Gothic Conventions
English Lit: AQA GCSE Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, topic 3.1.1
Gothic Conventions
Gothic novels often deal with human emotion, mystery and the supernatural. This is a gothic novel that aimed to shock the Victorian reader. Some of the conventions of a gothic novel are below, and these are key to Jekyll and Hyde.
Mysterious settings
- The moon, deserted streets, and a foggy city all reflect the mood and create a sense of foreboding.
Troubling secrets
- Jekyll and Hyde centres on the disturbing secret of Jekyll, a secret that causes all the people who encounter it to go pale with dread and terror.
Dreams
- Utterson's dreams about Hyde in Chapter 2 show how the unconscious fears are released during sleep - a lack of control over our thoughts.
Gothic Conventions
Gothic novels often deal with human emotion, mystery and the supernatural. This is a gothic novel that aimed to shock the Victorian reader. Some of the conventions of a gothic novel are below, and these are key to Jekyll and Hyde.
Supernatural
- Jekyll’s transformation into Hyde represents the supernatural.
Dual nature
- Jekyll’s changing character - Jekyll becoming Hyde.
Isolation
- Characters increasingly becoming alone.
- Jekyll becomes isolated. In Chapter 7, his friends Enfield and Utterson try to coax him from the window but he refuses to come down.
Villain
- Gothic novels usually include a villain or an evil character.
- In Jekyll and Hyde, the wicked character is part of a respectable man’s character - even more horrifying to the reader, who would have been a respectable person themselves.
- The idea that the villain is just like the reader themselves would have been ghastlier.
Test yourself on Gothic Conventions
Who does Utterson dream about in Chapter 2?
Who or what is the villain in the novella?