The Double

“Or should I pretend it’s not me, but someone else remarkably like me, and look as if nothing were the matter?”

In a socially awkward situation, Golyadkin immediately imagines a reality where he is no longer himself. He does not want to speak to his superior, Andrey Filippovich, and he wonders what might happen if “someone else remarkably like [him]” were to exist in this situation instead, highlighting Tension and Anxiety in Duality. Golyadkin conjures up the idea of a double as a means of navigating social anxiety, willing the double into existence rather than suffer a mundane conversation with his superior. The double arrives in Golyadkin’s life in these circumstances before taking over everything.

“In a sense you must radically transform your character.”

When he visits his doctor, Golyadkin is given a radical suggestion. In addition to the medicine he has already been prescribed, Golyadkin is told to completely change his character. The withdrawn, awkward, anxious Golyadkin is told that the only way to feel better in this society is to conform by integrating himself into the social world around him. In effect, Golyadkin must become someone else in order to feel better. This other, conforming version of Golyadkin eventually arrives in the form of the double.

“I’ve no time for wretched duplicity. Only when I go to masquerades do I wear a mask, but I don’t parade one in front of people every day.”

Duplicity haunts Golyadkin, with this haunting eventually taking the form of his double. His concern about the masks people wear in public is important, as Golyadkin hides his anxieties and alienation from society by pretending to be sociable and successful. He duplicitously hides his fears from the world while also criticizing duplicity and scorning those who present an inauthentic version of themselves to others. The irony of Golyadkin’s statement is that he cannot see how the meaning could be applied to his own character, highlighting Delusion and Conspiracy.

“On his way, he darted into a money changer’s and changed his large notes into smaller denominations, and although he lost on the transactions his wallet fattened considerably as a result, which evidently afforded him the greatest satisfaction.”

Golyadkin wishes to present himself to the world as a wealthy, successful man. This presentation is shallow, however, and built on duplicity. Golyadkin swaps his money for smaller denominations, meaning that he has more notes and a fuller wallet. He has the appearance of wealth, even though he has technically lost money in the pursuit of appearing richer. He is so concerned that he should be projecting an image of wealth that he is willing to make himself unnecessarily poorer to do so.

“(With lesser talent I would not dare poke my nose in).”

The narrator emerges as a character by describing their talents in opposition to more famous writers. Pausing the story of Golyadkin, the narrator strives to describe the lavish wealth on show at the party but repeatedly insists that they lack the talent needed to do justice to the extravagance. Much as Golyadkin establishes his own identity using Petrushka and Andrey Filippovich as points of orientation, the narrator does the same with writers such as Pushkin and Homer. The narrator claims not to be poking their nose in, yet they cannot help but build their own character through points of contrast.

“Fate was carrying him along—he himself felt fate carrying him along.

The narrator is an equal accomplice in Golyadkin’s attitude toward Agency Versus Fate. Across the sentence, across the natural caesura of the em dash, the narrator creates the feeling of fate carrying Golyadkin forward in an escapable manner. The sentence uses passive voice in the first instance, then removes Golyadkin further by modifying the phrase to suggest that he feels as though fate is carrying, rather than simply stating that fate is, in fact, carrying him. Golyadkin feels carried by fate but lacks the agency required to remove this feeling from himself; the narrator does nothing to dissuade the audience from the idea that Golyadkin has little control over his own destiny.

“Now Mr. Golyadkin not only wanted to escape for himself, but even hide from himself, to be utterly annihilated, to exist no more and turn to dust.”

As Golyadkin’s anxieties increase, he envisions a new horizon of self-annihilation. He wants to be utterly eradicated from existence, no longer simply withdrawing from society and keeping to himself but also withdrawing from life itself. Golyadkin’s desire is a form of nihilism, in which he cannot envision any future where his condition improves, so he would rather extricate himself from existence.

“In brief it was Mr. Golyadkin himself.”

When Golyadkin interacts with the double, he seems certain that the man is real and unreal at the same time. This is not someone who looks like him; this is his self, externalized. The double is a part of himself that has been made physical, Golyadkin believes, a separate entity that poses a direct threat to his wellbeing.

“I felt drawn to you at first sight.”

The double speaks to Golyadkin frankly and, in doing so, he establishes the duality of their existences and the Tension and Anxiety in Duality. They are mirrored images of each other. They may look the same, for example, but the double does not suffer from Golyadkin’s many anxieties. Whereas Golyadkin felt horrified by the double, for example, and sought to get away from him, the double immediately felt drawn to Golyadkin. They are reflections of one another, possessing an aesthetic similarity and an emotional difference.

“It turned out to be a rather sentimental quatrain.”

As explained in the endnotes of The Double, the short verse that the double writes for Golyadkin is based on a style of poetry that is popular among boarding schoolgirls in the era. The writing is shallow and tacky but, to the man who has very little social interaction, it seems very profound. Golyadkin’s social alienation is evident in the emotional response to a rote citation of a shallow verse as no one has offered him anything like this. To the alienated and isolated Golyadkin, even the most superficial poetry seems profound.

“People who wear masks aren’t at all rare now and that nowadays it’s hard to recognize the man beneath the mask.”

At times, Golyadkin can recognize the alienation that is affecting the rest of society. He understands the superficiality of a world in which everyone is projecting a more polished and presentable version of themselves into the public sphere. Golyadkin’s failure, however, is that he does not recognize that he also wears one of these masks, highlighting Delusion and Conspiracy. The double is the manifestation of his mask, the kind of man he wishes he was. With the arrival of the double, Golyadkin is shorn of his mask, and his true self is exposed to the scrutiny of the society that is made to recognize the man behind his mask.

“Mr. Golyadkin decided to wait until masks fell from certain faces and something would come to light.”

Golyadkin again surrenders any agency over his life, highlighting Agency Versus Fate. He does not want to remove the masks of other people, choosing instead to simply wait for the masks to fall. Even in his desire to expose the truth of society, he takes a passive stance because he lacks the courage and certainty needed to arrest control over his fate.

“How are you allowing yourself to feel now, Yakov Petrovich?”

When he interrogates himself, Golyadkin shields himself from actual responsibility and emotion with carefully chosen words. He is not asking what emotions he feels; he is asking what emotions he is “allowing” himself to feel. Emotions must be filtered through a layer of permission, a form of mental bureaucracy that insulates Golyadkin from the rawness and meaning of actual emotion. He is alienated from his own feelings, unsure whether he is even permitted to feel anything.

“If it’s fate, if it’s fate alone, if it’s blind fortune that is to blame—well, should he then be treated like a dishcloth, shouldn’t he be allowed to work?”

Golyadkin becomes increasingly devoted to the idea that he has no control over his life, highlighting Agency Versus Fate. Everything, he believes, should be left up to fate. He renders himself a complete passenger in his own existence, surrendering any agency over his life by reiterating to himself and to his double that fate is more powerful than he could ever be.

“We don’t give anything away for nothing here.”

As he consumes fish pasties in a restaurant, Golyadkin’s mental health disorder is interrupted by the material realities of his existence. Nothing is free, he is told by the waiter, and this seemingly innocuous statement belies a truth about the broader society itself. For a man as alienated and anxious as Golyadkin, money remains important. Such material concerns cannot be excused even in his darkest moments. His physical, emotional, and mental needs are irrelevant in this society, alienating him further as he cannot escape material reality for any amount of time.

“Good people live without deception and never come in twos.”

Petrushka is very drunk when he offers his backhanded criticism of his employer. He feels unable to offer such criticism when sober, as social etiquette dictates that he must maintain at least the veneer of decorum. Fueled by alcohol, however, his true feelings emerge. The irony of Petrushka’s statement is that he is a hypocrite. As Golyadkin is later informed, Petrushka is likely stealing from him. Petrushka is not a good person, but he considers himself to be good enough. He is deceitful and bad, but is more concerned with his employer’s deceitfulness and immorality rather than admit to his failings. He does, however, signal an awareness of the existence of the double that others fail to see.

“Practically before Mr. Golyadkin’s very eyes [he would] thoroughly blacken his name, trample his pride in the mire and then, without a moment’s delay, usurp his place at both work and in society.”

Golyadkin is gripped by nightmares in which his double takes his place in work and society. In these dreams, Golyadkin is forced to watch as the double usurps his position. Much like reality, Golyadkin feels as though he has no agency. Even in his dreams, he cannot intervene in fate. Whether asleep or awake, he is a passive witness to his own replacement, highlighting Agency Versus Fate and his tendency toward the latter.

“The cab drivers and Petrushka, who was in league with them, were all in the right.”

Golyadkin is paranoid about seeing conspiracies everywhere; Petrushka and the cab drivers are colluding together against poor Golyadkin, and he is convinced. Importantly, however, Golyadkin notes that these conspirators are “all in the right,” suggesting that his self-loathing has reached such a point that he can empathize with people’s desire to conspire against him. He is convinced that he is worthy of their enmity more than their affection or respect, as he hates himself.

“We must blame it all on fate.”

In one of their meetings, Golyadkin urges his double to accept the same surrender of Agency Versus Fate. They must blame their predicament on fate, Golyadkin says, rather than suggest that they have any control over their lives. Golyadkin looks exactly like his double, but the double does not possess many of Golyadkin’s worst tendencies. By trying to turn his double into his own anxious self, Golyadkin is attempting to synthesize their differences negatively. He cannot strive to improve himself and become the socially integrated Golyadkin, like the double. Instead, he hopes to drag the double into his anxious, paranoid world of passivity.

“And in fact the envelope contained an order to Mr. Golyadkin, signed by Andrey Filoppovich, for him to hand over all the files in his possession to Ivan Semyonovich.”

Throughout the novel, Golyadkin receives several letters, some of which may or may not be real. The most consequential and most real letter, however, appears to be the one from his office. He is told to transfer his work over to his replacement, suggesting that he will soon lose his job. Golyadkin is being removed from an important sphere of public participation, beginning the full process of his removal from society. The loss of his job foreshadows his eventual fate.

“Sorrow, my friend, lurks even in gilded palaces and you can’t escape from it anywhere.”

Golyadkin speaks frankly to Petrushka for the first time, offering him sincere advice based on his own experiences. This advice comes in the form of a bitter observation, suggesting that wealth does not mean happiness. Golyadkin has more money than Petrushka, but he is not happy. He cannot escape the sorrows which are a fundamental part of his character.

“He’s a different person, Your Excellency, and I’m another, too.”

When Golyadkin gets an audience with His Excellency, his attempts to distinguish himself from the double illustrate the extent to which they are both parts of the same person. The double may be a different person, as Golyadkin describes, but Golyadkin is “another, too.” Even in their differences, they are alike. Even when attempting to separate himself from the double, Golyadkin binds their existences together, highlighting the Tension and Anxiety in Duality.

“Displays of affection aren’t in fashion in this industrial age.”

Golyadkin hints at the extent to which contemporary society has caused his alienation. In this industrial age, where his existence is centered on the bureaucratic procedures of life in an office, in which he has no agency over his life, he receives no displays of affection. There is no warmth or affection offered to Golyadkin, alienating him from a hostile world.