The Novella Flashcards
What are the two different types of genre Jeykll and Hyde conforms to ?
Both the gothic fiction and a scientific case study
What are the conventions of a gothic tale ?
Monsters, horrors , death, night time setting, ominous weather and inexplainable events
What are some examples of Jekyll and Hyde conforming to the Gothic convention of night time setting ?
Enfeilds walk in chapter 1 ‘three o’clock of a black winter morning’
Chapter 2 Utterson tosses and turns all night
Further more Utterson meets Hyde at 10PM
This all conforms to the gothic conventions
What is a scientific case study ?
Very common and popular in Victorian England
Scientists would present case studies, based on patients
What is a really easy point on the title of the novel ?
‘ the strange case of Dr Jeykll and Mr Hyde’
It is blatantly reminiscent of a title from a scientific case study
What are the two big points, other than the title, you can make about the novel fitting the case study ?
Although it fits the generic conventions of the gothic, it also mirrors the scientific case study in two ways
1. It is written in a third person dispassionate narrator
2. It contains supplementary evidence added at the end as an appendix
How can we analyze the narrative ?
It conforms to the generic conventions of the scientific case study
Because
The first eight chapters of the novel are centered around the sober minded lawyer Utterson
How can we analyze the structure ?
It begins with a third person narrative of Utterson, followed by the first person letter from Lanyon and finally a first person account from Jeykll
Steve don deliberately makes the books very structure mimic that of a scientific case study with the third person narrative first then supplementary evidence at the end as an appendix
WHY ( NOT HOW) does Stevenson make the novels very structure reminiscent of the scientific case study ?
It makes the novel all the more terrifying for it readers as it contains chilling similarities to real case studies
He also achieves this sence of realism through the use of setting and by mimicking the conventions of a scientific journal
Why is the issue with the genre ?
The very genre itself is conflicting as the genres are antithetically paired
- gothic fiction aims to create fear and mystery
- case study attempts to offer rational explanatison
The two genres inherently oppose each other as we see this idea of dual personality mirrored in the texts very genre as Stevenson combines the genres of the gothic and the scientific case study
