Stevenson uses Poole and Jekyll’s other servants to build tension at the beginning of this chapter as he has them all collected together and frightened in the hallway. They are all freaked out and acting out of character. A maid is actually crying because she is so terrified. Poole’s actions are the weirdest. He usually appears controlled – here though he doesn’t finish sentences and his body language appears tense.

The setting and the weather at the start of chapter 8 contribute to the eerie atmosphere and doomed mood. We know something bad is going to happen. The night is silent and cold and the wind is up. We think something is out there waiting to jump out on Poole and Utterson.

All of Poole’s statements are explained away by Mr Utterson. This tells us that Utterson wants there to be a logical explanation for what is happening, no matter how unlikely them seem. He still wants to believe that Dr Jekyll is one person and not sharing a body with Mr Hyde.

Tension is created in Poole’s account of the man in the lab who ‘walks all day’ and cries out in the ‘quiet of the night’ as we wonder why this thing is pacing and what it is planning. The cries in the night would be shocking as they would startle you in your sleep. We are unsure if they are cries of pain or anger.

Stevenson creates sympathy for the thing in the lab in this chapter as we get a sense of how desperate Dr Jekyll /Mr Hyde must be. He keeps crying out. His voice is full of emotion when he talks to Poole.

Despite finding Hyde’s body at the end of the chapter some suspense still remains as we still need to find out how Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde came to be one person.