In his critical essay “The Emergence and Development of the Double Theme' and 'The Russian Double” John Herdman explores the numerous varieties in which the concept of the ‘double.’ He described that the Romantics see the double most often when the “protagonist [are] confronted with an embodiment of the dark forces from within their own natures” and they associate this concept with the idea of Fate. They argue that because the double stems from within, the protagonist’s inability to escape their destiny is synonymous to an act of Fate. Within his piece, Herdman noted that Philosophy has also placed the ‘double’ in a view tailored into what Kant subscribed as “good and evil … equally real and equally at home in the human soul, … [struggling] between reason and the evil and irrational, in which reason must prevail if the good is to survive and flourish” (Herdman). Herdman also touches on the idea `Doppelgänger' which was coined by Jean-Paul Richter. However, while it was Richter was inventor of the term, it was Ralph Tymms, in his work Doubles in Literary Psychology, who “rightly asserts that ‘Jean Paul’s conception of the double is never profound, and sometimes it is quite trivial.’” The true double or Doppelgänger is defined as a “second self, or alter ego, which appears as a distinct and separate being apprehensible by the physical senses, but exists in a dependent relation to the original” (Herdman). The second type of double adapts characteristics of Dostoevsky and has been referred to as the ‘quasi-double’ by Joseph Frank. This type of double occur in numerous forms, however, “always have an unambiguously independent existence within the fictional scheme” or in other words “characters who exist in their own right, but refl... ... middle of paper ... ...ones 286). From one viewpoint dreams can be classified into three categories. The first are those that are both “sensible and intelligible.” These particular dreams are most often associated with children. The second are dreams that while form connections and have clear meaning, also bring forth curiosity and surprise due to the inability to “fit them into the rest of our waking life.” And lastly, are the dreams in which one’s “mental processes seem to be disconnected, confused and senseless” (Jones 285). In the film, Sarah’s dreams are both sensible and depict evident meaning even though Tom attempts to convince her otherwise which could be seen as refusal to accept his other identity. Mick’s ex-wife dreams can be classified within the second category because while there is meaning within her dreams, they were in no way connected or relatable to her waking life.
Dreams are there to make the illusion of the impossible, you must always strive to do the impossible. Two people have shown that it is possible to achieve the impossible, and those two people are Althea Gibson and Barbara Jordan, and those two people had done their absolute best to make sure that they make it, and to make sure they make they succeed in life. In the article Althea Gibson and Barbara C. Jordan, both written by Frank Lafe They were both faced with obstacles that didn't want them to succeed, they had dreams that had seemed impossible for them to be able to achieve at that time. Both of them had different environments that affected their future, the environments around people affect the person too. All of those describe the lives
The theme of duality in found in the world’s most famous works of literature. Duality is described as the relationships between good and evil, love and hate, and life and death, etcetera. It is ultimately the relation between two opposites that is shown and expressed throughout something. One can find duality in everything they come into contact with, for anything could be used to cause two different outcomes. It is found not only in works of the past, but it is very common in today’s works as well. The Novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde exhibits examples of duality such as Dr. Jekyll battling his other self, Mr. Hyde. Romeo and Juliet and To Kill a Mockingbird are two other examples of great works of literature that explore duality.
The construct of a fictional doppelgänger lacks restraints of a definitive denotation, as it has often been familiarized and integrated into literature as a condition limited to the male gender, fortified by the demarcation of a gendered identity. Through the manipulation of the male lens, the feminine personality is subjugated to a classification of sheer obligation and domestication to man. Within doppelgänger narratives, such as Ligeia and Der Sandmann, the incorporation of the uncanny often institutes thematic elements concerning the anonymity of identity and the ambiguity of reality. Though the juxtaposition of the uncanny and the fallibility of vision, relative to the castration complex, denunciates femininity as the absence of the male standard, consequential of a phallocentric society, the doppelgänger’s influence as a femme fatale has revolutionized and transcended societal perceptions of femininity and womanhood.
Duality is a combination of opposites, such as good and evil, love and hate, or life and death. It is used to explore things such as suppression, law breaking, and the unpredictability of human nature. It has been presented in many literary works, such as The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Romeo and Juliet, and “The Fall of The House of Usher”. The theme of duality is used in these three stories to convey new thoughts and concepts.
“In literature the double is a result of the author's conscious or unconscious desire for a wider range of action, possibilities of behavior for his hero that go beyond the morally acceptable, and this wish will create itself in the form of a double, or anti-hero” writes Joyce Carol Oates in her piece “Tragic and Comic Visions in The Brothers Karamazov.” Just as Oates suggests that doubles are created in order for an author to extend a character's range of believable actions, doubles exist to bring about change in their original forms. Citing Mikhail Bakhtin's criticism of Dostoyevsky's creation technique, I intend to align the author's intentions with the intentions of his characters, and explain that due to the author's need for a wider range of motion within a character, the character themselves creates a double. Through an understanding of this, one can view my theory through a psychological viewpoint of the original, non-duplicated, character. I also aim to present the idea of the double as an authorial tool. The latter viewpoint intends to examine doubles through in purely literal light.
Otherness in 1984 by George Orwell and The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John Le Carre
Often times in literature, we are presented with quintessential characters that are all placed into the conventional categories of either good or bad. In these pieces, we are usually able to differentiate the characters and discover their true intentions from reading only a few chapters. However, in some remarkable pieces of work, authors create characters that are so realistic and so complex that we are unable to distinguish them as purely good or evil. In the novel Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky develops the morally ambiguous characters of Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov to provide us with an interesting read and to give us a chance to evaluate each character.
There are many facts that are unknown about dreams and their meanings. For centuries, philosophers and scientists have tried to understand the meaning of dreams. They have all been fascinated by the fact that the content of dreams may have meanings relating to one's life. Are dreams just thoughts in people's minds, or are dreams in fact representations of different areas in people's lives? Dreams represent many different areas of one's life in physical, emotional, and mental ways. Dreams can relay to people facts about their lives that they are not even aware of. There are also many ways that dreams can help cure different physical, emotional, and mental problems in one's life. This paper will discuss dreams and their meanings, and ways of interpreting a dream using such methods as hypnotherapy and psychoanalysis therapy that can help a person in physical, mental, and emotional ways. The first fact that will be discussed is what dreams are and how they work for people in allowing the person to discover more about himself. Dreams can be defined as "a conscious series of images that occur during sleep" (Collier's, vol. 8). Dreams are usually very vivid in color and imagery. They reveal to the dreamer different wishes, concerns, and worries that he or she has. Dreams usually reflect every part of who the dreamer is. The content of the person's dream is usually made up according to how old the dreamer is and how educated the he or she is (Collier's, vol. 8). Dreams are not planned out or thought up. The unconscious part of the mind brings out bits and pieces of information in the dreamer's mind and places them together. According to Encarta, dreams are almost always visual. Forty to fifty percent of dreams have some form of communication present in them and a very small percentage of dreams give the dreamer the ability to use his or her five senses (Encarta). Dreams allow one to take a closer look into his mind and himself in a quest for self-discovery. Dreams can be used to solve all different types of problems. In Sigmund Freud's book, The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud states: "As regards the dream, all the troubles of waking life are transferred by it to the sleeping state […]" (Freud 113). They relay things about a person that the person may not be able to see.
Duality can be powerful and needs to be controlled. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the theme of duality is expressed significantly. These astounding works of literature show how everything has two sides. Therefore, duality needs to be accepted by both sides, or else, the evil will take over.
The conflict between good and evil is one of the most common conventional themes in literature. Coping with evil is a fundamental struggle with which all human beings must contend. Sometimes evil comes from within a character, and sometimes other characters are the source of evil; but evil is always something that the characters struggle to overcome. In two Russian novels, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, men and women cope with their problems differently. Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment and the Master in The Master and Margarita can not cope and fall apart, whereas Sonya in Crime and Punishment and Margarita in The Master and Margarita, not only cope but pull the men out of their suffering.
Though dreams are usually considered to be pleasant distractions, the man believes that good dreams draw you from reality and keep you from focusing on survival in the real world. The man’s rejection of dreams and refusal to be drawn into a distraction from his impending death exemplifies the futility of trying to escape; McCarthy presents dreams and memories as an inevitable conundrum not to be trusted. The man’s attitude towards dreams is established from the beginning of the novel. When battling with a recurring dream of his “pale bride” the man declares that “the right dreams for a man in peril were dreams of peril and all else was the call of languor and of death” (18). To the man, the life he lives in is so horrible that he believes that his dreams, in turn, must...
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a riveting tale of how one man uncovers, through scientific experiments, the dual nature within himself. Robert Louis Stevenson uses the story to suggest that this human duality is housed inside everyone. The story reveals “that man is not truly one, but two” (Robert Louis Stevenson 125). He uses the characters of Henry Jekyll, Edward Hyde, Dr. Lanyon, and Mr. Utterson to portray this concept. He also utilizes important events, such as the death of Dr. Jekyll and the death of Mr. Lanyon in his exploration of the topic.
For thousands of years humans have experienced a phenomenon which we describe today as dreaming. It has puzzled and sparked interest to all whom experience it. For as long as people have been dreaming, there have been people trying to understand and interpret them. This research paper examines the causation and deeper meaning of dreams. It will compare and contrast the differentiating ideas on the subject by famous psychologists and also examine first-hand accounts from real individuals. The objective of paper is to shed some light on this complex and bizarre behavior.
The Psychodynamic view of dreaming suggests that the content in our dream is symbolic of something. Also, that the content in our dreams are based on unconscious desires as well as internal conflict.
There are many perceptions of what a dream actually is. Some view dreams as the subconscious trying to speak to people, and others see it as religious visions of the future. Over the years, physicians and psychologists have collected countless amounts of research and evidence to support their viewpoints on dreams. I have always believed that dreaming is a time when the brain develops and analyzes important information (Bernstein 149). Dreams do not mean anything specific, and everyone has their own cultural perspectives of dreams. In reality, no one has the power to analyze and tell people the meanings of their dreams. According to Bernstein’s psychology book, dreaming is a time when the brain experiences story-like perceptions and sensations.