Double, The

The double refers to a representation of the ego that can assume various forms (shadow, reflection, portrait, double, twin) that is found in primitive animism as a narcissistic extension and guarantee of immortality, but which, with the withdrawal of narcissism, becomes a foreshadowing of death, a source of criticism and persecution.

The figure of the double dates back to primitive civilizations, as shown in legend, but it is also found throughout literature. It was Otto Rank who in his essay on the double (1914) was the first to develop...