Freudian uncanny and the double in the Picture of Dorian Gray

This study focuses on Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray in terms of psychoanalytic elements that contribute to a better understanding of the characters. The main focal point is the protagonist Dorian Gray whose traumatic childhood results in an identity crisis leading him to suffer from a fragmented self. Lord Henry and Basil Hallward are examined in terms of their relation with Dorian. These two characters are treated as foil characters to each other. In a psychoanalytic context, Lord Henry and Basil are interpreted in this study as part of Dorian's psyche: Lord Henry representing his id which plays on Dorian's urges and impulses, and Basil Hallward representing the superego that reminds Dorian of the moral codes in the society and urges him to refrain from his unkind conduct towards others. In addition, the study deals with the uncanny elements in the novel; namely the attic and the portrait. Both are explained as instruments by which Dorian experiences the uncanny in a Freudian sense. It will be claimed that Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray can be considered as an example of the uncanny experience of the individual who is stuck between his inner desires and the pressure of the social norms, struggling not only physically but also mentally to achieve a balance between the two.