Dr jekyll and mr hyde

He put the glass to his lips, and drank at one gulp. A cry followed; he reeled, staggered, clutched at the table and held on, staring with injected eyes, gasping with open mouth; and as I looked there came, I thought, a change–he seemed to swell–his face became suddenly black and the features seemed to melt and alter–and at the next moment, I had sprung to my feet and leaped back against the wall, my arm raised to shield me from that prodigy, my mind submerged in terror. “ O God! ” I screamed, and “ O God! ” again and again; for there before my eyes–pale and shaken, and half fainting, and groping before him with his hands, like a man restored from death–there stood Henry Jekyll! This passage appears in chapter 9 as Lanyon describes the moment when Hyde transforms back into Jekyll. This passage is full of Gothic conventions, features and structures that combined create a suspenseful plot with a nail bitting twist. Some techniques Stevenson uses in this passage are also present throughout the whole novel. -The only dialogue used in this passage is “ O God” which together with the ‘ I screamed’ and the exclamation marks helps emphasise Lanyon’s horror and fear of Mr Hyde. This grasps the reader’s attention and enhances the supernatural effect of the transformation. -Visual imagery plays a very large and significant role in this passage as it heightens the effect of the scene. When Stevenson describes Hyde as ‘ starring with injected eyes’ and suggests the horrific appearance of his features as they ‘ melt and altar’, he successfully evokes the terror and dreadfulness of the moment of transformation. -The use of descriptive language such as ‘ stagger’ and ‘ gasp’ depicts the violent transformation process. The effect of descriptive language in this passage creates a close relationship between the character and the audience as it positions the reader ‘ in’ the story and makes them feel involved. The adjectives also enhance the suspense involved in finding the true horror of Jekyll and Hyde’s fight for dominance. -Stevenson’s clever use of punctuation in this passage breaks down an other wise very long sentence. The use of commas and semicolons creates the pauses needed to build suspense and anticipation as the events unfold. -The tone of this passage is quite mysterious yet heart-pounding as it reaches the climatic moment in the story when all the questions about Jekyll’s relationship to Hyde suddenly come to a resolution. The whole paragraph is quite confronting as the reader is drawn into the story through Stevenson’s wonderful use of gothic language techniques and conventions. “ He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point. He’s an extraordinary-looking man, and yet I really can name nothing out of the way. No, sir; I can make no hand of it; I can’t describe him. And it’s not want of memory; for I declare I can see him this very moment. ” The theme of this passage is that of evil and destruction. Hyde’s physical appearance symbolizes his destructive nature and evil character. Everyone who sees Hyde is repulsed by his ugly and deformed appearance. They describe him as displeasing —short and hairy. Stevenson makes Hyde’s physical ugliness and deformity symbolize his hideousness and twisted beliefs and wickedness. Perhaps Stevenson has connected Hyde’s appearance to the idea that you can identify a criminal from physical appearance. Hyde’s small stature may represent the fact that he has been hidden away as Jekyll’s dark side and has not had the opportunity to grow. Hyde’s hairiness could also support this idea of being under control by society and law. Through this passage Stevenson is telling us that destruction plays a large role in Hyde and indeed throughout the whole story. He is deformed in a mysterious way, no one can put their finger in what is wrong with him. The idea of evil and destruction is developed throughout the novel… – The first example of this is when Mr Hyde tramples a young girl, in this part of the story we see Hyde is incredulous and completely ruthless towards society – The second example is when Mr Hyde murders Mr Carew This shows his evil appearance is linked to his evil actions and that he finds joy in hurting people. – And finally when Hyde takes complete control over Jekyll’s body. Here we see how powerful Dr Jekyll’s dark side really is and cringe as we foresee more evil deeds from Hyde All these examples emphasize Mr Hyde’s evil and destructive nature. They all involve violence against innocent people and show how the idea of evil and destruction develops into the climatic resolution that Dr Jekyll is Mr Hyde and that man is not truly one, but truly two.