This change is also a convention used in the Gothic Genre. Although there are many conventions concealed in the Gothic Genre, R L Stevenson has only used a certain number of them to give the readers a more realistic overview of the book. In his novel, R L Stevenson uses the weather to reflect gothic conventions, for example, the full moon. When the twisted mind of Edward Hyde is unleashed upon the goodness of Sir Danvers Carew, the night sky is light by a full moon: "Although a fog rolled over the city in the small hours, the early part of the night was cloudless, and the lane, which the maid's window overlooked, was brilliantly lit by the full moon".
The second aspect of Victorian society the book portrays, are the ideas of how the mind works and how it could be split in two; one side would be good and the other side would be evil. This is the idea that Jekyll uses to make the potion in the first place. He wished to separate both sides to the brain, so that the morally dissipated side to him takes control of his conscience. These Psychological views on the mind link in with the Gothic conventions of good and evil, so pieces of the story fit together.
The first introduction of the evil side, Edward Hyde, is where he is seen trampling over a small girl, "All at once, I saw two figures: one a little man who was stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe eight or ten who was running as hard as she was able down a cross street. Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the.
corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man.
trampled calmly over the child's body and left her screaming on.
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.
