Use of Duality in Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt

391 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Concept of good and evil in movies essay

Use of Duality in Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt

Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt utilizes dualism to express the juxtaposition of good and evil. The dualism expressed throughout the film is not only done through the use of juxtaposing characters, it is also accomplished through the use of dualism within a character, as well as the literal duality of people as being placed in shots as two’s. This element allows the audience to be drawn in, creating intrigue and mystery around the plot and the characters, because the audience now wants to figure out the strange behavior that is being exhibited. Having the dualism of the two Charlie’s allows the idea of them being two sides of one person to come out. Young Charlie is an innocent young woman, while Uncle Charlie is a murderer. The two seem to have a connection that’s deeper than the average niece and uncle relationship. This connection allows the dualism of the two Charlie’s to take on a life of its own and create a game of cat and mouse or the struggle between “hate and love” of oneself. The dualism that Hitchcock wants to create with the two Charlie’s is similar with the way he juxtaposes the all-American small town family with the “Merry-Widow Murderer” Uncle Charlie. It’s as though Hitchcock is making a social commentary on the nature of human beings, that we all have good and evil within us, the idea is choosing the part that will be expressed in your daily life.

The ending of the film follows the dualism that is exhibited throughout the film. Uncle Charlie gets killed (the good won over the evil) and during his eulogy we see young Charlie talking about Uncle Charlie and his actions juxtaposed by the wonderful things being said about him in the eulogy. This blatantly points out the dualism that Hitchcock works hard to incorporate throughout the entire movie.

Show More
Related

  • Dualism in Truman Capote's in Cold Blood

    448 Words  | 1 Pages

    To fully understand the purpose of In Cold Blood, one must explore Capote's strategy in writing such a tale. In his "In Cold Blood," Capote raises the possibility of rational order without ever fully endorsing it, often revealing that random and accidental events shape the history of the crime. Because of this, we as readers cannot pinpoint one exact reason for the incidents that occurred at the Clutter house that fateful night, and are forced to sympathize with two opposing characters within the story, Perry Smith and Alvin Dewey.

    Read More

  • Use of Doubles in the Film, Shadow of A Doubt

    378 Words  | 1 Pages

    The film Shadow of A Doubt uses doubles, a film concept in which a shot is created and then later exposed once again in another frame. There are various scenes in the movie where doubles are used to imply different ideas. Three concrete examples of this effect include the scenes where Uncle Charlie and young Charlie wake up, the scenes where both Charlie’s say that telling Emma about Uncles evildoings will be hurtful, and the scene of the trains going in opposites directions of each other.

    Read More

  • Alfred Hitchcock's Notion Of Isolation In Psycho

    282 Words  | 1 Pages

    Hitchcock employs the notion of the capability of isolation to create conflict and fear. Isolation is apparent in the crop dusting scene due to the lack of people and buildings which juxtaposes to the busy streets of New York City earlier in the film. An establishing shot of the empty desert and Thornhill standing on the road alone, implies that Thornhill is insignificant and isolated as the scene is predominantly the landscape. A long shot of Thornhill and an unknown character in a “typical standoff” scene creates tension and fear for the audience. As the two men speak, non-diegetic sounds of a plane becomes prevalent. When the man says “I’ve seen worse” in response to Rodgers question, this is a foreshadowing of the crop dusting plane attack

    Read More

  • Scene Analysis of Alfred Hitchcock’s Film Shadow of a Doubt

    1253 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through his choice of setting, camera angles and lighting, Hitchcock makes the conversation at the bar a pivotal scene. The audience and young Charlie are finally brought into Uncle Charlie’s world. This scene’s contrast to the stereotypical American town is what makes this scene so important. Even though Uncle Charlie was able to conceal his true self from most of Santa Rosa, a few people saw him for what he really was. Just like there is a bar in every American town, there is evil as well.

    Read More

  • Marxist Theory and Class Relations in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    870 Words  | 2 Pages

    Robert, Stevenson L. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York: Dover Publications, 2013. Print.

    Read More

  • King Leonidas I of Ancient Sparta

    1637 Words  | 4 Pages

    Leonidas was born in Greece Peloponnesian Peninsula in 530 B.C. (Leonidas I, par.1) Leonidas was the second son of Spartan King’s Anaxandridas first wife. Leonidas’ mother was his father’s niece. When he was a child, he received very strenuous physical conditioning for many years of military training, trying to reach to the top of the martial perfection to hone his warrior’s skills. One in a few Spartan kings received this harsh training. Attending the agoge was where all Spartans had to go in order to be suitable for their citizenship. He was not the heir to his father’s throne when his father Anaxandridas passed away, the throne came upon Cleomenes his half-brother. He also had another half-brother who was Dorieus (Leonidas 1, par.4) Cleomenes and Dorieus where Anaxandridas children from his second wife. Leonidas relationship with his brother was unknown, but he married Gorgo which was Cleomenes daughter before he came to the throne in 490 B.C. (Leonidas 1, par.5)

    Read More

  • Shadow Of A Doubt

    3268 Words  | 7 Pages

    Shadow of a Doubt is an Alfred Hitchcock film that was shot on location in the 1940's town of Santa Rosa, California. The town itself is representative of the ideal of American society. However, hidden within this picturesque community dark corruption threatens to engulf a family. The tale revolves around Uncle Charlie, a psychotic killer whose namesake niece, a teenager girl named Charlie, is emotionally thrilled by her Uncles arrival. However her opinion slowly changes as she probes into her mysterious uncle. In the film, director/producer Alfred Hitchcock blends conventions of film noir with those of a small town domestic comedy as a means of commenting on the contradictions in American values.

    Read More

  • shadow of a doubt

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock utilizes and stretches the ambiguous line between comedy and suspense by utilizing smaller characters in the film to keep the story line moving, and to help break sequence or rhythm of what the audience had been perceiving at the time. Many of the minor characters were used as “fillers”, such as the waitress in the bar when Uncle Charlie and Charlie are sitting in the bar, and makes the comment “I would die for a ring like this”; or the quiet, gentle neighbor Herb who is fascinated with the process of homicide and murder. It brings to the audience an immediate comic relief, but similar to all of Hitchcock, leaves an unsettling feeling of fear and suspense with the viewer. Shadow of a Doubt is a film that hits very close to home for me, primarily because of the small town feel very similar to Orono that I have grown to know so well. There is a brutal irony that lurks through the film, especially during the time period that the film was made. The picturesque stereotype of small town life in the 40’s is brutally torn apart by Hitchcock wit and creative ingénue, putting the viewer in an uncomfortable mind stretch of reality.

    Read More

  • Human Nature: The Double Character of Dr. Jekyll

    1690 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kiely, Robert. Robert Louis Stevenson and the Fiction of Adventure. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1964.

    Read More

  • Emily Dickinson and Her Poetry

    3199 Words  | 7 Pages

    Emily Dickinson is one of the great visionary poets of nineteenth century America. In her lifetime, she composed more poems than most modern Americans will even read in their lifetimes. Dickinson is still praised today, and she continues to be taught in schools, read for pleasure, and studied for research and criticism. Since she stayed inside her house for most of her life, and many of her poems were not discovered until after her death, Dickinson was uninvolved in the publication process of her poetry. This means that every Dickinson poem in print today is just a guess—an assumption of what the author wanted on the page. As a result, Dickinson maintains an aura of mystery as a writer. However, this mystery is often overshadowed by a more prevalent notion of Dickinson as an eccentric recluse or a madwoman. Of course, it is difficult to give one label to Dickinson and expect that label to summarize her entire life. Certainly she was a complex woman who could not accurately be described with one sentence or phrase. Her poems are unique and quite interestingly composed—just looking at them on the page is pleasurable—and it may very well prove useful to examine the author when reading her poems. Understanding Dickinson may lead to a better interpretation of the poems, a better appreciation of her life’s work. What is not useful, however, is reading her poems while looking back at the one sentence summary of Dickinson’s life.

    Read More

  • Psychoanalyticism In The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr Hyde

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, many historical philosophers have contributed as to how the human mind has two sides. Human beings tend to have good and evil within them, the duality of right and wrong, bliss and distress. There is always an impulse to act against society in terms of violence and the laws, although this varies depending on the individual. In the novella “ The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” Robert Louis Stevenson introduces a foil interconnection between moral choice and behavior through Jekyll and Hyde. However, ironically set in the Victorian era, a time when peace and prosperity took place.

    Read More

  • Human Nature: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin, Stevenson uses several characters in the book to show human nature by how

    Read More

  • Duality In Mark Twain's The Picture Of Dorian Gray

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dorian Gray seems to be two different people, at the exact same time. He is beautiful externally, but hideous internally. He is good-natured externally, and at the same time, ill-natured internally. Dorian appears to be perfect externally, but is extremely flawed internally. Dorian’s private ethics oppose the public morals of the traditional Victorian society in which he is a part of (Gillespie). He possesses a dual-nature through his struggle between his inner and outer selves. Dorian seems to exhibit a duality of innocence and sin at the same time. He is publically good and innocent. He maintains his good social standing for a time, by appearing to be the same, moral man he once was before he became friends with Lord Henry. However, at the same time, he

    Read More

  • Emily Dickinson: An Everlasting American Poet

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes.” was one of Emily Dickinson’s most famous quotes, showing much of her swaying from Romanticism to a more Realistic view, and changing the standards of writing along with it. Between 1858 and 1864 Emily Dickinson wrote over forty hand bound volumes of nearly 1800 poems, yet during her lifetime only a few were published. Perhaps this is why today we see Dickinson as a highly influential writer, unlike those during her time who did not see the potential. Emily Dickinson wrote most of her works towards the end of the romanticism era, but considered more of a realist, ahead of her time and one to shape the new movement. The main characteristic of Romanticism that Dickinson portrays in her writing emphases of the importance of nature to the Romantics, but she is known as a Realist because of her concern and fascination with death, and the harsh realities of life. Emily Dickinson’s upbringing and early education, along with living in reclusion with death all around her, greatly influenced on of the greatest female poets of all time.

    Read More

  • Emily Dickinson Poetry Analysis

    1463 Words  | 3 Pages

    Emily Dickinson, one of the greatest American poets of the nineteenth century used many different themes, styles, and techniques that make her poetry so widely popular. The enigma that is Emily Dickinson continues to befuddle experts and leaves readers with a sense of deep, intimate connection through poetry. Even though she was a recluse, Emily Dickinson’s poems present universal themes that can communicate with the reader of the poems.

    Read More

More about Use of Duality in Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt

Open Document