Topic started by Florence Cheung (@ 099.0101.cns.iprimus.net.au) on Sun Jan 14 07:47:19 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Can someone please clarify the ending of Dostoyevsky's The Double to me? I don't understand the meaning of it.

Responses:

• From: David Giambusso (@ dialup-209.246.74.205.dial1.newyork1.level3.net) on: Mon Sep 3 17:43:15
  
  This is exactly my question!. What the hell happened. Was he set up by Golyadkin Jr. after confessing his trials with the Ivanovich family? Is all of his anxiety merely brought on by himself. Or was he simply a lunatic all along? Why is the doctor so horrific to him in the end. What has he done to deserve the shunning of society?
  
  
• From: Kurumbu (@ seymour.marc.gatech.edu) on: Mon Sep 24 15:29:30
  
  Good God! I did not read the full book... my sympathies guys...
  
  
• From: Katrien (@ bru-33.cobonet.be) on: Sat Apr 13 13:12:32
  
  I just finished the book too, and I'm despertely looking for some good information about the story, since I'm expected to write a paper about it! Now, the only thing I could figure out up to now is that Golyadkin Jr. probably only existed in Golyadkin's (our hero's) mind. That makes him a lunatic first class. Wanting to be what he's not, and never granting himself a positive word. But I still have to check it.
  
  
• From: jise-monkey oranget (@ urban444) on: Wed Mar 12 22:14:59
  
  David, you seem to have been bit by the quirky yet seemingly miserable approach to modern medicine as seen by Eastern lunacism pre21st century. Yes, this book will spin you blindly into double-takes, but it is also as simple as acceptance.
  
  
• From: Michael Morgan (@ ) on: Thu Feb 26 07:39:15
  
  The idea of the double comes from the idea of the novel as a 'gothic' novel, where doubles are frequent, with one expressing the deep feelings that the main character won't/can't express. viz. Jane Eyre's relationship with the madwoman in the attic. I think that the double represents, obviously, Golyadkin's subconscious; but also the split between the physical and the mental - after all we see the events of the book from Golyadkin's perspective and are under his skin, as we are under our own skin, and the device of the double allows Golyadkin and the reader to assess Golyadkin from the outside. Also, there is the tension between a European/Westernised russian elite living in St. Petersburg, who speak French and not Russian, and a deeply slavic russian rootage - Golyadkin comes from the provinces, not brought up in this european atmosphere - and this is perhaps represented by the split in Golyadkin, it represents a split in Russia itself. This is shown in the treatment of St. Petersburg, a city based upon the architecture of Venice, but with the floods and harsh winters of Russia. Anyone else got any ideas?
  
  
• From: Larry Green (@ adsl-69-107-120-243.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net) on: Wed Nov 17 12:38:38
  
  Unfortunately for Mr. Golyadkin, the people he was surrounded with were unable to connect with him once his neurosis became manifest. He was always clinging desperately to the idea that he was respectable, normal, not one for intrigue, etc. when in reality, he had lost those qualities, at least, in his relationship with the people in his life. It seems clear to me that Mr. Golyadkin Jr. was nothing more than a delusion. In the end, the hero is taken to the asylum. Dostoyevsky left me with a feeling of sympathy for Mr. Golyadkin. It is a common occurence, as most of us know, for a person to move through his/her life appearing generally normal, but within the confines of their mind, they are on the verge of falling apart. Maybe the cruel demeanor of the doctor's words in the last scene symbolizes the ultimate, final impossibility of a person in Mr. Golyadkin's state being functional in a normal world.
  
  
• From: mena (@ cache-dtc-ad01.proxy.aol.com) on: Sun Dec 5 15:57:12 EST 2004
  
  I think he committed suicide in Chapter 5. Whether this be literal or merely the more obvious shattering of his psyche we see "Mr. Golyadkin was killed-killed entirely, in the full sense of the word..." in the beginning of this chapter. I think he jumped off Ismailovsky Bridge after the embarrassment of the party. Everytime he thinks of, or goes near, the bridge he gets a bad feeling. He sees his life as it might be if he were like one of the others, sinister, backstabbing. Kind of like "It's a wonderful life." except everybody can see him and he is able to interact with them. He ends up hating his new personality more than any others. By the end he's either finally being taken to the afterlife/hell/whatever or maybe an insane asylum. I think this point is left for the reader to decide.
  
  

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