Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

English Literature: Jekyll and Hyde, He's like an animal: Stevenson…

- - - - Setting
        
        Setting:
        
        The novels settings are mostly dark and foggy. Stevenson emphasis the darkest in the novel especially with the less respectable parts to London
        
        For example, in Soho, the light is always changing "degrees and hues of twilight", a "haggard shaft of daylight" and "changing glimpses" of streets
        
        Stevenson also repeatedly mentions the fog. Its so dense that it covers whole streets, making them places of secrecy
        
        The fog actively works against the characters at times. When Utterson visits Soho, it "cut him off" from his surroundings. Stevenson uses the fog to isolate characters and restrict their view of events
        
        Fog also symbolises mystery. For example, the lecture theatre at Jekyll's house is described as "foggy". The fact that the fog seems to have come indoors represents how deeply Jekyll has hidden his secret
        
        Victorian London was known for its smoke. It was so dense people sometimes fell into the thames
        
        Stevenson uses the moon to highlight parts if setting. Carew's murder is "brilliantly lit by the full moon" which makes it more dramatic as if its under a spotlight
        
        Stevenson also presents London's streets as threatening and dangerous places as both of Hyde's attacks take place there. The streets are often linked to horror and nightmares. Soho is described as "a district of some city in a nightmare"
        
        Gothic Novel
        
        Jekyll and Hyde has many features of a Gothic Novel:
        
        Gothic novels often deal with human emotion, mystery and supernatural goings-on:
        
        Mysterious setting - Stevenson's descriptions of the dark, deserted London streets, the "fogged city moon" and the objects in Jekyll's laboratory are all mysterious
        
        Disturbing secrets - Jekyll's secret alter ego is disturbing - Hyde commits horrific crimes, and inspires terror in everyone who meets him
        
        Dreams and visions - Utterson has as terrifying vision in which he is "haunted" by a faceless figure. It's a frightening mixture of Enfield's story and Utterson's own fears
        
        The supernatural - Jekyll's scientific experiments are "mystic" and "transcendental". Lanyon describes Hyde's transformation in a way that seems impossible - his features "seemed to melt and alter". This suggests that Hyde isn't part of this world
        
        The double - The novel rests on the idea of man's double nature. As well as Jekyll's obvious duality, other characters and setting have two sides
        
        In gothic novels, a double is a pair of characters. Sometimes these are two seperate people, such as Victor Frankenstein and his creature in Frankenstein. In other books, they're two sides of the same person, such as Jekyll and Hyde
        
        Gothic texts often explore the idea of transgression. Jekyll's experiments are transgressive because they challenge traditional religious, moral and scientific ideas. Jekyll's decision to overstep the limits of traditional science is reflected in the way he literally breaks out of the limits of his own body by turning into Hyde
        
        The Gothic novel was popular in the late Victorian period:
        
        Traditionally, Gothic novels were set in haunted buildings or bonded castles, in faraway places like medieval Europe. In the late Victorian period, this chnaeged to focus on more modern and familiar settings. Jekyll and Hyde takes place in Victorian London
        
        Gothic novels usually featured an evil character or villain. In Jekyll and Hyde, the wicked character, who is described as "pure evil", is actually part of a respectable man