The literary elements of plot, character and story setting as used in "The Body Snatcher"

The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson is an intriguing short story which was first published in the extra section of Pall Mall Christmass newspaper in December 1884. The characters in the short story were closely related to criminal activities which were occuring during the time of the notorious murders of Burke and Hare of 1828. This story is based on the encounters of a real life surgeon, Robert Knox, but was narrated by Robert Louis in a horrific manner by utilizing unique wrting skills alongside a theme and setting that qualifies the short story to be classified as a supernatural horror. The short story is vividly descriptive about the murder and haunting scenes that it has. However, the story is interesting to read and also provides a broad room for decosnstruction of literary elements such as plot, character, setting, point of view, language, tone, style, symbolism, and theme. For instance, the title of the book is suggestive of the content of the book itself. This implies that the Scottish author has employed writing skills from the onset of the story, with an objective of centering his readers at the heart of the message that he intends to pass. This paper examines the literary elements of plot, character and story setting as used in The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis.

Plot 

Robert Louis structured his story in a manner that entices readers to know what happened after each and every episode. First, the story begins when a group of four friends are sharing a few drinks. An eminent doctor, Wolfe Macfarlane, enters the place where these friends are enjoying themselves (Stevenson, 2015). Wolfe had been summoned to attend to a person who was ailing at the joint. One of the friends, Fettes, recognizes the doctor and angrily confronts him. In spite of the fact that his companions all discover this conduct suspicious, none of them can comprehend what may lie behind it. At this instance, readers are also left with the urge to know what the reason could be. Things being what they are, Macfarlane and Fettes had gone to medicinal school together. During their time in medical school, they were both being taught by an anatomy professor called Robert Knox. Their obligations included taking receipt of bodies for disection, and paying two sneaky and suspicious men who supplied the bodies (Stevenson, 2015). At one point, while carrying out their tasks, Fettes distinguishes a body as that of a lady he knew. Fettes is convinced beyond reasonable doubt that she has been killed. However, Macfarlane talks to Fettes and manages to convince him not to talk about what happened. Fettes keeps in mind that they are both embroiled in the criminal act with his friend as the primary criminal. Afterward, Fettes now meets Macfarlane at a bar, alongside a man named Gray, who treats Macfarlane in an inconsiderate way. The next night, Macfarlane brings Gray's body along as a sample for dissection purposes (Stevenson, 2015). In spite of the fact that Fettes is now sure that Macfarlane has murdered Gray, Fettes is again persuaded to keep quiet about the incident. Macfarlane uses an unfriendly tactic that again influenced Fettes to keep mum. Macfarlane told him that on the off chance that he is not prepared to perform such masculine tasks, he will wind up as simply one more victim (Stevenson, 2015). The two men ensure the body is exhaustively dissected, hence leaving no traces for any forensic proof. Fettes and Macfarlane proceed with their work, without being implicated in any wrongdoing. Nonetheless, when a lack of bodies leaves their professor in need, they are sent to a country churchyard to exhume the body of a woman who had just been burried. As they are driving back with the body situated between them, they start to feel anxious and suspect that the body might have changed (Stevenson, 2015). Therefore, they stop to investigate. They are stunned to find out that the body between them is that of Gray, which they thought they had completely destroyed (Stevenson, 2015). The author ends the story abruptly as each of the terrified men leap from either side of the car hence abandoning the dead body.

Character Aanalysis 

Robert Louis used his knowledge of real life characters and simply wrote a horror story about them. The author’s main characters include medical professionals as well as weird medical students among other characters who keep the horror story flowing. The core storyline of Robert Stevenson’s tale is folded amid its own sequel (Richardson, 2015). It is a dual narrative which utilizes retributive recognition for the characters in the tale. Its heading can be said to be originally plural because the tale involves two “body snatchers”, medical students from Edinburgh, and Dr Robert Knox who is partly disguised. Dr Knox is a known nineteenth century professor of anatomy who bought cardavas from the infamous murderers William Hare and William Burke. The historical figures Burke and Hare were represented by the author with different names. The duo are depicted as nocturnal bit-players in the author’s tale (Richardson, 2015). Fettes is a character who is easy to manipulate until towards the end of the story while Macfarlane is a manipulative go getter. Doctor Knox on the other hand is an unprofessional anatomist who involves his students in dealing with evil corpse sellers. With this type of characters, the author was trying to show the relationship, which he strongly believed existed between the criminals and the health sector professionals. The author’s character selection is perfect for the story as he manages to bring out its horrific theme at the same time.

Setting 

The setting of this short story is epic. The story takes us back to early 1800s when most of the incidences occured in reality and in tales. There are several places that can be examined regarding the setting of Robert Stevenson’s tale. First, at the point where Fettes recognizes Macfarlane, they are living life in a bar, enjoying themselves, before Fettes causes a scene at the base of the stairs of the old country inn. The two students met again in middle age in the quiet English village of Debenham, and there could be ernomous suspense with knowledge that the two would meet (Richardson, 2015). Second, the churchyard at Glencorse which were raided by the two students might seem a confection but in fact is real as reported by several authors. The churchyard is previously Glencross, about nine miles from Edinburgh, close to the Pentland Hills (Richardson, 2015). It is reached from a long straight way through woods and can definetly be related to haunting and murder episodes (Richardson, 2015). The author also depicts the place where dead bodies were being sold for educational purposes as a place where the ongoing business was actually not supposed to be taking place, given that the payments were being made to sneaky and suspicious men. However, the overall setting of the tale is a scary setting even as the story ends with Gray haunting Fette and Macfarlane. The author uses this setting to bring out a perfect horror tale with a good combination with vivid description of episodes for his story.

References

Stevenson, R. L. (2015).  The body snatcher . Edition Lempertz.

Richardson, R. (2015). Robert Louis Stevenson's The Body Snatcher.  The Lancet ,  385 (9966), 412-413.