The Double
Hitchcock often used "the double" in his films as a way to represent the relationship between characters. One representation of "the double" has both characters sharing the same desire however only one of them takes action. In Strangers On A Train, Bruno carries out the plot of murdering Guy's wife, just the way Guy would like to do it. Also in Rope, Brandon Shaw and Philip Morgan kill an inferior human being just the way their teacher Rupert Cadell would like to do it. In Psycho, Marion Crane steals $40,000 and plans on running away just the way Norman Bates would like to run away from his mother. These characters are in the same situation but are completely different personalities.
Read more about this topic: Themes And Plot Devices In The Films Of Alfred Hitchcock
Famous quotes containing the word double:
“Even in harmonious families there is this double life: the group life, which is the one we can observe in our neighbour’s household, and, underneath, another—secret and passionate and intense—which is the real life that stamps the faces and gives character to the voices of our friends. Always in his mind each member of these social units is escaping, running away, trying to break the net which circumstances and his own affections have woven about him.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“Women have acquired equal place to man in society, but the double standard has really never been relinquished; certainly not by men. Modern man’s fear of passivity or of the active woman proves to be as eternal as modern woman’s struggle to come to terms with her femininity.”
—Peter Blos (20th century)