Louis Stevenson Literary Techniques Essay

In this extract, Stevenson uses many different literary techniques to convey the theme of the divided self. An example of one of the ways Stevenson does this is in the very first line: ‘It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a bystreet in a busy quarter of London’. Explicitly, this sentence seems to be perfectly normal and may perhaps sound kind of innocent – like there is nothing more to it tham that. However, implicitly, it is hinting to something else. The word ‘chanced’ makes the reader question, already, whether it was purposeful or not to end up down the bystreet. The word ‘rambles’, as well as being a synonym for a ‘walk’, can also be used to describe something that is not well organised. The ambiguity of the word suggests that from one point of view we see one thing, and from a different point of view we see another; the same concept as the ‘divided self’. By using these words, Stevenson almost gives the sentence a double meaning, or at least makes it so it requires close attention to see what the real information, as if it is hiding it.

In addition to this, the sentence suggests to the reader that Enfield was purposely leading Utterson down the bystreet (which he had travelled down once before). This is clear with close observation, as in Victorian

Jekyll is an obvious example of this theme. On one hand he a civilised gentleman with ‘the respect of the wise and good’ in society. On the other hand, he has many sins and desires that he tries to repress, to keep his reputation intact. Stevenson uses language associated with war to illustrate the conflict between good and evil in Jekyll’s mind: ‘two natures that contended in the field’, making the conflict between his two personalities seem like two forces on a battlefield and suggesting that it is a constant struggles between the two sides of him