Character & Key Quotes: Mr Poole

Character & Key Quotes: Mr Poole

Contextual Understanding

• Mr Poole is Dr Jekyll’s faithful butler and has worked for him for many years. He is a reliable source of Jekyll’s transformation as he knows Jekyll well.
• His concern and the ultimate discovery of Dr Jekyll’s fate, demonstrate Stevenson’s use of the lower social classes to provide a moral compass for the other characters.

Key Quotes

• “If it was my master, why did he cry out like a rat, and run from me?”
  • Shows Poole’s confusion and fear towards Dr Jekyll’s transformation, emphasizing the terror that Hyde brings.
• “I think there’s been foul play.”
  • Conveys Poole’s deep sense of foreboding and indicates that he associates the changes in Jekyll with something sinister.
• “It is all at an end. And indeed he does not want my help; you do not know him as I do; he is safe, he is quite safe; mark my words, he will never more be heard of.”
  • This marks the conclusion and tragic downfall of Dr Jekyll after Mr. Poole helps Utterson to break down the cabinet door. It suggests that Poole understands the full extent of Jekyll’s situation and signifies the end of the Jekyll and Hyde duality.

Character Analysis

• Here, we see the faithful servant Mr. Poole, forced to break his duties and responsibilities due to the abnormal actions of his master, Dr. Jekyll. His key quotes show him as a pivotal character to traditional Victorian society norms and its subversion in the narrative. The bolded keywords would help in understanding his role and importance in the novel.