E X T E N S I O N THE DOUBLE The discovery of the double in literature reveals that something is hidden in the soul of man. Since very early times, writers have been interested in the interior nature and behavior of man.With the birth of The Gothic Novel (18th century), writers showed greater interest in the split1 personality of man. This type of fiction was called Gothic because its imaginative impulse came from medieval buildings and ruins and the settings were castles or monasteries with subterranean passages, dark battlements2 and trapdoors3. The protagonists were usually supernatural beings, such as vampires, monsters, ghosts and witches. Exaggerated passions and fear of violence and personal violation were typical of Gothic-novel heroines. Honorable heroes saved them from the villains4 who were satanic, terrifying male characters, victims of their negative impulses. The Gothic influence, however, did not come to an end after this period: today s ghost and horror novels, which are read all over the world (Stephen King is an example), come from the 18th century Gothic novel. An example of the new vision of science in the hands of man s creativity was Mary Shelley s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818).Victor Frankenstein, a scientist obsessed with his desire to penetrate the secret of life, creates a perfect creature from a dead body. When he gives his creature life, the doctor realizes his creation is an ugly and unnatural being and abandons him. But the creature takes his revenge and kills all the people Frankenstein loves. The doctor follows him throughout Europe, as far as the Arctic, where he finds his death; the monster disappears soon borne5 away by the waves, and lost in darkness and distance . Yet, the theme of the double does not only concern the individual. It is also identified with a collective guilt6, hypocrisy and fear. In the Age 1. split: divided. 2. battlement: fortified wall of a castle. 3. trapdoor: small door covering an opening in the floor. 4. villain: a bad person who harms other people or breaks the law. 5. borne: taken. 6. guilt: feeling of anxiety or unhappiness that you have because you have done something wrong. 52