A Social Semiotic Analysis of Stevenson s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

In the present research, the researcher aims at analyzing Stevenson s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde from a social semiotic point of view. In general, the researcher wants to see how one can use the principles of social semiotics in order to ideologically analyze a given text. In order to achieve this aim, Hodge and Kress s model is adopted as a reliable tool for the researcher in order to look for the signs in the text which could guide her to the ideologies that Stevenson aimed to convey. In doing so, the representations of the components in Hodge and Kress s model are pointed to throughout the novel and their frequencies counted. The counted frequencies are examined in a Chi-square test so that the points with significant difference can be specified. Results of the Chi-square test accompanied by the researcher s findings in terms of the lexicon and passives used by the writer, are used as a proof for what the researcher hypothesized earlier about the writer s ideology. According to the signs found out through the novel, the researcher concludes that the main ideology which Stevenson aimed to convey to the reader is the duality of human nature by which he means that all human beings have good and evil sides within themselves. Besides this, having examined the results of the chi-square test, the researcher at last, came to the conclusion that by applying some specific structures, Stevenson has somehow wanted to impose his own beliefs about the characters, their personality, and on a higher level, his beliefs about humans nature on the reader.