The use of the female doppelganger in Shirley Jackson's The Bird's Nest, The Haunting of Hill House And We Have Always Lived In The Castle

The literary double, which dates back to the German romantic period, is mostly used for the materialization of our unconscious desires, needs, and wishes in the embodiment of a second, twin or multiple self. In classical works, the double shows itself as a symbol for the duality inherent in human nature, particularly the split between good and evil forces. On a broader level, it articulates the everlasting conflict between the repressed impulses of the individual and the social restrictions. Being the personification of all that is suppressed by the hegemonic value system, the double threatens the order at its foundation, and its subversive function allows the writer to show his/her discontent with the established norms.The use of the double figure as a manifestation of individual desires that stand in contradiction with social norms can also be detected in Shirley Jackson?s fiction. Like many of her contemporaries who suffered from being a woman writer in a patriarchal culture, Shirley Jackson illustrates the psychological and social barriers that are erected against women who are struggling for their individual freedom. The female doppelganger in Jackson?s three novels, The Bird?s Nest (1954), The Haunting of Hill House (1959), and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962), emerges as a result of such struggle and serves as an outlet for women?s repressed desires, yearnings and needs. Confined to the realm of the unconscious, the marginalized female self in Jackson?s gothic fiction seeks liberation through the persona of the double. In the light of classical psychoanalysis, feminist literary criticism, and the theories of the double, this study aims to explore the significance of the female double figure in Shirley Jackson?s works.Keywords: 1) Shirley Jackson 2) Double Figure 3) Female Doppelganger 4) The Bird?s Nest 5) The Haunting of Hill House 6) We Have Always Lived in the Castle.