Is Bruno Anthony “real” or simply a figment of Guy’s imagination? Is Guy Haines “real” or simply a figment of Bruno’s imagination? Or should both be seen as real life characters in Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train? Certainly Bruno and Guy are portrayed as mirror images of each other. And perhaps even alter egos of one another, like opposite sides of a single coin. Guy is handsome, educated, and a hard working tennis player while Bruno is unpredictable, impulsive, and a charming psychopath. They are clearly doubles, or doppelgängers - two halves of the same person; but, they are contrasting doubles - almost opposites, yet still counterparts, sharing certain shades of grey on a good versus evil comparison scale. Bruno as Guy’s Id and Guy as Bruno’s Superego, together they create a dangerous yin and yang composite, with a good angel perched on the right shoulder and a bad angel perched on the left shoulder.
So what are these two angels
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While this interaction could be interpreted as a romantic spark, I feel the relationship is closer in truth to that of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. For example, in almost every interaction between these two characters, but specifically the scene in which Bruno breaks the news of Miriam’s murder to Guy, Bruno acts more the enticing, evil conscience than any sort of real person. Bruno speaks quietly, flirtatiously beckoning Guy like a Siren with his evil call - disguising his horrible act with pleasant vocabulary, making a “gift” to him of Miriam’s glasses and remarking on her “painless” death. Bruno is not trying to seduce Guy sexually, rather he is hoping to charm, entice, and attract him to the idea of murder. Guy then is torn between his exterior, good Dr. Jekyll side and his hidden, evil Mr. Hyde