E X T E N S I O N THE THEME OF THE DOUBLE Other famous English novels have dealt with the theme of the good and evil aspects of a character. We need only remember Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Stevenson among the most famous. The first novel is one of the outstanding works of Gothic literature: the monster that Victor Frankenstein manages to create represents in a certain way his double1, that part of his personality he has freed2 through his manipulations of nature. Stevenson s novel deals with the theme of the divided soul too: here the respected Doctor Jekyll discovers a potion which divides the good part of him from the evil one and changes him into a monstrous being. All these novels are based on contrasts: interior and exterior public and private youth and old age beauty and ugliness fashionable clubs and ill-famed taverns in London. In Wilde s novel the portrait represents Dorian s double: his youth and beauty lasts to the end of the story while his soul is corrupted by his numerous sins. The theme of the divided personality is quite common in Victorian literature. Also in Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens a respected teacher changes into a murderer by night perhaps because of the typical social characteristic so that we can talk about a double standard of Victorian morality. In this Chapter Dorian says to Basil: Don t you know that we are in the native land of the hypocrite? All these novels have a moral message: sooner or later human beings are punished for their sins, even though, in the case of Dorian Gray, Wilde s primary concern3 was not to write a morality tale but a well-written book , as the author stated4 in his preface to the novel. Each of us has Heaven and Hell inside . 1. double: consisting of two things or parts. 2. free: let someone leave a place. 3. primary concern: the most important interest. 4. state: declare. 79