La otredad gótica y la figura del doble

Abstract

The encounter with a double is a common literary device in Gothic Literature. It moves the protagonist to question and doubt the Western conception of a human being as a unified identity. The double starts as a receptacle of everything inadmissible which, consciously or not, I recognize in myself. Thus, the appearance of Gothic doubles makes it possible to justify crimes and personify the boundaries of the inadmissible; in the end, it also points out towards the risks of transgressing such limits. Such Gothic doubles allow their creators to express personal concerns related to their times. In Latin America, Jorge Luis Borges and Carlos Fuentes make use of the Gothic figure of the double to explore the presence of abject elements inside their protagonists. When the latter finally recognize themselves as abject beings, they find in their doubles the only means to escape their condition.