The fictitious sequence of events chronicled in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde occurs within the dark, fog-riddled city of 19th-century London. The primary narrative follows lawyer John Utterson as he becomes aware that a suspicious, sinister man named Hyde - sociopath, hedonist, and soon-to-become murderer- has developed an elusive relationship with Utterson’s longtime client and friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll. When mysterious and horrific circumstances abound, and with Dr. Jekyll facing a crumbling internal battle of morality, Utterson must work to uncover a shocking, shadowy secret. Yet great measures have been taken to conceal and protect this reality - for, as the lawyer learns, there are times when the truth - and with it, the jarring darkness of the human soul - may be better left alone.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is greatly enhanced by the use of compelling imagery that at once disquiets the reader while allowing them intimate access into a murky world. At a pivotal moment in the plot, an act of murder, committed by Mr. Hyde, is described in wrenching detail: “... at that Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth. And the next moment, with ape-like fury he was trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered and the body jumped on the roadway…” (253) The various strong action verbs - clubbed, trampling, shattered, jumped - illustrate a crime of senseless passion while allowing the reader to visualize not only the event in livid detail, but experience the sensations of the moment - sound, movement, and touch appear within their reach. Through the author’s metaphor, “{Hyde was} hailing down a storm of blows” (253) - audiences also gain the chance to compare the attack to something familiar and tangible: the jagged crack of thunder, the speed and severity of lightning, and the aggressive, pounding pain of pellets of rain. Together, the phrasing works to signify the sudden, explosive violence of this shocking scene. The frenzy of the moment only becomes heightened as it is juxtaposed against the many slow, creeping, and suspenseful passages also present throughout the novel. On a ride across an unseasonable sector of London, protagonist Mr. Utterson is intimidated by the weather as he “beheld a marvelous number of degrees and hues of twilight… {as} a great chocolate-coloured pall lowered… seen under these changing glimpses, with its muddy ways, slatternly passageways, and lamps which had never been extinguished or kindled afresh, {Soho} seemed... like some city of a nightmare” (255). Meandering by carriage through the choking fog, leading the police to Mr. Hyde’s residence after his crime, the grim and eerie portion of the city infects Utterson’s thoughts as well: “When he glanced at his companion… he was conscious of some touch of that terror of the law… which may at times assail the most honest” (255). Everything is shifting and ramshackle in the fog-drenched Soho, and an ominous mood slowly grows as the reader becomes as wary, uncertain for Mr. Utterson’s safety, as he takes part in the hunt for a murderer. Due to the lucid descriptions, word choice, and imagery seeped across the narrative, the novel’s audience become fully immersed in Robert Louis Stevenson’s richly imagined world.
Furthermore, in journeying through The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, not only is the reader captivated with sharp and poignant imagery, but also hooked from the start by a high dose of elegantly crafted, deepening suspense. Early in the narrative, as Mr. Utterson first learns of the baffling connection between Jekyll and Hyde, he peruses Dr. Jekyll’s will, only to rediscover that his friend has left all of his inheritance to Hyde; in the case of his death or “disappearance or unexplained absence… Edward Hyde should step into the said Henry Jekyll’s shoes… free from any burthen or obligation” (242). After learning of Hyde’s villainy, Utterson is considerably alarmed, believing Hyde to be blackmailing Jekyll: “I thought it was madness…. Now I begin to fear it is disgrace” (242). The reader is simultaneously intrigued and concerned: What could Jekyll, a successful doctor and respectable gentleman, have done to warrant extortion? Why would the will or a practical and sensible man include eerie clauses related to disappearance as well as demise? And - as Mr. Utterson comes to realize and dread - if Mr. Hyde is aware of the terms of the document, how long might he wait before deciding to act, seizing Jekyll’s property and considerable wealth once and for all? This murky, subtle setting of the stage is contrasted against another scene, also highly suspenseful, but this one quick and panicked: a chilling, exhilarating climax. On a wild spring night, Utterson is lead back to the Doctor’s house by Jekyll’s frantic butler, Poole. Jekyll has shut himself away in his laboratory - yet Poole believes “my master’s been made away with; he was made away with eight days ago… and who’s in there instead of him and why it stays there, is a thing that cries to Heaven!” (271). Chills race down the reader’s spine - if Jekyll has been murdered, why does the criminal still lurk inside his rooms? The tension only rises as the matter is discussed, and the butler begins to refer to the creature in the laboratory as it: “It will walk all day, sir… and the better part of the night” (275). By refusing to identify the creature by gender, a ghastly, inhuman beast springs to mind: a skulking, monstrous thing still lurking at the scene of its crime. Even after Utterson and Poole force their entry into the laboratory, the sight that greets their eyes only confounds and alarms them further - until the reader, racked by tension, becomes aware that the only solution to this incredible suspense is to continue devouring pages until the very end.
Though set in a period long past, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde continues to reach far into the hearts and minds of 21st-Century readers. In addition to the narrative’s obvious Gothic features, its fresh, gripping imagery and the incredible infusion of suspense ensnare the unwary reader, allowing release only after the final page has been devoured. This eventual conclusion is bittersweet, however, for with it the reader suddenly becomes aware that they have reached the end of an absorbing, alluring, and thought-provoking book. Such as it was for me: for in the past year, I have not been so captivated, so compelled by any novel - Classic, Gothic, or otherwise - as for The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.