The Doubles That Lost Their Faces: The Role of Physiognomy in the Literature of Doubles in the 19th Century

The BA thesis is concerned with the topic of doubles and doppelgängers in anglophone literature of the 19th century in relation to physiognomy, i.e. science that examines the effects of human character on their appearance. The thesis focuses on the notion of "losing one's face" in both literal and figurative meaning, and the relationship between the faces of the doubles and the originals. To make this analysis possible, it was necessary to establish guidelines of what functions should a literary face fulfil. Hence, the BA thesis works with Gilles Deleuze's roles of the face: individuating, socializing, relational. These roles ensure uniqueness of one's face, one's social role and one's ability to lead a dialogue - not only an external, but also an internal one (and as such, it ensures that individuals parts of character and appearance are in accordance with each other.) The objective of the thesis is to answer the question of what happens to the face and the identity of an individual if he must share them with a double. To answer this question, the thesis analyzes three fundamental works dealing with duality: James Hogg's Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray. All three novels..