Dracula and Doubles

Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 372 - Dracula and Doubles

Before we go any further, I want to give you a basic definition of a double in literature or movies - first using some fairly recent examples.

Now a "double" refers to a character or figure that acts as a duplicate or counterpart to another, often embodying opposing traits or hidden aspects of the original character's personality. This motif explores duality, fragmented identity, and moral conflict, serving as a reflection of the protagonist's inner struggles or desires. Doubles can represent repressed qualities (e.g., evil impulses), moral opposites, or even societal anxieties, creating tension and conflict that drives the narrative.

Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987)
In this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the ghostly figure of Beloved acts as a double for Sethe’s guilt and trauma over her past actions. The motif highlights themes of memory, motherhood, and the haunting effects of slavery.
.
Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (1938)
While not a modern work in publication date, its influence persists in contemporary Gothic fiction. The unseen presence of Rebecca acts as a psychological double for the narrator, embodying her insecurities and fears about her identity in relation to her husband’s first wife.

These two modern examples demonstrate how the double motif remains a powerful literary tool for exploring complex psychological and social issues while maintaining its Gothic roots in creating tension and unease.

Listen to this episode to hear a theory regarding how the theme of "the double" is used in Bram Stokers Dracula!

Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Poe.

Transcript

George - Bold

Ghost of Mr. Poe - Italics

Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 372 Dracula and Doubles

Before we go any further, I want to give you a basic definition of a double in literature or movies - first using some fairly recent examples.

Now a "double" refers to a character or figure that acts as a duplicate or counterpart to another, often embodying opposing traits or hidden aspects of the original character's personality. This motif explores duality, fragmented identity, and moral conflict, serving as a reflection of the protagonist's inner struggles or desires. Doubles can represent repressed qualities (e.g., evil impulses), moral opposites, or even societal anxieties, creating tension and conflict that drives the narrative.

Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987)
In this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the ghostly figure of Beloved acts as a double for Sethe’s guilt and trauma over her past actions. The motif highlights themes of memory, motherhood, and the haunting effects of slavery.
.
Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (1938)
While not a modern work in publication date, its influence persists in contemporary Gothic fiction. The unseen presence of Rebecca acts as a psychological double for the narrator, embodying her insecurities and fears about her identity in relation to her husband’s first wife.

These two modern examples demonstrate how the double motif remains a powerful literary tool for exploring complex psychological and social issues while maintaining its Gothic roots in creating tension and unease.

GHOST SOUND

Ah, it’s you Mr. Poe - I would like to ask you about something that intrigues me - the issue of doppleganters - or doubles - in Dracula.  I know that you definitely wrote about a droppleganger figure in your story William Wilson, but it would be hard to claim that Dracula and Jonathan Harker are traditional doppelgängers in the same sense as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or even Dorian Gray and his portrait.

Ah Mr. Bartley, consider an interpretation where they can be interpreted as doppelgängers in a more nuanced way: Dracula and Harker represent opposing forces, with Dracula embodying the dark, supernatural aspects of human nature,

And Jonathan Harker might represents rationality.   Would that be correct?

EXACTLY, Mr. Bartley. And Dracula can be seen as a dark reflection of Harker, representing the hidden desires and fears within Victorian society. Harker's journey into Transylvania and his encounters with Dracula force him to confront aspects of himself he may have repressed.

I am a bit confused.

Mr. Bartley - you are ALWAYS confused. Harker is placed in a traditionally female role as the powerless character under Dracula's control, subverting typical gender dynamics and creating a unique form of doppelgänger relationship.  And Dracula, as a vampire, can be interpreted as the dark side of humanity as a whole, rather than a specific individual. In this sense, he serves as a collective doppelgänger for the human characters, including Johnathan Harker.

Yes, Mr. Poe - Harker’s experiences with Dracula lead to a significant change in his character, creating a duality between his initial skeptical self and his later, more accepting persona. This internal conflict reflects the doppelgänger theme.  Such a relationship is a bit more complex - and certainly not as explicit - as than the more obvious doppelgänger - or double - relationship of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. the relationship between Dracula and Harker explores themes of duality, identity, and the hidden aspects of human nature, which are central to the concept of doppelgängers in literature.

Yes, Mr. Bartley - you seem to understand the relationship between Dracula and Harker.

Ah, I have come to believe that the motif of the doppelgänger is a recurring and powerful theme in Gothic literature This concept often explores themes of identity, self-destruction, and the uncanny, making it a compelling counterpart to vampiric narratives.

Yes, Mr. Bartley - I frequently used the doppelgänger motif to delve into psychological and existential crises. In William Wilson, one of my most notable explorations of this theme, the protagonist is haunted by his double, who acts as a physical manifestation of his conscience. The double gains strength as Wilson succumbs to moral corruption, culminating in a climactic confrontation where Wilson murders his doppelgänger, only to realize that he has symbolically destroyed himself. The doppelgänger here represents the inner struggle between good and evil.

Similarly, in The Fall of the House of Usher - another vampiric story - I use doubling through the twins Roderick and Madeline Usher. Their physical and psychological connection underscores themes of shared doom and identity collapse.

And Mr. Poe - if I am correct - in Bram Stoker's Dracula, the doppelgänger motif manifests differently but remains integral to its Gothic framework. Dracula himself can be seen as a dark mirror to characters like Jonathan Harker or Van Helsing. For instance:

Jonathan Harker undergoes an internal transformation as he shifts from skepticism about vampires to acceptance, creating a conflict between his old rational self and his new belief system—essentially acting as his own doppelgänger. and Dracula contrasts with Van Helsing; both are highly knowledgeable, but their ideologies diverge sharply. Dracula uses his intellect for a perverse form of immortality, while Van Helsing wields his knowledge for altruism and the destruction of evil.

Ah, Mr. Bartley - you are forgetting the reality that Dracula embodies broader doppelgänger themes such as life versus death (or undead), presenting a philosophical exploration of existence beyond mortality.

And Mr. Bartley - I would like to submit that Both vampires and doppelgängers share thematic overlaps: Vampires often blur boundaries between life and death, much like doppelgängers blur distinctions between self and other.
Ah, Mr. Poe - the boundaries between life and death …

Mr. Bartley, that is not exactly what I am talking about.  I want to emphasize that just as doppelgängers reveal hidden aspects of one's psyche (e.g., guilt or suppressed desires), vampires often symbolize forbidden appetites or predatory instincts.

Another aspect is that in both motifs, confronting the "other" frequently leads to annihilation. For example, Wilson’s murder-suicide parallels Jonathan Harker’s destruction of Dracula—a symbolic triumph over his own fears and vulnerabilities.  Note my description from the story: 

The contest was brief indeed. I was frantic with every species of wild excitement, and felt within my single arm the energy and the power of a multitude. In a few seconds I forced him by sheer strength against the wainscoting, and thus, getting him at mercy, plunged my sword, with brute ferocity, repeatedly through and through his bosom.

At this instant some person tried the latch of the door. I hastened to prevent an intrusion, and then immediately returned to my dying antagonist. But what human language can adequately portray that astonishment, that horror which possessed me at the spectacle then presented to view? The brief moment in which I averted my eyes had been sufficient to produce, apparently, a material change in the arrangements at the upper or farther end of the room. A large mirror, (so at first it appeared to me in my confusion), now stood where none had been perceptible before; and, as I stepped up to it in extremity of terror, mine own image, but with features all pale and dabbled in blood, advanced, with a feeble and tottering gait, to meet me.

Thus it appeared, I say, but was not. It was my antagonist -- it was Wilson, who then stood before me in the agonies of his dissolution. Not thread in all the raiment -- not a line in all the marked and singular lineaments of that face which was not, even identically, mine own!   His mask and cloak lay where he had thrown them, upon the floor.

It was Wilson; but he spoke no longer in a whisper; and I could have fancied that I myself was speaking while he said --

"You have conquered, and I yield. Yet henceforward art thou also dead -- dead to the world and its hopes. In me didst thou exist -- and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself."

Mr. Poe - I don’t even know what to say.

Then perhaps, Mr. Bartley - it would be better for you to remain silent.  Now I occasionally merged vampiric elements with the doppelgänger motif. In Berenice, for example, the narrator metaphorically drains the vitality from his cousin Berenice before violently destroying her teeth—symbols of her potential retaliation or vitality. While this story focuses on vampirism more than doubling, it still reflects themes of identity erosion and self-destruction that are central to doppelgänger narratives.

The shutting of a door disturbed me, and, looking up, I found that my cousin had departed from the chamber. But from the disordered chamber of my brain, had not, alas! departed, and would not be driven away, the white and ghastly spectrum of the teeth. Not a speck on their surface --not a shade on their enamel --not an indenture in their edges --but what that period of her smile had sufficed to brand in upon my memory. I saw them now even more unequivocally than I beheld them then. The teeth! --the teeth! --they were here, and there, and everywhere, and visibly and palpably before me; long, narrow, and excessively white, with the pale lips writhing about them, as in the very moment of their first terrible development. Then came the full fury of my monomania, and I struggled in vain against its strange and irresistible influence. In the multiplied objects of the external world I had no thoughts but for the teeth. For these I longed with a phrenzied desire. All other matters and all different interests became absorbed in their single contemplation. They --they alone were present to the mental eye, and they, in their sole individuality, became the essence of my mental life. I held them in every light. I turned them in every attitude. I surveyed their characteristics. I dwelt upon their peculiarities. I pondered upon their conformation. I mused upon the alteration in their nature. I shuddered as I assigned to them in imagination a sensitive and sentient power, and even when unassisted by the lips, a capability of moral expression. --ah here was the idiotic thought that destroyed me! I felt that their possession could alone ever restore me to peace, in giving me back to reason.

Mr. Poe - you might say that such narratives are able to resonate with reader’s anxieties.

Well, said, Mr. Bartley. The use of doppelgängers in Gothic literature serves as a rich metaphor for exploring psychological depth, moral dilemmas, and existential fears.

Mr. Poe - which leads me to ask you how does the doppelgänger motif enhance the psychological horror in your stories

Ah, Mr. Bartley - I believe that the doppelgänger motif in my stories enhances the psychological horror by externalizing internal conflicts, creating an atmosphere of unease, and exploring themes of identity, guilt, and self-destruction.

And you were all about psychological horror.

Yes, Mr. Bartley - to put it bluntly.   For example, in William Wilson, the doppelgänger represents the narrator's conscience and moral struggle. The double acts as a physical manifestation of the narrator's inner evil, haunting him across time and space. This externalization intensifies the psychological horror as the protagonist is forced to confront his darker self in a tangible way. The climactic murder-suicide scene underscores the inseparability of body and mind, illustrating how the narrator's attempt to destroy his double ultimately leads to his own destruction.

And Mr. Bartley - if I may be permitted to continue, the presence of a doppelgänger introduces an uncanny element that unsettles both characters and readers. In The Fall of the House of Usher, for example, the doubling of Roderick and Madeline Usher creates a sense of shared doom. Their intertwined fates mirror the collapse of their family lineage and their house, amplifying the story's pervasive dread. This doubling heightens tension as it blurs boundaries between individuality and shared identity.
Mr. Poe - would you say that doppelgängers or doubles in your works often
lead to self-destruction.

Ah yes, Mr. Bartley, by confronting their doubles, characters such as William Wilson or Roderick Usher are forced to face suppressed truths about themselves. The destruction of the double symbolizes an inability to reconcile with one's darker impulses, resulting in psychological collapse or death. The doppelgänger motif intensifies psychological horror in my stories by embodying inner turmoil, creating an atmosphere of dread, and exploring existential themes. It forces characters—and readers—to confront unsettling questions about identity, morality, and the human psyche.

Fascinating, Mr. Poe. This certainly is unexpected - to have the ghost of Mr. Poe talk about concepts that occurred after his earthly existence.

Ah, Mr. Bartley - you must remember that my portrayal of doppelgängers in stories such as William Wilson predate Mr. Freud’s theories of the unconscious and the concept of repression. The double in William Wilson symbolizes the narrator's conscience and repressed guilt, externalizing his inner moral conflict. Freud’s later concept of the “uncanny" —the unsettling experience of encountering something both familiar and alien—aligns closely with my use of doubles. The doppelgänger embodies this uncanny effect, representing a split self that evokes dread and discomfort.

May I continue, Mr. Bartley?

By all means, this is fascinating.

Additionally, Freud’s idea of the alter ego is mirrored in my depiction of the double as an externalized projection of the darker aspects of the psyche. This projection allows characters to confront their repressed desires or impulses, often leading to self-destruction. For example, in William Wilson, the protagonist’s murder of his double is also a symbolic suicide, illustrating Freud’s notion that repressed elements are vital to the self but can lead to psychological collapse if denied.

Ah, Mr. Poe - you are constantly amazing me.

Ah, Mr. Bartley - it is said that my use of doppelgängers anticipates Freudian psychoanalysis by exploring themes such as repression, the unconscious, and the uncanny. My portrayal of split personalities aligns with modern understandings of identity fragmentation and dissociative disorders.

Your stories are not just entertainment - but profound explorations of human nature that continue to resonate with readers and scholars alike.

Mr. Bartley - that reflection was most kind.

On the other hand - and I do want to confine my remarks to the stories at hand - the character of Dracula serves as a doppelgänger to multiple characters, embodying their repressed fears and vulnerabilities.

How is that?

Ah, Mr. Bartley - Dracula mirrors Johnathan Harker’s anxieties about powerlessness and moral corruption. As Harker becomes trapped in Dracula’s castle, he is forced to confront his fear of losing autonomy and succumbing to evil. Dracula’s predatory nature contrasts with Harker’s humanity.

Mr. Poe - do you believe that Harker could become like Dracula?

Ah, Mr. Bartley - that is a distinct possibility - IF he abandons his moral compass.

And then there is Van Helsing.

Ah, Mr. Bartley - Dracula acts as a foil to Van Helsing, reflecting an inversion of the professor’s moral and intellectual authority. Both are highly knowledgeable and resourceful, but while Van Helsing uses his abilities for salvation, Dracula wields his for domination. This parallel highlights the thin line between good and evil.

While we are at it - what about Lucy Westenra’s Transformation?

Ah, Mr. Bartley - Lucy’s transformation into a vampire illustrates her duality as both innocent victim and monstrous predator. Her vampiric self is a grotesque reflection of her former purity, symbolizing the psychological struggle between societal expectations (virtue) and suppressed desires (sexual freedom). Her dual nature amplifies the horror of losing one’s identity to external forces.

And Mini Harker certainly has an inner conflict.

Mina’s partial vampirization positions her as having a psychic connection to Dracula —she fears losing her autonomy and morality while becoming complicit in Dracula’s evil. This duality reflects her psychological struggle to resist corruption and maintain her sense of self.

Hard to imagine - Dracula was written AFTER your earthly demise.

But Mr. Bartley - that does not mean that I was not in a position to become aware of such a work of art.  You speak in chronological time - I exist in artistic time that it is eternal.

Now permit me to remark that Dracula’s human-like qualities—his charm, intelligence, and ability to mimic normalcy—make him an unsettling reflection of humanity’s darker instincts. This uncanny resemblance forces characters to confront the unsettling possibility that they share traits with him, intensifying their psychological struggles.

Well, Mr. Bartley - permit me to leave.  I do have other places to exist.

Farewell, Mr. Bartley

Goodbye, Mr. Poe. 

Sources include: William Wilson by. Poe and Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Thank you for listening to Celebrate Poe.