mary reilly essays

mary reilly essays The novel Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin took place in London in the Victorian stage. The story served as the diary of a housemaid named Mary Reilly recording events throughout her time employing at the household of Dr. Henry Jekyll. The other important characters consist of Edward Hyde, the antagonist of the story ; the servants in the house : Mr. Poole, Mr. Bradshaw, Cook, Annie; Mr. Utterson, the solicitor of Henry Jekyll and other different supporting characters. Ever since a child, Mary had had to go through many hardships due to her father being a drunk and abusing her. The diary started out with Mary recalling the time her father had put her in the closet with a mouse. The mouse ended up biting her to serious injuries and it was from then that she was departed from her father. With that, Mary started out her first lines in recording her life at Dr. Jekylls house. Mary right away interested him because unlike other servants she was not only observant and literate, she also had a constant tranquil view of the world around her. Mary began to establish a close relationship with her master as they had a lot in common. Mary also recognized the abnormal habit of her master, who usually spent hours and hours in his laboratory ( a small cabinet in the theatre across the yard) until after midnight and would come in sometimes just before dawn. Day after day, Dr. Jekyll gained his trust in Mary. The mystery began when Mary was sent on an errand to the house of Mrs. Farraday in Soho. After her second trip there, she was confused and frightened as she was shown a room full of blood and in that room laid a handkerchief on which her masters initials imprinted. Her masters explanation of all this confused her more as he said it was just an act of charity but this seemed contrary to what Mary felt. Subsequent to this, Master informed the household that he would be having an assistant, named Edward Hyde and he was to ...