The Incident of the Letter
This is one of the chapters that I kind of wish Stevenson’s wife had permanently destroyed. It’s the most contrived, forced, lazy chapter of the whole book. The entire chapter exists to push evidence to the reader that is barely necessary.
I do spend a large chunk of time (the first 20:14 minutes) at the beginning further explaining how my aphantasia effects my ability to perceive mood sometimes in books. I explain how I basically do what AI does … I pull existing information from movies and other media that I have seen (The Frankenstein Chronicles, The Wolfman, Young Sherlock Holmes, Vienna Blood) that closely matches whatever is being described by the author. It doesn’t always give the exact mood or scene but it’s as close as I can get.
The rest of the video (from 20:15 onward) is ALL about why the chapter sucks but the best part about this trash chapter is we get even more information about how amazing, honest, smart, and invested Utterson is in getting to the bottom of this mystery … even if it means questioning and investigating his friend whom he so cares for. This is why Utterson’s perspective is so interesting and worth knowing and exploring.
Want To Watch The Video Instead?
Elaine Is Reading Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde > Chapter 5 - Part 1
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