The Revealing of Dr. Jekyll and Ainsley Tewce

The portrayal of characters is important in any novel. Characters draw the readers into the story through their antics and speech, which slowly unveils the type of characters that they are being portrayed as. Stevenson and Atwood both prove this point through their novels The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Edible Woman. As both of these novels progress, the characters within them emerge and grow. Stevenson allows Dr. Jekyll to grow mainly through dialogue, which also consists of some letters that were written by him. Atwood unveils Ainsley Tewce through her actions, which for the most part are cruel and domineering. Dr. Jekyll and Ainsley are characters that are revealed by Stevenson and Atwood in opposing manners, although both effective, due to the fact that the readers are able to see what type of characters they are meant to represent and how it is that they are represented.