Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to is obviously a Gothic story. As mentioned there were no castles, but through Stevenson's creepy description of London it was obvious that it displayed a Gothic setting. The talks of flickering lights and the for in the empty streets also describes gothic seeting. Also descriptions of "the door" just made it seem creepy and build a feeling of suspense wondering what will happen behind the door. He describes the building and the door as "a sinister block of building," "it was two storeys high; showed no window, nothing but a door in the lower strorey and a blind foreheas of discoloured wall on the upper; and bore in every feature, the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence. Not only that Mr. Hyde could be represented as a doppelganger of Dr. Jekyll. The tranformation of Jekyll into Hyde is also another charateristic of a Gothic story.
I think one reason this seems as if it were a detective novel is for starters the title. "The Strange Case" was often used in many detective novels such as Sherlock Holmes. Also the way Mr. Utterson went around town questioning people and wanting to see Hyde for himself also laid out a detective setting to the novel. He interviewed sever people like Dr. Lanyard and Poole to learn more about Hyde. He also tried to learn what he could from Dr. Jekyll. After the murder he went searching for Hyde, questioned Dr. Jekyll, and searched fr Hyde. He had Mr. Guest analyze the letter where they saw a resemblance in the handwriting.
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You make several good points about Utterson and I agree that he is definitely similar to other main characters in detective stories such as Sherlock Holmes. I wonder if Stevenson knew that he was starting a new genre of fiction. He obviously didn't receive the credit for it but our class and I'm sure many others have noticed the early makings of a detective story.
ReplyDeleteMr. Utterson is as you show a prelude to detectives and "the strange case" a prelude to detective genre and I would also add to say that like all detectives Mr. Utterson is well educated or at least inteligent and he is keen to detail, which is the reason for his notice of resemblance of the handwriting. The curiosity in Utterson also and drive to find the truth of what happen to Dr. Jeckyll is another attribute that many detectives have, all in all "The strange case is a prelude to the detective genre as you have clearly shown.
ReplyDeleteThis was by far my favorite short story. To me the door was not just mysterious, but almost representing Dr. Jekyll's other self Mr. Hyde. Somewhat hidden with only one way of opening into the real world, through Dr. Jekyll. The building the door is located at almost describes the way Mr. Hyde would like. Somewhat unappealing to the eye. As for Mr. Utterson, we have read many gothic narratives but none have had a stock character who was also a detective. Almost made Mr. Utterson look edgy :). It also seems that after the death of the congress man, Mr. UTterson only cares to find Mr. Hyde, and nothing else in his personal life matters. I mean, do we read anything about him meeting his friends for lunch or taking a walk in the park? It's almost as if Mr.Utterson became completely obsessed with this!
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