Stevenson and Bronte: The Similarity Between Vastly Different Stories
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have similarities in their narrative setting, characterization and also gothic elements. Wuthering Heights is set in a murky countryside, with a distasteful and hateful protagonist. Similarly, in The Strange Case, Stevenson uses the setting and his twisted protagonist to add to the gothic undertone of his story. His story is set in a shadowed London, with a twisted and repulsive main character. Ultimately, these differences and similarities lead to the important elements of the gothic in both the texts.
The Darkness of the Setting
Though the novels are set in entirely different places, one in the city and one in the country, the aura of the respective places is similar. Wuthering Heights’ plot is based mostly in the murky, muggy land of the moors. One of the characters accurately notes the desolation of the moors: “the whole extent of landscape besides lay in shadow. I explained that they were bare masses of stone, with hardly enough earth in their clefts to nourish a stunted tree” (168).
These moors play an important descriptive role in the novel, and add elements of darkness to the story. Furthermore, the moors are supposedly a breeding ground for ghosts and other supernatural elements, thereby adding a layer of the gothic to the novel.
On the other hand, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is set in a misty and foggy London, with dark alleyways and undetectable corners. The narrator likens the districts of London to gothic images: “The dismal quarters of Soho […] with its muddy ways, and slatternly patterns […] like a district in some city in a nightmare” (22). The narrator also states how the “the fog still slept on the wing above the drowned city, where the lams glimmered like carbuncles” (26). Most of the scenes take place in the nighttime, and the occurrences take place with the moon as the witness: “It was a wild, cold seasonable night of March, with a pale moon” (34).
The nightmarish streets, fog and darkness together form an aura of shadow over the entire story, thereby creating a veil and shrouded element in the novel. Both the novels endorse these dark and shrouded landscapes, indulging in the gothic element of darkness and mystery.
Outer Vs Inner Self
Both Bronte and Stevenson also have equally interesting and twisted main characters; Heathcliff and Dr. Jekyll present certain similarities in their behaviors that are manifested and represented in different ways. Heathcliff is depicted as a dark, black personality, both in appearances and in behavior.
More than once, other characters view Heathcliff as a terrifying and horrifying character, highlighting his inhuman outer personality: “the same unnatural-it was unnatural-appearance of joy under his black brow; the same bloodless hue, and his teeth visible […] his frame shivering […] a strong thrilling, rather than trembling” (292). He rarely ever portrays himself in a manner that redeems this depiction. However, every so often, the readers are allowed a glimpse of his inner self. At one point, he burst into an “uncontrollable passion of tears” and called for his love, sobbing, “Oh! My heart’s darling hear me this time””(24).
His love for Catherine, and his heartbreak over her marriage and death are both indicators of his vulnerability. Notably, Heathcliff does everything in his power to hide this inner-self from others, and even from himself. He prefers to remain hateful and hated.
Whereas, Heathcliff’s outer self is crass and inner self is soft, Dr. Jekyll’s situation is the opposite. His intelligent and likable ‘outer’ personality opposes his violent and horrifying ‘inner’ personality. On the outside, Dr Jekyll appears as “a large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness” and even has the capability of displaying “a sincere and warm affection” (18).
His inner-self, or other side, behaves violently and animal-like and displays inhuman qualities: “Mr Hyde shrank back with a hissing intake of the breath […] (he) snarled aloud into a savage laugh” (7-8). Dr. Jekyll recognizes the discrepancy in his self-perception, and actively takes steps to undo the two and bring out the inner-self. Like Heathcliff, Dr. Jekyll prefers his violent and hateful part of the self to his softer and warmer counterpart. The main difference between the two character remains that one has to hide his good inner-self and maintain his bad aura, whereas the other has to suppress his good outer-self in order to bring out the horrible inner-self.
Connecting the Gothic Elements
Both these elements highlight the importance of the gothic in literature. The setting and character depiction usually adds to the gothic undertones of the novel. In these cases as well, The Strange Cases’ misty London setting and Wuthering Heights’ moorish land give a good placement for the gothic.
Furthermore, characters in the novel repeatedly draw attention to Heathcliff’s dark skin and heritage, which is supposedly foreign. His blackness is contrasted with whiteness to highlight his appearance and personality: “his black countenance looked blightingly through […] his hair and clothes were whitened with snow and his sharp cannibal teeth, revealed by cold and wrath, gleamed in the dark” (156). Heathcliff is considered a gypsy, and the combination of unknown origin and dark skin is essential in a gothic novel like Zofloya. Whereas Dr. Jekyll’s character does not have a racial element, his Mr. Hyde does have a despicable appearance. The narrator observes: “Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish, gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile […] a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice” (8).
His physical appearance is enough to add to the gothic, all twisted and disfigured. It consistently horrifies and terrifies characters that witness his appearance; these are important feelings usually invoked in the gothic. Furthermore, the character’s physical appearances further endorse fear as they are compared to Satanic and supernatural creatures. In this way, Heathcliff indirectly invokes the gothic terror in other characters, whereas Mr Hyde is in every way himself a symbol of gothic horror and terror.
Both authors use dark features and themes to highlight plot elements in their novels, thereby adding supernatural and gothic elements to their stories. Through the use of various elements, including settings and characterization, the authors both enhance the darkness of their respective novels. Bronte paints a portrait of a weary landscape and a tortured soul, whereas Stevenson creates a structure of a dreary city and a disabled human.
Ultimately, through these important narrative elements and plot developments, both stories endorse the darkness and twisted nature of the gothic structure.
Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Ed Ian Jack and Helen Small. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2009. Print.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Ed. Roger Luckhurst. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2008. Print.
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