In the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson uses many rhetorical devices. Each of the ones he uses helps to create the mood of the book. The novel uses imagery,diction, and details to create a mysterious mood. Robert Louis Stevenson uses imagery in many ways to create a mysterious mood in his writing. Mr. Hyde lived in a house, where “the door… was blistered and destained”(49). The quote shows how the door looked proving that the man living there did not care about his appearance and that he kept to himself. The next quote shows how the man had a blank stare and no feelings could be seen through his eyes. Hyde was very creepy and Stevenson described him as having a “blackness about his eyes”(66). The city of London had “a great chocolate-coloured pall”(70) over it. The quote cited gives a picture of how the fog was really dark, and it was hard to see through. Imagery is not the only way Stevenson portrayed a mysterious mood in the novel. …show more content…
The book states that Hyde lived in a “sinister block of building”(49). The use of the word sinister shows how the building that he lived in was, and how many people did not like the house or Hyde. The following quote shows how when people looked at Hyde, he made them feel as if he were mean and crazy automatically. People described him as a “man with rugged countenance”(47). Jekyll and Hyde’s manner was said to be “the whole business looked apocryphal”(51). The quote cited shows how puzzling and confusing their relationship was. Although diction was very important in portraying a mysterious mood, there is one
In the opening chapters of ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’, not only does Stevenson portray Mr. Hyde through his descriptions, but he also creates juxtaposition between Mr. Hyde and his descriptions, making the reader feel confused about the character of Mr. Hyde as is Mr. Utterson during the first few chapters. For example, in ‘The Carew Murder Case’, the interior of Mr. Hyde’s house is described as “... furnished with luxury and good taste.” This shows juxtaposition between Mr. Hyde’s house and himself, as Mr. Hyde would never be described as ‘luxurious’ or a man with ‘good taste’. Also, I think that Stevenson wrote this intending to give the reader a feeling of annoyance towards Mr. Hyde just as Mr. Utterson would be feeling at this point. The fact that Mr. Hyde’s house is being described as ‘luxurious’ makes the reader feel that it’s unjust that someone as horrid as Mr. Hyde could be so easily concealed by the interior of his house to a stranger. Stevenson’s intentions here were to have the reader feel more resent and hate for Mr. Hyde and to, again, show a different form and method of mankind’s dual personality being concealed. There is a saying that keeping your secrets or real thoughts bottled up for too long will only cause agitation and will result in the bottle exploding and leaving nothing but destruction
One might question the extent to which Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are in fact a single character. Until the end of the story, the two seem nothing alike. Stevenson uses this marked contrast to make his point: every human being contains opposite forces within him or her, an alter ego that hides behind one's front. Correspondingly, to understand fully the significance of either Jekyll or Hyde, we must consider the two as looking at one single character. When viewed separately, neither is a very interesting personality. It is their relationship that gives the novel its power.
The psychological thriller novella Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson, has a variety of themes, motifs, and symbols, the most important and most prominent being reason vs. the supernatural. This theme can be interpreted as logic against religion, making the idea even more applicable. Reason against the supernatural is the salient theme of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it is a theme depicted throughout the novella. The personages in the novella, as well as the general public of the Victorian era, were extremely illogical in their reasonings. Scientific theories had not been established at the time, leading many to remain unreasonable on the topic of the supernatural. With the most pertinent idea of the book being reason vs. the supernatural, it is mentioned in every chapter of the novella, proving the importance of this theme.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was wrote in 18th centuries, the times that were defined as ‘Gothic revival’. The literature in this times had similar thematic elements include supernatural or ‘fantastic’, violent crime (death and murder), passionate romance (often with death). The novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was considered as typical Gothic literature. Particularly, repression and hypocrisy are highly emphasized in the novel. Repression is undoubtedly a cause of conflict between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The root of this repression can be found in Victorian England where there was no sexual appetites, no violence and no freedom of expressing emotion in the public sphere. Everything should be restrained and people in that times all behaved solemn and were not allowed to show their joys and sorrows. This repression can be well reflected within Dr. Jekyll in the novel. According to quotation of Stevenson’s description:
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the themes and events going on during the late Victorian era. Most, if not all of the story is symbolic for a certain idea in London, England which was going through a time of depression and terror. Overall, many hypotheses have been formed about the historical context in relation to Jekyll and Hyde and some of these ideas are correct, but the most coherent and most logical contributes to the fact that Stevenson's writing is symbolic where each textual aspect of the book relates to the events or people in Victorian
During the story Hyde’s actions compounds our first impressions of him. Stevenson never says exactly what Hyde takes pleasure in on his nightly forays but it is thought to be of things that would ruin Jekyll’s reputation if they ever came out. There is thought to be strong ties to drugs, alcohol addiction and other dangerous dealings; ‘he had once visited her (the maid’s) master and for whom she had conceived a dislike’. In the very first chapter, Mr Enfield tells his friend, Mr Utterson, a story where he witnessed a strange looking man walking along a deserted street, who ‘trampled calmly over (a) child’s body and left her screaming on the ground’ when they collided.
Stevenson uses imagery to create a depressed mood. Such as, “The rasy man had grown pale...” (81). This shows that he is empty on the inside. Also Stevenson’s imagery is shown by “...the door...was blistered and disdain” (49). Shows how old and worn out the door is. Last is that, “...misgiving of the flesh...” (115). Shows how little of life he still has in him. As you can see the imagery creates a depressed mood.
Stevenson suggests the sense of fear and cultural anxieties of late Victorian England through depiction of the unreal city, in particular, fog in the novella. "The fog has gripped London", and it "swirls" and "eddies through the gloomy neighborhoods", describing them seem "like a district of some city in a nightmare." Stevenson shape an eerie aura through portrayals of the "great chocolate-coloured pall lowered over heaven ... here it would be dark like the back-end of evening; and there would be a glow of a rich, lurid brown ... and here ... a haggard shaft of daylight would glance in between the swirling wreaths." The haggard and swirling fog and somber hues combine to form a murkiness that displays
In the novella Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson uses imagery, diction, and details to create a grim mood. In conclusion, using these literary devices helps to reinforce the mood of the story. They also help the readers understand the story
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a very good book that displays somewhat of a moral. This book can create many feelings inside someone as they read the story. In the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson uses imagery, diction, and details to create a mysterious mood.
Stevenson’s “The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” was one of the most famous works of horror fiction of all time in English literature. It was based in the nineteenth century. It reflects the influence of two important ideological forces in the Victorian era. The text uses gothic and detective elements to interest the reader as they were very popular at the time. The focus of the text is concentrated on the issue of Jekyll and Hyde’s personality which was described as someone who lived a double life of outward sanctity and secret iniquity. This is so that it would to create a mystery for the reader as they are trying to unravel who Hyde is.
In my opinion, the mood word, “mysterious”, sums up the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Much of the story surrounds the word, “mysterious.” How can a story create a mood? I will show you. So, In the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson uses imagery, diction, and details to create a mysterious mood.
Stevenson uses the devices imagery, diction and details to give Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde a mysterious mood. The story came to Stevenson in a dream one night. After he had the dream it took him three days to write the book.
Torn between the natures of “good” and “evil, Robert L. Stevenson uses his novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as a representation for the duality of the human mentality. The human nature portrays itself as “good” in the presence of man, but allows its dark side to lurk freely in the absence on others. As the novel progresses, Stevenson uses suspense along a gothic setting to capture the reader’s attention. The moral of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde proves that if our blackened nature is subconsciously feed, our uncorrupt nature will starve and wither away. Stevenson uses his novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to open his reader’s eyes to their own corrupt nature, witness how one nature thrives upon the other and as a connection to all of mankind.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, created by famous writer R. L. Stevenson, can be considered one of the most famous 19th century novella in the whole world. The author used quite a lot of diversified skills to create an ambience of suspense and mystery. The perspective of narrative used from Mr. Utterson is one of them.