How Does Robert Louis Stevenson use literary techniques to illustrate E

How Does Robert Louis Stevenson use literary techniques to illustrate the social, historical and moral points he is trying to make in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Throughout the Novella, ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’, the author Robert Louis Stevenson uses a wide range of literary techniques in a skilful and sophisticated way to help achieve his effects and put his points across. Stevenson’s unique use of language is vital to the success of the Novella, with the structural and linguistic devices playing a vital part in creating the unusual atmosphere, which makes the Novella so successful. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde centres upon a conception of humanity as dual in nature, although the theme does not emerge fully until the last chapter, when the complete story of Jekyll – Hyde relationship is revealed. Robert Louis Stevenson had a very strict moral upbringing living in the nineteenth century, where class and social standing were very important in such a rigid system. The fact that he had such a religious background perhaps creates a link between the main moral point of good and evil and his disciplined religious upbringing, the bible teaching the importance of good and evil, and the seven deadly sins. He uses a variety of techniques to put across his views across on many social, historical and moral points. Throughout the novella the author gives the readers an insight into the morality of human nature by using different characters to represent the double standards of society in the Victorian era. The different language used for each of the main characters in the book is used to emphasise the character and their role in the Novella. Utterson, the lawyer, is described in the opening sentence of the book ‘cold, scanty, a... ...t that Stevenson had such a religious background perhaps creates a link between the main moral point of good and evil and his disciplined religious upbringing. This may have influenced him in his writing, (the bible teaching the importance of good and evil, and the seven deadly sins). The Gothic horror has been compared particularly to the detective fiction of Sherlock Holmes, with both works being written in the same period of the Victorian era. It is a testimony to Stevenson’s inventiveness as a writer that this novella has had this independent existence over a hundred years after the first book was published. Because of the uniqueness of the novella and the fact that such a wide range of literary techniques have been used, it is no surprise that, ‘the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’, is one of the most famous works of horror fiction of all time.