Narrative perspective, also called “point of sight”, is the angle, postion and viewpoint of the narrator applied to observe and narrate stories. (邵萍萍， 廖小云 ) It is widely used in the modern narrative works cause it can helps to arouse interest, conflict and suspense, so choosing different perspectives can make differential effects.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde consists of nine chapters, and each chapter has a brief subtitle to summarize the main plots. In the first seven parts, Stevenson chooses to describe the suspenseful incidents in third person, from the angel of Utterson, Enfield, Lanyon and Poole, acting out the evils of Hyde and his mysterious identity. Besides, the third person makes the incidents more objective without the interruption …show more content…
Jekyll”
In Sontag’s fiction, she uses the third person in the most parts of the fiction. No matter of Henry Jekyll, Gabriel Utterson, Richard Enfield, and Poole, all characters have their own behaviors, all are put in their independent position. Sontag arranges many mental activities of the characters in the form of third person, such as “Jekyll is thinking” “Jekyll also decides that even if he can’t be Hyde, he can still seek his help.”, these descriptions can arouse sympathy of readers, and at the same time, the readers can have their own judge to Jekyll’s psychological activity.
Besides the unique angle of narration, in the story, we can find that the dialogues between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are very brief and succinct. At the same time, the first person perspective pushes the plot to the climax. As we can say, the first person design has the function of making the readers can understand the things happening to the main characters in a more real condition. The change of inner heart gives the whole story a up-down plot effect.(申丹，王丽亚 2010) For example, when Jekyll meets Hyde in the village, they have many dialogues with each other. Jekyll’s answers to Hyde always are “ I do”, “I know”, “No”, “Cut it out”(219), these simple answers are emotional, which integrated with the details of their mental and physical behaviors. As we can see, the cross using of the third and first person, Sontag highlights the difference of Jekyll and Hyde, caused …show more content…
The comparison of contents and forms
3.4.1 The content and form in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
For Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it’s the master work of Stevenson in the genre of suspense fiction, so all the typical form and contents are played at their mightiest. The good setting of suspense and the precise mastery of narrative rhythm are both vividly presented in the author’s pen. By analyzing these features, we can learn the unique skills of writing stories and have a better understanding of human’s good and evil side.
The whole story can be easily divided into four parts: the secret beginning of well-plotted suspense, the finding of Hyde, the estranged relationship between Utterson and Jekyll, and the uncover of the double-faced person’s veil. Firstly, the author doesn’t mention Henry Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the beginning directly, instead, he starts the story with the chatting between Utterson and Richard Enfield, from their dialogue, the readers get the first information of
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde consists of nine chapters, and each chapter has a brief subtitle to summarize the main plots. In the first seven parts, Stevenson chooses to describe the suspenseful incidents in third person, from the angel of Utterson, Enfield, Lanyon and Poole, acting out the evils of Hyde and his mysterious identity. Besides, the third person makes the incidents more objective without the interruption …show more content…
Jekyll”
In Sontag’s fiction, she uses the third person in the most parts of the fiction. No matter of Henry Jekyll, Gabriel Utterson, Richard Enfield, and Poole, all characters have their own behaviors, all are put in their independent position. Sontag arranges many mental activities of the characters in the form of third person, such as “Jekyll is thinking” “Jekyll also decides that even if he can’t be Hyde, he can still seek his help.”, these descriptions can arouse sympathy of readers, and at the same time, the readers can have their own judge to Jekyll’s psychological activity.
Besides the unique angle of narration, in the story, we can find that the dialogues between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are very brief and succinct. At the same time, the first person perspective pushes the plot to the climax. As we can say, the first person design has the function of making the readers can understand the things happening to the main characters in a more real condition. The change of inner heart gives the whole story a up-down plot effect.(申丹，王丽亚 2010) For example, when Jekyll meets Hyde in the village, they have many dialogues with each other. Jekyll’s answers to Hyde always are “ I do”, “I know”, “No”, “Cut it out”(219), these simple answers are emotional, which integrated with the details of their mental and physical behaviors. As we can see, the cross using of the third and first person, Sontag highlights the difference of Jekyll and Hyde, caused …show more content…
The comparison of contents and forms
3.4.1 The content and form in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
For Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it’s the master work of Stevenson in the genre of suspense fiction, so all the typical form and contents are played at their mightiest. The good setting of suspense and the precise mastery of narrative rhythm are both vividly presented in the author’s pen. By analyzing these features, we can learn the unique skills of writing stories and have a better understanding of human’s good and evil side.
The whole story can be easily divided into four parts: the secret beginning of well-plotted suspense, the finding of Hyde, the estranged relationship between Utterson and Jekyll, and the uncover of the double-faced person’s veil. Firstly, the author doesn’t mention Henry Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the beginning directly, instead, he starts the story with the chatting between Utterson and Richard Enfield, from their dialogue, the readers get the first information of