From the Gothic Novel to Detective Fiction: A Comparative Analysis of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and A Study in Scarlet

Abstract

The Gothic novel and the Detective novel coincide in their literary development during the Victorian era, with the end of the nineteenth century being the period in which both genres show the greatest intertextuality. This dissertation analyses how the Gothic novel evolves and acquires Detective novel elements while the Detective novel becomes an independent genre from Gothic foundations. Accordingly, different narrative elements of two works that defined the Gothic novel and the Detective novel respectively have been analysed: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), by Robert Louis Stevenson; and A Study in Scarlet (1887), by Arthur Conan Doyle. A comparative methodology is therefore carried out, considering a formalist approach in which the division between story and plot is essential. Finally, this work demonstrates that both genres maintain the same narrative structure, setting, and archetypal characters.

La novela gótica y la novela detectivesca coinciden en su desarrollo literario durante la época victoriana, siendo el final del siglo XIX el periodo en el que muestran una mayor intertextualidad. Este trabajo analiza cómo la novela gótica evoluciona y adquiere elementos detectivescos mientras que la novela detectivesca se convierte en un género independiente a partir de fundamentos gótico. En consecuencia, este trabajo analiza diferentes elementos narrativos de dos obras que definieron la novela gótica y la novela detectivesca respectivamente: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), de Robert Louis Stevenson; y A Study in Scarlet (1887), de Arthur Conan Doyle. Se lleva a cabo por tanto una metodología comparativa, teniendo en cuenta un enfoque formalista en el que la división entre historia y trama es primordial. Por último, este trabajo demuestra que ambos géneros mantienen una misma estructura narrativa, escenario, y personajes arquetípicos.