Question

Read the excerpt from chapter 4 of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

An ivory-faced and silvery-haired old woman opened the door. She had an evil face, smoothed by hypocrisy: but her manners were excellent. Yes, she said, this was Mr. Hyde’s, but he was not at home; he had been in that night very late, but he had gone away again in less than an hour; there was nothing strange in that; his habits were very irregular, and he was often absent; for instance, it was nearly two months since she had seen him till yesterday.

The plot creates ______ by making the reader wonder why Mr. Hyde is away from home for such extended periods of time.

Answer 1

suspense

It raises suspense by prompting questions and anticipation about Hyde’s secretive absences and what they might mean.