The Doubles Creation as a Necessary Anti-Hero Essay

â€Å"In literature the double is a result of the authors conscious or unconscious desire for a wider range of action, possibilities of behavior for his hero that go beyond the morally acceptable, and this wish will create itself in the form of a double, or anti-hero† writes Joyce Carol Oates in her piece â€Å"Tragic and Comic Visions in The Brothers Karamazov.† Just as Oates suggests that doubles are created in order for an author to extend a characters range of believable actions, doubles exist to bring about change in their original forms. Citing Mikhail Bakhtins criticism of Dostoyevskys creation technique, I intend to align the authors intentions with the intentions of his characters, and explain that due to the authors need for a wider†¦show more content†¦Through extensive research of dissociative fugue and the projection defense mechanism as well as in-depth analysis of each characters speech and action will help solidify my case for each and speak t o the reasoning for their creation of doubles. My second viewpoint is a bit more abstract in the sense that it deals solely with the concept of a literary double. This approach is not radically different from the take on the same theory that doubles are born out of an individuals need for further action they wish not to take responsibility for. This view asserts the creation of a literary double is somewhat of a cop out on the authors part. Mikhail Bakhtin, as well as countless other critics, have identified Dimitri, Ivan, and Alyosha Karamazov each as Dostoyevsky himself in differing phases of his life. In this manner, the novel is an â€Å"artistically organized† collection of languages, voices, and speech types (Rivkin 674). I will rely heavily on the work of Mikhail Bakhtin in my discussion of the differing voices (heteroglossia) within the novel, as well as a commentary on Bakhtins â€Å"Problems of Dostoevskys Creation by Rene Wellek. My research will aim to uncover t he multitude of voices that an author includes within each character of the story as well as a seemingly