Jekyll and Hyde Critical Essay

Jekyll and Hyde Critical Essay

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Victorian gothic novel, “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” deals with a character that deals with a crisis point, (Jekyll). Therefore in this essay I will look at how the crisis point is achieved through literary techniques and how this helps my understanding of this text as a whole.
“Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” deals with a noted doctor, (Jekyll) who slowly throughout the text develops into his other nasty side, (Hyde). As the text develops “Jekyll” has the increased urge to become “Hyde” eventually culminating in the death of Sir Danvers Carew and eventually himself.
The moment of which Jekyll reaches his point of absolute crisis comes when he loses control of his own body. Stevenson makes expert use of imagery and structure to impress the reader the intensity of Jekyll’s feelings at the moment. In contrast to the “Hand of Henry Jekyll”, Hyde’s hand is not “large, firm, white and comely” but is “lean, corded, knuckily… and shaded with a swart growth of hair.” This stark contrast emphasises Hyde’s “animalistic and troglodytic nature” and shows how different he is from Jekyll. Stevenson convincingly shows the extent of Jekyll’s horror by clever imagery, describing the terror in his breast as being “as sudden and as startling as a crash of cymbals.” This terror is because he has “gone to bed Henry Jekyll” and then “awakened Edward Hyde.” His sleep here symbolises his weakness- the switching off of his mind so that Hyde can pounce upon him and shows how vulnerable we are to our base desires. This conveys an early crisis point as we can see Hyde slowly taking over from Jekyll and how weak and vulnerable Jekyll is to his own desires, therefore enhancing my understanding of the text as a whole.
Jekyll’s crisis point- the unbidden appearance of Hyde- escalates very quickly, and Stevenson uses powerfully effective word choice and imagery to intensify this key moment for the reader. When Jekyll was “sat in the sun on a bench;” his desire to become Hyde was increasing forcing “the animal within [him], licking the chops of memory.” Jekyll was “comparing [his] active good will with the lazy cruelty of their neglect.” He felt “ a horrid nausea and the most deadly shuddering” in which he knew that he was slowly turning into Hyde. Jekyll then “began to be aware of a change in the temper of [his] thoughts a greater boldness, a contempt of danger, a solution.” Finally “Jekyll knew once more that he was Edward Hyde” The feelings that Jekyll receives are reminiscent to those of a serious disease and this is represented through Jekyll’s uncontrollable desire to become Hyde. This helps enhance the readers’ pity as well as expertly conveying a crisis point that helps my understanding of the text as a whole.
The moment of Jekyll’s crisis leads him to self-exclude himself from both society and his friends, and Stevenson’s expert use of language and skilful evocation

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