is the loyal servant of Dr. Jekyll, who greets visitors at the house and eventually is instrumental in the discovery and confession of his master. His near constant presence and yet his fear and ignorance of what is actually going on show the extent to which Jekyll has concealed his true self and lived a life of secrecy, even in his own home.
Poole Quotes in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde quotes below are all either spoken by Poole or refer to Poole. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 8
Quotes
The hall, when they entered it, was brightly lighted up; the fire was built high; and about the hearth the whole of the servants, men and women, stood huddled together like a flock of sheep.
"O, sir," cried Poole, "do you think I do not know my master after twenty years? Do you think I do not know where his head comes to in the cabinet door, where I saw him every morning of my life? No, sir, that thing in the mask was never Dr. Jekyll--God knows what it was, but it was never Dr. Jekyll; and it is the belief of my heart that there was murder done."
Related Characters:
Poole (speaker), Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde LitChart as a printable PDF.

Poole Character Timeline in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The timeline below shows where the character Poole appears in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...to visit his friend Dr. Lanyon, whose house is always crowded with eager patients. The butler brings Mr. Utterson straight to the doctor, who is sitting, ruddy and energetic, in his...
(full context)
Chapter 5
On the way out, Utterson asks Poole, Dr. Jekyll’s servant, to describe the sender of the letter, since Dr. Jekyll said it...
(full context)
Chapter 6
...The house itself fills him with a kind of dread. He talks to the servant, Poole, instead. Poole keeps Utterson up to date with his master’s condition, but Dr. Jekyll is...
(full context)
Chapter 8
One evening, Utterson receives a surprise visit from Poole. Seeing that the servant looks ill, Utterson asks what the matter is, and Poole confesses...
(full context)
Utterson kindly pushes Poole for an answer and Poole replies that he believes some kind of “foul play” is...
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Utterson follows Poole through the moonlit, windy nighttime air to the square. The moon, the wind and the...
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...their old acquaintance. Utterson is shocked to find them all away from their posts, but Poole explains that they are all afraid. The maid starts to cry, causing the servants to...
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Poole leads Utterson with a candle to the garden, in between the main building and Jekyll’s...
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Utterson notices that Jekyll’s voice is changed, and Poole comments that it is not merely changed but a different person altogether. He believes that...
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Poole has been supplying him with ingredients from the pharmacy but each time, he has been...
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Utterson sees that the handwriting is identical to Dr. Jekyll’s, and Poole says they need not even look at that evidence—he says he has seen the murderer...
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Utterson speaks with hope, but Poole is certain – even in their brief encounter, he saw that this person was of...
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Utterson makes clear to Poole that they are about to put themselves in grave danger. Because of this, Utterson wants...
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...of Jekyll's, and asks him to stand on guard outside the lab, while he and Poole attempt an ambush. They wait, listening to the nearby footfalls of their suspect. Poole says...
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...to. The changed voice pleads mercy. Utterson hears that the voice is Hyde's and orders Poole to break down the door. Poole strikes with his axe. It takes him five hefty...
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...now go looking for Jekyll’s body. They search the entire laboratory building, but find nothing. Poole thinks that Jekyll’s body must instead be buried somewhere. Utterson entertains the idea that Jekyll...
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As they continue to search for Jekyll, they find leftover substances from unfinished experiments, which Poole recognizes as the same chemical substance that he was made to order from the chemist’s....
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...now doubts that Hyde committed suicide, and thinks instead that Jekyll must have killed him. Poole asks Utterson why he hesitates in reading the document, and Utterson says he is scared...
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...Jekyll's own confession. Utterson finds the confession among the papers in Jekyll's letter, and instructs Poole not to tell anyone about any of this. He decides to go home to read...
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Chapter 9
...Lanyon to postpone all other engagements and to take a carriage directly to his house. Poole has instructions and will be waiting with a locksmith. Jekyll then orders Lanyon to break...
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...is determined to follow his instructions. He goes directly to Jekyll’s place, where he finds Poole and they go, with two tradesman, into the old operating theatre to the door of...
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Chapter 10
...gone on for years but he found himself running out of necessary chemicals. He sent Poole out for more but nothing worked. Now, he is using up the last of the...
(full context)