When I saw "The Replacement" I was struck by the difference between the Xander doppelgangers and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. Each Xander is like the whole Xander but with different aspects of his personality stressed. This contrasts with Mr. Hyde, who literally has no good traits, or is, essentially, a demon.
Kyle posted about how vampires are doppelgangers of their human selves, and this made me realize the similarities between these doppelgangers (Willow and Vamp Willow, Souled Angel and Unsouled Angel, Souled Spike and Unsouled Spike) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde is like the demon vampires while Dr. Jekyll is like the holistic humans/souled vampires. Demon Anya and Human Anya also function like this, although Human Anya has trouble with not being a demon.
Then I realized that I was probably making the wrong comparison because none of these characters have main roles in "The Replacement" and started to think about how the Xanders are quite similar to Guido and the dwarf in Transformation. Both Xander and Guido are aided by their respective doppelganger incidents. It’s hard to say that Guido’s dwarf is him, but the dwarf’s appearance and voice mimic the ugliness in Guido’s character. Perhaps his ability to apologize to Juliet and her father to forgive him reflects Guido’s buried ability to do this himself. (Buried very deep, guys. Very deep.) Even so, this is not the most linear of comparisons. I think that in some ways the two Xanders are the most pure form of doppelgangers we have come across, although in some ways the least pure. If we define it so that two doppelgangers combined represent the whole character, then the Xanders come closest to doing this. If we define it so that one of the doppelgangers represents an extreme aspect of the character, then Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, Anya, and the vampires are the closest. Guido and the dwarf seem to come somewhere in between because of the mystery surrounding the dwarf’s character.
Thinking about all of these different variations on doppelgangers made me wonder what a doppelganger pair that represented both extremes would be like, and also why we haven’t seen this before. Maybe it’s because the Gothic often deals with character ambiguity, since this ambiguity in regular people is a common everyday conundrum that everyone comes across. Maybe it’s just because if both doppelgangers were extremes there wouldn’t be a relatable character for the viewer/reader. Anyone have any thoughts?
I'm not entirely sure that Jekyll and Hyde are as completely different as you assume. Jekyll informs Utterson that he always had that darkness hidden inside him, and he even indulged in it from time to time. The difference is that he was able to control it and that it elicited feelings of shame. He initially glories in his ability to create a doppleganger because it allows him to indulge this aspect of his personality, which he always wanted to do, without any fear of the consequences. He eventually admits that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. However, I will admit that Jekyll and Hyde are examples of two extremes of a personality being amplified, whereas Xander's experience are different but similar. Maybe your confusion stems from the fact that both of Xander's extremes are positive, while Jekyll's are clearly "good" and "bad." Ultimately, I think you have a good point about there being few examples of such clear differences because the Gothic likes to play with ambiguity and to blur the line between light and dark.
ReplyDeleteI guess I didn't make myself very clear what I meant to convey was that Jekyll is a holistic, "whole" version while Hyde is an extreme aspect of this whole and the two Xanders just represent aspects of the whole Xander. So I actually agree with you that Jekyll and Hyde don't represent two extremes and I think it's interesting that we haven't seen an example of a purely good and a purely evil doppelganger pair.
ReplyDeleteooh, look, I was quoted. Thanks! Also, I'd say the closest I've come to seeing a doppleganger pair that was made of evil/good halves would be the in Star Trek... either "The Evil Within" where Kirk is split into his pure good and evil selves; or perhaps the mirror universe (though it's not a clear cut good/evil... like the vampires in "Buffy"). It's still not quite what you were wondering about though... I think that would be a fascinating idea if it were to actually exist... It may indeed have to do with the reality of it. There'd need to be some mediating character for which to judge the other two by—it's hard to judge them separately; and it's questionable weather a clear-cut good could exist (and possibly evil—Mr. Hyde sure seems it, but he even responds to incentives [not getting killed] to act in a more moral manner...)....
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