The book incorporates elements of the Gothic Genre that were very popular at the time; psychological issues, showing how the mind works, the threat of drug addiction and its terrible affect on people.

In the novel, the character Dr Jekyll uses a potion to change his body form into the younger and evil alter ego of Mr Hyde. This enables Dr Jekyll to express his darkest, deepest thoughts and feelings. At first the potion seems harmless to Jekyll, as the first use of it seems to give him a great sense of freedom. But the continuous use of it starts to create an increasing addiction and breaks his mind down until Jekyll has to take the potion just to keep his sanity.

The first aspect of Victorian society the novel covers is the thirst for gothic horror. During the Victorian period, the Gothic Genre was very popular and a wide variety of books used the

corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man

In the Victorian period, many people were under threat of creating an addiction for themselves. A medicinal drug used at the time was opium, from which heroin is derived. Opium was used to kill pain whilst giving a high to the patient. The dangers of the drug were only vaguely known, so parents would often give their babies a dose to calm them. In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, R L Stevenson uses the potion that Jekyll creates to illustrate the dangers of addiction in Victorian times.

the ground". The paragraph then continues with Utterson, the lawyer, from whose perspective the story is viewed from, thinking about the immorality of the whole incident. This is an excellent introduction to the character of Mr Hyde as it shows that he is pure evil from the very beginning of his presence in the book. Although the book shows the immorality of Edward Hyde, it doesn't describe the other half of Henry Jekyll's mind, the good side. This is because Jekyll's main use for the potion is to capture his evil half and to live part of his life behind a screen of immorality.

conventions of this genre, These include the archetypal struggle between the good and evil side of Dr Jekyll, and the violence that runs through Mr Hyde's veins whenever he is confronted by purity and goodness. This is demonstrated by the behaviour of Hyde when he is faced with the goodness of Sir Danvers Carew: " Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth. And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot and hailing down a storm of blows

Some topics in this essay:
Henry Jekyll's, Dr Jekyll, Edward Hyde, Danvers Carew, Gothic Genre, Jekyll Victorian, Carew Hyde, Gothic Thriller/Mystery, Hyde Stevenson, Genre Stevenson, dr jekyll, gothic genre, victorian society, jekyll potion, victorian period, edward hyde, aspect victorian society, sir danvers, genre popular, goodness sir, thirst gothic horror, danvers carew, dr jekyll potion, sir danvers carew, goodness sir danvers,