How effectively does Stephenson create a sense of mystery and intrigue Essay

When Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at the time Victorian London was a unspeakable place to live in, for instance, London was riddled full of prostitution. Most of London was dilapidated because there was no sanitation system so London had a amazing stench to it. It was smoggy because of the factories and there was a great deal of of peasant cruelty. Children as young as five would have to work in appall(a)ing conditions middling in piece to eat. There was crime because back hence the police were unreliable, drunk and they werent introduced until 1829, and there were major unsolved crimes worry Jack the Ripper, but on the positive side etiquette was devourn as important. We can nail in this by the way Dr Utterson behaves, but unfortunately the lower circle as you will discover later on in the novella tend to take etiquette less to accountThere is significant reference to Charles Darwins theory of evolution which in those days meant that bulk believed that there were two halves to the human character , the awful side and the criminal or wildcat side, the noble side being Dr Jekyll and the animal and criminal side being Mr. Hyde. Stevenson helps make this app atomic number 18nt by his description of Hyde making him look repulsive, ugly and having a terrible temper and an animal like behaviour. The Victorians had a belief that once youre a criminal you stay a criminal because the criminals were naturally bad. We can see this by the way In which everyone who sees him describes him asParticularly small and particularly wicked-looking, is whatthe maid calls him, said the officer.The fact that this sort of reaction is natural to everyone who sees Mr Hyde implies to us that foremost Stevenson believed in the criminal class theory, Mr Hyde is living proof of this.The atmosphere end-to-end the majority of the book is eerie and mysterious because of the darkness of the ara and how slummy it is, with all of the dilapidation a nd crime rife. This excessively helps to give divulge a sense of mystery and intrigue at the same time. Two doors from one corner, on the go forth hand going east theline was broken by the entry of a court and just at that point acertain alarming block of building thrust forward its gable on thestreet.This reference work here also gives out a sense of imminent danger the member sinister shows this to us because it gives out a negative impression of the house and the area around the houseYou may have also noticed as you read through the unharmed book that if you read through it carefully enough you would discover several links to the first chapter for instance the murder of Sir Danvers Carew and the glide path on the little girl. Both of these specks are linked due to the fact that they were both unprovoked and also because they are both examples of the fierce aggresion Mr Hyde displays all throughout the book.Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at theco rner and then came the horrible part of the thing for the mantrampled calmly over the childs body and left her screaming onthe groundThis is also shows yet another reference to Charles Darwins Origin of the Species again, with Mr Hyde this time round, displaying his criminal side. This quotation shows Mr. Hydes potential for extreme violence and even potential murderOther people display their animal side to them during the book when The girls family and the girls doctor hadI knew what was in his mind, just as he knew what was in mine and killing being out of the question,this also shows how everyone has an animal side within themselves.Another recurring clue that appears and re- appears in this book is the theme of the key. For instance, the key and references to the key have been written throughout the book.Mr. Utterson again walked both(prenominal) way in silence and obviouslyunder a weight of consideration.You are sure enough he used a key? heinquired at last.If you were to g o through the book at any point you would discover how important this key was. And the fact that Mr Utterson is asking a question Are you sure he used a key? also raises the mystery surrounding the key, because his doubt makes you wonder about why he has his doubts about the keymoreover is the matter of the Door which seems to be a complete mystery and just as the key is, it is mentioned several times throughout the book, this has a significance because firstly the door serves as a main clue youBlack Mail House is what I call the placewith the door, The elevate given to the place with the door, ( blackjack house) helps bring in intrigue to the door and the hole-and-corner(a) behind it because of the negative association with the door, thus increasing our intrigue in this constantly mentioned door and the secret that lies behind it. The word Blackmail also suggests that there is surreptitious activity going on in that house.The other strange clue that is hinted at anterior on in chapter I is the whole matter of the cheque books signature which Utterson remarks upon.drawn payable to bearer and signed with a name that I cant mention, though its one of the points of my fable, but it was a name at least very well known and a great deal printed. the handwriting of the signature has a significant link to a main character in the later chapters of the book and serves as a huge clue during the book, this also creates a feel of curiosity because by his teasing the information to you it hieghtens the feel of tension and intrigue.Furthermore there are plenty of comparisons to Mr Hyde and the devil which are used almost as frequently as Robert Louis Stevenson uses Mr Hyde and the animal like comparisons. I could see thatbut carrying itoff, sir, really like SatanThis quotation highlights again Charles Darwins theory of evolution, which also shows how terrible a person Mr Hyde can possibly be. This is also significant because here we can see Mr. Hyde being personified as the devilAnother important clue that Robert Stevenson introduces to us is Mr Hydes cheque and his unbelievable wealth, which is linked on to another part of the story where the mysterious will is brought along, as well as the handwriting of Mr Hyde where Mr Utterson takes the cheque as a comparison I took the liberty of pointing out to my gentlemanthat the whole business looked apocryphal, and that a man doesnot, in real life, walk into a cellar door at four in the morningand come out with another mans cheque for close upon a hundredpounds.We can see from this that Mr Hyde is rich enough to throw money around and this also shows his shiftiness because of the way he had jus walked into his house and had then started to throw money all around the place in order to make himself look better.Stevenson uses the telescope of the house and the houses area already gives us a negative impression of the house, and also implies that the house is empty and neglected even though in reality it is quite opposite to our impression.Discoloured wall on the upper and bore in every in every feature the marks of elongate and sordid negligence.This quotation tells us how the house is in bad disrepair, and how it is almost rotting away due to the negligenceAnother example of this negligence which has just proceeded away is shown again later on in chapter I page 11, we can see this by his description of his houseFor close on a generation no one had appeared to drive away these random visitors or to repair their ravages.This links to a quotation which I had made earlier on during the essay about Mr. Utterson which adds to the mystery because it makes you wonder about how someone can have a key to a house that has been in disrepair for years and then have the ability to pay out 100 pounds, because of these illogical clues the reader will then be drawn into the book more in order to figure out these clues.In conclusion we can tell the Dr Louis Stephenson had effectively used the clu es during the first chapter of this book because firstly there is a large kernel of references to later clues scattered throughout the book, secondly most of the links to the clues we can see here are not vague and the links between them are strong and solid.We can also see from this that Stephenson had created an immense sense of intrigue because of firstly the position he chose, which was the dark, late night when all the criminals are roaming. similarly he had increased the sense of intrigue by having the main character have an illogical sudden fear of the streets. He also uses the typical setting of a crime scene, which is dark, early morning when few people which people see as dangerous, by doing this Stevenson had therefore managed to draw in more people into his novella.