How Do Stevenson and Bennett Present the Characters of Their Protagonists in the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and a Lady of Letters?

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A Lady of Letters is a television programme using the dramatic monologue form, written by Alan Bennett and aired by the BBC in 1988. This show was shot using the talking heads format which uses aims to make the viewer focus entirely on the speaker by giving them very little else to focus on, using a very simple setting and showing mostly just a character’s head and shoulders. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a Victorian gothic novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson and published in 1886. Despite the fact these texts are set in very different time periods and the protagonists in both are very different, there are some aspects of the characters presentation that can be compared. Within both texts the author has used setting to portray the characters’ traits and characteristics. In A Lady of Letters Bennett has a very simple setting with little description ‘The room in which we see her is simply furnished and there is a bay window.’ This fits with the ‘talking heads’ format in which a simple setting is used so that all of the viewer’s concentration is on the speaker. This was a common and popular format in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The simplicity of the setting is used to represent the boredom and monotony of her life. The bay window is highlighted to draw attention to it. The window acts as her view on the world while also acting as a barrier giving her an exaggerated, one-sided and uniformed view of her surroundings. This plays a different role to the door seen by Utterson and Enfield at the start of the novel that later turns out to be the Entrance to Hyde’s house in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which acts as a barrier to prevent entrance to the house. The door is uninviting and unwelcoming ‘The door which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained.’ The door not being equipped with a bell or knocker could show that the owner

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