Okuzeka
Literature vocabulary · Character and Characterization

Doppelgänger

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In literature, doppelgänger means: A double of a character, often disturbing and linked to divided identity.

In Turkish: ikiz benlik, kişinin tekinsiz benzeri

How it is used

Use in discussions of doubles and identity; an ordinary twin is not automatically a symbolic double.

Example sentences

  1. The doppelgänger wears the narrator's clothes but expresses everything he refuses to admit.

    The double gives a separate form to the narrator's rejected desires.

  2. Our essay reads the stranger as a doppelgänger rather than a secret brother.

    The interpretation favors divided identity over a family explanation.

Common collocations

  • a sinister doppelgänger
  • encounter a doppelgänger
  • characterA person, or sometimes an animal or creature, who takes part in the events of a story, play or poem.
  • Gothic fictionA type of fiction that combines horror, mystery and romance, usually with gloomy settings such as old castles, secret passages, ghosts and family curses.

More terms: Character and Characterization

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: