Why Is He So Ambiguous When He Is Mr Hyde

The novella does not go into much detail about this aspect but there is one instance this theory can be applied to. This is Poole's changing attitude in chapter The Last Night. Poole is significant as he is the one character in the novel that has seen Hyde the most as far as the reader knows. However, when he calls Utterson for help as his master has locked himself in his room, he is ambivalent about who he thinks is in the room. First he argues that it is his master wearing a mask and after alternating his views a couple of times, he is suddenly certain that it is Hyde by saying “I give you my bible-word it was Mr Hyde!”1. If Poole knows him so well (Hyde existed for while and although he lived in secrecy Poole must have seen him at least a couple of times) why then is he so ambiguous about who he thinks is in that room? This is especially the case as the narrator made it seem that there is such a disgust for Hyde that it is someone you cannot forget. If Poole is so certain that it is Hyde, why did he not get help
Moreover, they do not involve the police but they blackmail him. This is an interesting choice, although at that time in history the police was not particularly trusted10, they still want to solve it themselves. This is a running thread in the novella as at the end Poole send to get Utterson and not the police, perhaps because he wanted to protect his master's reputation. Like Veeder said before, there is a need to capture him yet also a need to see him go free. Through not involving the police, and in Enfield's case, by blackmailing him, they manage to capture him but his reputation as it was in order to protect their