Carolina Rodriguez
Sylvia Herrera
English Literature
21 August 2014
Literal Review of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Fight Club
Gothic Literature is tied to horror, gothic literature's main purpose is not the one of horror, but as it conveys its own message, it contain gothic elements that create a horror setting for the story and characters. Elements such as the atmosphere, visions, ancient prophecies, supernatural or unexplained events, uncanny figures (not precisely monsters), character's negative emotions as depression and torment, and repression. The purpose of this essay is to compare the novella wrote back in the Victorian era, known as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson, and the movie Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk in the 90s. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Fight Club exhibit Gothic elements which includes the uncanny figures, the isolation and role of sleep of each character, and the setting in each story.
An uncanny figure takes the lead in both stories, Mr. Hyde and Tyler Durden help create a gothic novella. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Hyde is portrayed as an uncanny figure, causing a mysterious and unsettling feeling of fear in everyone whom he encounters. Hyde not only has the lasting ability of causing fear to the characters, but the reader as well; this remains even now, over a century after the book was written. Though Hyde's physical appearance is never clearly described in the text, the impressions he leaves on characters in the novella contribute to the uncanny feeling surrounding his person, and are strong enough to suggest supernatural forces at work. Mr. Enfield, while telling his story of Hyde to Mr. Utterson, describes Hyde as having given him a look " so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running  ( Stevenson 6). The severity of Hyde's expression is enough to disturb him, and as more unsettling. Enfield says that "he gives a strong feeling of deformity, ...