Does Stevenson Create Suspense In Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

Stevenson uses many methods to achieve and sustain an atmosphere of mystery and suspense in the novel of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He does this by using a clever sense of setting, vocabulary, surroundings and the manner of his characters which are used to describe and slowly reveal the appearance of Hyde . Some of these are highlighted in the depiction of the Dr Jekyll’s house, such as Mr. Enfield's story, Henry Jekyll’s will and the meeting with Hyde.
From the beginning of the book Stevenson creates an atmosphere of mystery which this chapter is called, Story of the Door. This story is not of any door, but of 'the' door. The novel starts with an introduction to Mr Utterson, a man who was 'never lighted by a smile' yet 'somehow lovable', Utterson

seems to be an ordinary person. His personality adds an element of objectivity to then illuminate the evil ways of Hyde. Stevenson then creates suspense, just as the reader is reading on expecting an ordinary walk through town, “a sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street” is juxtaposed with the more affluent surroundings. Stevenson uses gothic, emotive vocabulary such as the word “sinister” to describe the house. Immediately the reader is surprised as this “sinister” house doesn’t seem to fit in with the original description of the street, since it gives the impression of evil. The house seems out of place and particularly since the house is being converted through a series of threatening adjectives, “ blistered and distained” and “discoloured”. This disturbs the balance of this ordinary Sunday walk and whets the reader’s appetite. The informed reader who knows the gist of this famous story, already suspects who might inhabit this “sordid” property.
Then, one night Mr. Utterson dreamt about seeing a figure of a man trampling on the girl, “figure of a man walking, then of a child running from the doctor’s and then these met and that human juggernaut trod the child down and passed on regardless of her screams”, When this cruel occurrence occurs, it is more surprising and unexpected. Stevenson highlights how callous this act is through a chain of aggressive adjectives, “screaming”, and “hellish”, “trampled”. As well, the abrupt contrast of “one little man who was stamping” to “some damned juggernaut” is horrifying since our character is described as an unstoppable force, and you do not know what else he is capable of doing. The unexpected change from “one little man” to “some damned juggernaut” is scary, as you do not know when he is going to change from one to the other, and in such a way everything seems tenser and sudden than usual, creating a sense of suspense and horror. In addition to Stevenson using setting to create a sense of suspense and mystery, he goes on to create mystery through Jekyll's will. Although the reader expects there to be some mystery and suspense in the second chapter from reading the title “Search for Mr Hyde”, Stevenson exceeds this in making it surprisingly more mysterious. One of the very first things the will said was that “in the case of Dr Jekyll's disappearance or unexplained absence for any period exceeding three calendar months, Edward Hyde should step into the said Henry Jekyll's shoes without any further delay”.
Stevenson also used imagery to portray the atmosphere of mystery and suspense. He uses the technique to describe the scene where Utterson is seeing Hyde in his dream, “great field of lamps of a nocturnal city”, it gives the reader a vivid description of an eerie “nocturnal” scene where a “field of lamps” illuminates a horrific scene. Stevenson also created the suspense at the scene where Mr. Utterson is on the search for Hyde and is waiting at the door, “In morning before office hours, at noon when business was plenty, and time scarce, at night under the face of the fogged city moon, by all light and at all hours of solitude or concourse”, this is a particularly suspenseful moment in the novel, with the “fogged city moon” watching down on Mr. Utterson as he waits and waits for the appearance of the mysterious Mr. Hyde, it also creates the tension in the atmosphere which forces the reader to create different outcomes and predict in their minds of what is going to happen.
Hyde is also used as a disguise for Jekyll’s desires, we can see the evidence from his confession in the last chapter about hiding his desires and keeping his public image. But as we progress through the story, Hyde starts to get stronger and Jekyll is not able to control him, as he said “ lean corded, knuckly, of a dusky pallor and thickly shaded with a swart growth of hair. It was the hand of Edward Hyde, Yes I had gone to bed henry Jekyll, I had awakened Edward Hyde”, here we see how hyde is beginning to to take over, even when Jekyll is in his sleep “lean, corded knuckly” hand of Hyde in the bed. Stevenson also described Hyde as an animal when he met Mr. Utterson, “Mr. Utterson stepped out and touched him on the shoulder as a he passed. Mr. Hyde, I think? Mr. Hyde shrank back with a hissing intake of breath.”, this portrays an image of a snake as when Hyde made the “hissing” sound, which gives the reader a sense of danger is approaching. As the story progresses we start to see Hyde is using the back door of the house which is located with all the “ancient” and “decayed” buildings with symbolise evil and secrecy, but on the other hand Dr. Jekyll is using the front door of the house which is surrounded by wealthy and moral people, which contrasts very well with the good Dr. Jekyll and the evil Mr. Hyde. As Mr. Utterson mentioned in this passage, “ one house, however, second from the corner, was still occupied entire; and the door of this which wore a great air of wealth and comfort, though it was now plunged in darkness except for the fanlight”, which tells us Hyde must be hiding something at the back of the house. Also after when he was let in by Poole he described the room as the “pleasantest” room in London, but, however, he still felt a “shudder in his blood”, stating that he is still frightened by the creature, Hyde. As Poole returned he reply to Mr. Utterson that “ Dr. Jekyll was gone out”, in this passage Stevenson cleverly uses the technique dramatic irony to give the reader clues about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and to some extent we as the reader know that they are the same person.
In the start of chapter 4 Stevenson uses juxtaposition to contrast the beautiful night sky with the murder of Carew that the maid is going to witness.

Stevenson firstly describes “The maid’s window overlooked, was brilliantly lit by the full moon. It seems she was romantically given”, this is a juxtaposition of a good night, “never had she felt more at peace with all men or thought more kindly of the world. And as she so sat she became aware of an aged beautiful gentlemen with white hair”, at this point we can see that Stevenson is starting to contrast between the murder that the maid is about to witness. Then the maid noticed Mr. Hyde, as she remembered about Hyde visiting her master, which she had “conceived a dislike”, as the old man and Hyde meet, Stevenson described, “And then all of sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger”, this is also a good metaphor as a fire could spread and burn quickly having an immediate effect on the reader. Also, Stevenson uses simile to describe Hyde having an “ape-like fury” and “hailing down a storm of blows”, which states that the blows are so brutal as the metaphor of big pieces of ice falling and this replicates the brevity of the attack. Stevenson then conveys the image of the bones that were “audibly shattered”, creating the image of cruelty and violence which is forcing the reader to actually see the image of the bones shattering and the sound of the bones

cracking.
In the start of chapter 5 Stevenson uses lots of techniques to create the dark atmosphere which help set the scene. He uses personification in describing the city by which he said “ the fog still slept on the wing above the drowned city”, it gives a feeling that the fog is alive and is still waiting to be woken up as Mr. Utterson is investigating. At the time, Stevenson has chosen was when the amount and reputation of crooks and thieves were very significant and the location he had chosen was Soho, which is great for Mr. hyde as it is well known for an infamous area. Also in the line, “Muffle and smother of these fallen clouds”, tells the reader that the cloud is trying to stop the truth from being heard which adds to the tension. He has also used symbolism in describing the setting to affect the reader’s thought. While Mr. Utterson walked through the city, he described the city, “town’s life was still rolling in through the great arteries”, it creates an image of the never-ending violence and blood which still yet to come which the phrase “ great arteries” resembles a death that is soon to arrive. Stevenson also uses pathetic fallacy to describe the weather in the scene where Utterson is going to visit Mr. Guest. He described the weather as, “with a sound as of a mighty wind”, which is trying to resemble an image of the wind blowing hard to the truth which tells us that the truth may be closer and closer every time. Stevenson had also smoothened the mood of the scene by using colours and imagery to calm the mood when Utterson is meeting with Mr. Guest. It is described in the line “the glow of hot autumn afternoon’s on hillside vineyards, was ready to be set free and disperse the fogs of London”. This particular scene has two sides, firstly Stevenson tries to describe the mood of day time as to be very pleasant by using “glow of hot autumn afternoon’s”, and secondly he also wrote “and disperse the fogs of London” which tells is that the mystery might unfold.
During the last two chapters, Stevenson showed us the duality in mankind through Jekyll’s confession.

From reading the last chapter, we can all see that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are easily viewed as a symbol about the good and evil that exists in all men, and about the struggle these two sides in the human personality. Hyde has a short temper and is made to look evil. “I observed that when I wore the semblance of Edward Hyde, none could come near me at first with a visible misgiving of the flesh”. Jekyll is arguing that Hyde is the perfect physical embodiment of the evil inside him, implying that Hyde looks evil. Stevenson has also explored which aspect of human personality is superior, good or evil. Since at the start of the book Hyde seems to be taking over, you might argue that evil is stronger than good. However, Hyde does end up dead at the end of the story, suggesting a failure of the weakness of evil. Since Hyde represents the evil in Jekyll he is therefore symbolically represented being much smaller than Jekyll as “Jekyll’s clothes are far too large for him”. But as the plot progresses Mr. Hyde began to grow and becomes more powerful than Jekyll, and the reason for Hyde to become more powerful is due to the fact that Jekyll enjoys what Hyde does, which allow Hyde to gradually destroy the good in

Jekyll.