One novel in specific was The Unusual Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Lewis Stevenson. The main plot of the story is that there are two characters called Mr. Enfield and Mr. Utterson who were strolling along on their weekly, Sunday walks and Mr. Enfield was informing Mr. Utterson about another horrible character called Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde terribly hurt a young woman which was the first evil the reader hears. Mr. Utterson went house to find a character called Dr.
Jekyll’s will who pointed out Mr. Hyde.
This is the very first time Dr. Jekyll was mentioned. Mr. Utterson then waits on Mr.Hyde to enter the back entrance to Dr. Jekyll’s laboratory and this is the first encounter of him. He appears a really, really nasty male. Mr. Utterson and a terrific friend of his, Dr. Lanyon, hardly ever see Dr. Jekyll for he has a nasty trick. He is Mr. Hyde. He does experiments on himself to change his character.
At first he thought he might manage it but after a while, he alters involuntary. Dr. Lanyon finds out prior to Mr. Utterson does and it impacts him mentally due to the fact that of what he saw and ultimately he turns very ill and passes away.
Ultimately, Dr. Jekyll goes “missing” and Mr.Utterson and a servant called Poole burglarize the laboratory to find the body of Mr. Hyde on the floor. Mr. Utterson then makes the connection that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were the same individual.
One devastating event is of Mr. Enfield telling Mr. Utterson about the time he was strolling through the area late one night when he saw a shrunken, misshapen man crash into and stomp a girl. Mr. Enfield caught and collared the guy before he might escape and brought him back to the girl and the witnesses. The male was Mr. Hyde however no one understood that yet.
The man appeared so awfully ugly that the witnesses around him took an immediate dislike to him. “I had taken a loathing to my gentleman at first sight. So had the child’s family … I saw that Sawbones turned sick and white with the desire to eliminate him.” The guy was undoubtedly like something no one has ever seen before and he also did something that was awful with out even stressing over it and because he was so extremely awful, they threatened to make his name a bad name amongst individuals unless he were to make amends. The man ultimately said he would pay a hundred pounds.
The man obviously has enough money to be a respectable, upper class person but didn’t act like it. To obtain the money, he went into a neglected building through the only door and came back with a check signed with the name of a very reputable man. Furthermore, it wasn’t a fake or forgery. “The figure was stiff: but the signature was good for more than that, if it was only genuine. ” The horrid man was obviously hiding something that confused Mr. Enfield. He had a signature of a respectable man in society for a large sum of money that he didn’t have anything to do with.
After Mr. Enfield finished explaining, Mr.Utterson asked him a number of questions and Mr. Enfield tries to describe what the man was like but couldn’t quite explain, stating “I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. ” This means that Mr. Hyde was not a usual person and there was something there that made him so different but no one could place their finger on it. Another horrible incident that happens is the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. A maid is the witness of a small, evil-looking man who she recognises as Mr. Hyde murdering Sir Danvers Carew. The maid described Hyde to be “like a madman. ” And that he had “ape-like fury”.
This suggests that Hyde did anything but act like a human being and he was acting like a wild beast of some sort. Within Sir Carew’s pocket there is a letter for Utterson so he is called right away. Utterson takes the police to Hyde’s address and thinks that it is weird that someone who lives in such squalor is the heir to Dr. Jekyll’s fortune. Inside the house has richness of the upper-class and this suggests that it may be a gift from Jekyll because only the upper-class could afford the place. There is also evidence that Jekyll and Hyde are linked for they find the walking stick Utterson gave Jekyll and the cheque book.
This means that Jekyll has something to hide as well as Hyde does. This incident illustrates the extent of Hyde’s capacity of evil where as before, the reader may have taken Hyde to just be nothing more than an unscrupulous opportunist, manipulating Jekyll. Hyde is violent at random, with no apparent motive, and with little concern for his own safety. Hyde disappears after the murder which suggests that he has some kind of otherworldly origin. With his lack of family and friends and people who can identify him, this makes this theory stronger.