How Robert Louis Stevenson Builds and Maintains a Sense of Mystery and Suspense in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

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How Robert Louis Stevenson Builds and Maintains a Sense of Mystery and Suspense in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson wrote "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in 1886 after waking from a dream in which he recalled a "fine bogy tale". The book was published in the same year and its likes had never been seen before. It gave a chilling insight into the murky depths of both experimental science and the duality of the human mind. These two fields of study were both in their infancy at the time so the novel was delving into the unknown, which instantly creates mystery about the text, this was the key to the success of the book, in my opinion. In the writing of "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" Stevenson set a standard to which all writers who followed aspire. It is a ground breaking novel which was produced to such a standard that it is studied in schools as an example of writing which can still envelop the reader in a world of mystery, suspense, secrets and deceit despite the time that has passed since it was originally written. At the time of its release "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" was in its own category and was truly unique, it was based on a subject that never been written about before so it is difficult to understand how a reader would have felt when reading the novel for the first time. In the modern day it appears to be a mild psychological thriller where as in 1886 it was a terrifying, futuristic horror story displaying, for the first time, the greed of the average human, wanting more power than they could possibly control, realising the desire to play God without learning to deal with the consequences. I believe that Stevenson was not only tryi... ... middle of paper ... ...of returning to it at any time, but also of seeing that he was aware of the consequences should things go wrong. The fate of Jekyll was decided by Stevenson to be a sour one to show what can happen when greed overcomes restraint, when curiosity overpowers caution. One of the most important statements this novel made to me was that no one person can be wholly good or wholly evil. A good person will always have the desire to throw off the burden of reputation once in a while and duck below the bar of expectation to the other side. An evil person will always feel the want, no matter how faint, to step out from the shadow and into the light and once more be counted as a human being. Stevenson knew this and put on full display what might happen if a mere mortal could tamper with Gods delicate mixture of Good and Evil.

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