A #Doppelganger is a German word meaning “look-alike” or “double-walker” and is the non-biological look-alike of a living person.
In folklore, a doppelganger is representative of a #paranormal or ghostly occurrence that is sometimes viewed as an omen of bad luck. A doppelganger has no shadow or reflection and it causes a lot of damage and complications by inserting harmful thoughts into the person’s mind. It is believed that if one sees their own doppelganger, it is a sign of impending back luck or even #death.
Some traditions believe a doppelganger is a person’s evil twin; currently referred to as a “twin stranger.” The term “doppelganger” is most frequently applied in a more common or impartial capacity, and sometimes as a slang term as a way of illustrating the physical or behavioral similarities a person may have towards another.
Some Examples of a Doppelganger
An example of a DG in literature was the #ghost of #Hamlet’s father in #Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. Shakespeare used the idea of a doppelganger to create the plot of revenge against the murder of Hamlet’s father. Ideas were put into Hamlet’s mind by an #apparition of his father who told him he had been murdered.
In the short story by Edgar Allen Poe, “William Wilson” the idea of a doppelganger of the boy, William, he meets another boy in school who has the same name, looks alarmingly similar to him, and even dresses and walks as he does. The double of William’s only dissimilarity to him was that he only spoke in a whisper. After being haunted by his doppelganger, his entire life, in the chilling conclusion, William attempts to stab him with a knife, only to look in the mirror and witness he has stabbed himself.
The famous “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” story by #Robert Louis Stevenson is another example of a doppelganger situation.
How can you rid yourself of a doppelganger?
Freudian psychoanalytic views a doppelganger as being the part of a person’s self they are struggling with to gain control over. The doppelganger of a person has features of similarity as well as opposition to the unique person it duplicates.
In order for a person to be rid of their evil twin, they must first confront the aspects of their psyche the double represents, by confronting those suppressed feelings one can finally be free of the doppelganger in their life.