Narrator and point of view

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is unusual because it has several different narrators. The main part of the novella, up until the final two chapters, is narrated in the third person and follows the perspective of Mr Utterson: “That evening, Mr Utterson came home to his bachelor house in sombre spirits and sat down to dinner without relish.” (p. 11)

In these sections, the narrator has limited knowledge; the events are unfolded as Mr Utterson discovers them and the narrator does not have insight into the thoughts and feelings of other characters. The narrator does have access to Mr Utterson’s thoughts, both through insight into his feelings and through the things that Mr Utterson says to himself when he is alone:

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