Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

One evening, Utterson receives a surprise visit from Poole. Seeing that the servant looks ill, Utterson asks what the matter is, and Poole confesses that he is worried about Dr. Jekyll. He has secluded himself in his study and his behavior is making Poole very afraid. Utterson asks him to be more specific but Poole continues to be vague, saying that he can’t bear the feeling anymore. Utterson notices that Poole's manner is completely changed and that he hardly looks up from the ground.

Utterson kindly pushes Poole for an answer and Poole replies that he believes some kind of “foul play” is to blame. The implications of this phrase make Utterson suddenly concerned. Poole requests that Utterson follow him to see what he means and is relieved when Utterson follows without question.

Utterson follows Poole through the moonlit, windy nighttime air to the square. The moon, the wind and the desertion of the streets fill Utterson with a sense of foreboding. Now outside Jekyll’s laboratory, Poole dabs his brow with a handkerchief. Despite the chill, Poole’s anxiety has caused him to break into a sweat. As they enter the dissecting room, Poole says a prayer.

They enter the hall, which is lit by a huge fire, and is full of terrified faces – all the servants have gathered and are huddling in fear. As they spot Mr. Utterson, they exclaim in relief to see 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 look hurriedly at the door of the study behind where their master is hiding. Poole fiercely scolds the maid.

Poole leads Utterson with a candle to the garden, in between the main building and Jekyll’s laboratory. He urges Utterson to stay quiet. He also warns him, that should Dr. Jekyll invite him inside, he must refuse. Utterson is filled with anxiety. As they approach Dr. Jekyll’s study, Poole steps up the stairs and gives a loud knock on the door, announcing Mr. Utterson. Dr. Jekyll responds briskly that he cannot see anyone.

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 his master was “made away with” eight days ago. Utterson has not dared to think such a thing. He sees no reason why, if such a thing were true, the man who murdered Jekyll would then stay in Jekyll’s study. Poole explains that the man has been shut away in the study and has been crying out for medicines, throwing out orders for various concoctions.

Poole has been supplying him with ingredients from the pharmacy but each time, he has been unsatisfied with the results of the drugs. Poole shows Utterson an example of one of these notes, in which the man on behalf of Dr. Jekyll complains to the pharmacist that the substance recently purchased from the pharmacy is impure. Utterson wonders why Poole has opened this letter and Poole explains that it had very much offended the pharmacist and had been thrown back at him.

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 with his own eyes, outside the operating theatre, rummaging around, and that the man then scurried off when he saw Poole approach. Poole doesn’t see any other explanation than that Hyde has murdered Jekyll, but Utterson entertains the idea that Jekyll is overcome with a strange disease, which makes him weary of even his most familiar friends and has changed him physically too.

Utterson speaks with hope, but Poole is certain – even in their brief encounter, he saw that this person was of completely different stature from Jekyll. He implores Utterson to believe that he would know his own master if he saw him. Utterson promises to find out, despite the evidence to the contrary. They decide that they will both enter together. Poole chooses an axe for himself and gives Utterson a poker.

Utterson makes clear to Poole that they are about to put themselves in grave danger. Because of this, Utterson wants them to be honest with each other. He knows they are both hiding their suspicions. Poole admits that he did recognize the man he saw—it was Mr. Hyde. He explains that Mr. Hyde is the only person other than Jekyll who enters the laboratory and adds Hyde has always given him an unmistakable, though unexplainable, a cold horrible feeling. Poole knows that this description is not the usual kind of evidence, but that he trusts his senses. Utterson admits that he knows exactly what Poole means, and has been convinced that Jekyll has been murdered by something evil.

Utterson calls in Bradshaw, a footman 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 that this pacing is constant. It only stops when they have another delivery from the chemist. He asks Utterson if it sounds like Jekyll’s footfall. Utterson realizes that it does not. Poole also says that he once heard "the creature" weeping, a sound so tragic that it made him want to cry too.

Utterson now shouts out to Jekyll that he demands to see him, and that he will enter by force if he has 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 strikes to get through. They are greeted by a strangely peaceful sight, an empty study, neatly arranged, but in the middle of it is the body of a man, still twitching from something. Utterson turns the body over—it is Hyde, but dressed in Jekyll’s larger clothes. Utterson realizes that Hyde has killed himself.

They 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 may have somehow escaped, but finds the door locked and the key broken on the floor.

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. Suddenly, a teakettle boils over and shifts their attention to the fireplace, where a tea set sits and beside it one of Jekyll’s religious books, annotated with “startling blasphemies”.

They examine Jekyll’s desk and find a letter addressed to Utterson. Inside are several documents, including another will, much like the previous one but this time with Utterson’s name in place of Hyde’s. Utterson is astonished that Hyde has not destroyed this document. He finds another document, with that day's date, written in Jekyll’s handwriting. Surely, Utterson thinks, this means that Jekyll is still alive. He 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 though he doesn’t know why.

Utterson reads the letter. Jekyll writes that if Utterson is reading these words it means that he, Jekyll, has disappeared somehow. Jekyll writes that now is the time for Utterson to read the letter that Lanyon gave him as well as 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 Lanyon's letter and Jekyll's confession, and promises Poole that he will be back before midnight.