Duality In Victorian Literature

In Victorian literature the idea of duality and the double present as a theme which is common. This ever present theme within literature from the fin de siecle of the Victorian Era allow readers of the text to be able to gain an insight into Victorian culture and the socialial ideals of the period. In using Stange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and also The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde allows the reader to gain an insight into the previlence of this theme, dispite themes within these novels being rejected by soicitey at the time. I will write about both of these works with the aim to analyise, compare and contrast the depiction of the double within the Picture of Dorian Gray and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll

Applying this definition to the duality presented within The Picture of Dorian and Jykell and Hyde show the idea of the duality of human nature and phycology and that humans always have two coflicting personalities which are interlinked and interrelated. The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Stange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde demonstrate the inportance of literature as as soical and cultural tool used as a platfrom to discuss and cast light on issues, interests and desires which link to 'devenciy ' in the victorian era.

The Picture of Dorian Gray has many different elements which suggest the depiction of duality and the double within human nature, one of the most previllant examples of duality within this novel is the apparent stuggle between good and evil ' 'Your voice and the voice of Sibyl Vane are two things I shall never forgot...I don 't know which to follow ' '

' 'The love that he bore him -- for it was really love -- had nothing in it that was not noble and intellectual ' ' (10.7). This quotation direct from the novel denotes, the idealised romantic and sexual love which Bazil implicly holds for Dorian. ' 'It was such love as Michelangelo had known and Winckelmann.. ' ' (10.7). The use of the names of painters, Michelangelo and Winckelmann if sigificant because these painters had fervent admiration of the male form in an artistic sense and were also known homosexuals. We also see the mixing themes of homosexuallity and hetrosexuality; this is shown by the relationship between Sybil Vane and Dorian ' 'Dorian Gray leaped to his feet, with flushed cheeks and burning eyes. "Harry! Sibyl Vane is sacred!" (4.10). This is another aspect of duality within the novel, and this duality is bought out by the relationship that Dorian has with Basil and the heterosexual relationship he has with Sibyl. I believe that Wilde 's mixing homosexual and hetrosexual themes depicts a conflict within Dorian regarding his sexuality and it suggests that he may be bisexual and is torn between love with both male and female characters. This pecieved duality is due to the fact that in the Victorian Era, any type of homosexual or bisexual relationships were considered to be seen as excessive intimacy and these types of