde is able to take refuge in Jekyll’s respectability. - The back entrance to Jekyll’s laboratory symbolises the differences in status and reputation between J & H. It also symbolises the connection between the two - a door is a liminal; a transition between two states (inside / outside).