A Fascination with Doubles

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As far as writing, writers, and the idea of doubles go, my fascination is hardly new or innovative in the creative sphere. But that doesn’t seem to lessen my interest. It only increases it.

Months upon months ago, the definition of doppelganger hit my inbox and resulted in the explosion of a story idea –one that will come to fruition at some point because my subconscious won’t stop solidifying it.

doppelgänger    \DAH-pul-gang-er\

noun

1 :

a ghostly counterpart of a living person

2

a :

a person who closely resembles another living person

b :

the opposite side of a personality : alter ego

c :

a person who has the same name as another

Did You Know?

According to age-old German folklore, all living creatures have a spirit double who is invisible but identical to the living individual. These second selves are perceived as being distinct from ghosts (which appear only after death), and sometimes they are described as the spiritual opposite or negative of their human counterparts. In 1796, German writer Johann Paul Richter, who wrote under the pseudonym Jean Paul, coined the word Doppelgänger (from doppel-, meaning “double,” and -gänger, meaning “goer”) to refer to such specters.

Thank you Merriam-Webster Word of the Day!

I’ve read Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, plus more Victorian tales devoted to the idea than I can remember at this time. I’ve thought deeply about my inner and outer selves –the me(s) I show to the world and the me I am when I’m by myself. Even the me I am as Writer, versus the me I am when I’m doing the actual writing*, though that is a new thought to be completely honest.

The most extreme cases I can think of in the case of doubles involves people like Ted Bundy who led two vastly different lives with the only real connection between the divergent lines the physical man himself –well, monster, really.

Even in my current read there is a play on doubles; I’m not very far into Gone with the Wind, but I can see that the doubling of character nature is going to be a major theme. Rhett Butler is a master at playing the doubles game: gentleman/rascal whenever it suits him. So is Scarlett, who moves between Southern lady/Impudent dame, the tension of which is made obvious as she’s constantly speaking to her desire to act the way she truly feels instead of the way her mother raised her to behave.

All of this leads me to a number of questions: what is humanity’s fascination with doubles? Why do we look so hard for doubles? Why do we work so hard to create doubles? Where does this need stem from?

I’m sure there are excellent psychoanalytical answers out there. I’m going to posit that it mostly stems from a need for acceptance by our peers and the need for an entity to shift the blame on should that acceptance be in danger (for instance: I don’t know what possessed me to do such and such, it was like I wasn’t myself).

The notion of doubles in fiction, and across different medias, is likely popular and prevalent because it doesn’t have a clear answer. I know that I myself use it quite a lot in my writing though it never really looks the same across stories. The best use of alter egos does arise when there is a vast network of social structures around characters that they like to buck, in my opinion.

I definitely don’t have a crystal clear answer when it comes to doubles, all I can say with any surety is that I have a great time looking for one.

*Inspired by Negotiating with the Dead, Chapter 2: “Duplicity”, by Margaret Atwood.

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