Science vs supernatural

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Gothic pathetic fallacy

Novella is a mixture of the genres - gothic and a case study - eg. laboratory has gothic description - “the theatre, once crowded with eager students and now lying gaunt and silent” = personification presenting laboratory as a corpse

Jekyll’s laboratory - Where Jekyll experiments, “the light was falling dimly through the foggy cupola”. The adjective “foggy” implies that the laboratory and the experiments inside, are obscured and being purposefully hidden by Jekyll. “Light falling dimly” also implies that Utterson can’t clearly see inside of Jekyll’s laboratory, building tension and causing the reader to fear for Utt.

Traditional doctors and lawyers restrict themselves to reason but Jekyll experiments with the supernatural (Lanyon X Jekyll) = Lanyon dies due to his refusal to accept a world beyond the scientific - “I shall die incredulous”

Case study structure

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(LANYON’S SCIENCE AND GOTHIC PATHETIC FALLACY)

Science is a vehicle for harming or for healing

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Lanyon’s science

• Contrasts Lanyon’s science which is medicine , saves people and is therefore praiseworthy

Jekyll’s science

• Jekyll’s science is purely selfish and causes death (eg. Sir Danvers Carew, Lanyon, Jekyll) and destruction - the phial was “half full of blood-red liquor” = acts as a cautionary tale
• Causes rift between Lanyon and Jekyll -”The quarrel with Lanyon was incurable”

Lanyon describes the science which is “wholly towards the mystical and transcendental” as “scientific heresy” due to its ability to shape and create life without God’s intervention. This causes a “decade” long rift between the two who were once an “inseparable trio” (consequences of using science for evil?)

Sawbones helps child contrasting jekyll who enables and ignores it

“it was neither diabolical nor divine” = science is separated from religion or science itself isn’t good or evil, stevenson suggesting that we can be religious and scientists as they answer different questions

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Science vs religion

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Evolution vs Gods creation

scientific advancement could lead to scientific hubris and people wanting to ‘play God’

scientific advancement is uncontrollable

Lanyon describes the science which is “wholly towards the mystical and transcendental” as “scientific heresy” due to its ability to shape and create life without God’s intervention.

• Through the degeneration of Jekyll, Stevenson introduces the idea that all humans are simply animals at heart - uncivilized and lack rational thought
• Evolution shows that science has the ability to create and shape life
  • origin of species recently released and at the time, evolution was seen as an attack on God being the creator of human beings
  • Hyde is proof of Darwin’s theory and is presented as evil/satanic, implying the idea of evolution is evil

Jekyll turning to God

belief that science was dangerous and evil

• Jekyll abandons science for God at the end of novella implying that only God can control and create and humans should not ‘play God’ as there will be consequences eg. Death and pathetic fallacy of fog </aside>