I find Hitchcock’s fascination with duality remarkable. In many of his movies, the protagonists (sometimes antagonists) play double roles. To look at the most outlandish example, see Anthony Perkins in “Psycho”. (If you haven’t seen this, please don’t read). He plays Normon Bates, mild-mannered (though sometimes stalkerishly creepy viewing naked women through peep-holes) as well as his own mother (or so he seems to believe) and although we know where the real Mother is physically, we do not find this until the end. To our eye, Perkins has been playing both characters on film throughout the entire movie. In a less schizophrenia-driven plot, Hitchcock uses “The Wrong Man” device-many of his characters are thrown into situations they have never before encountered as they are not the type of person who would normally end up in them, or else they are completely mistaken for someone else. In either case, Hitchcock protagonists continue with the role of their initial character, as well as the new cornered and (usually) more interesting one. In “Strangers on a Train,” Guy Haines, (Mr.Nice Guy) who before could not soundlessly break his old marriage and is very gentle to nearly everyone, is approached with a murder proposition. Though he does not go through with it, he finds himself in a very uncomfortable and horrible position (“criss-cross…”) He then becomes not so spineless, taking on the role of the righteous and more violent man while still maintaining his family life and gentil qualities. In “North by Northwest” (sigh of love), Cary Grant as Thornhill (or R.O.T.) 😉 is mistaken for a spy (the evasive Mr. Kaplan… ) and though he was simply an advertising man before, he takes on the full role of a spy, escaping and snooping like only he (and and of course an actual professional spy) could. I find that the double man is symbolic of the potential that “the everyman” has, as well as the duality in everyone. And yes, this allows the viewer to connect with the character’s “everyman” character, but the ability to perform in such ways that are completely fantastical is almost like hope that takes us from the average life that we know (advertising, hotel owner, etc.) and places our mindset into one of an entirely different person. Somehow, we believe that we too could look that cool in those situations. The lives of these personas are dangerous, filled with murder, a climb on the face of Mt. Rushmore, a chase underneath the platform of a moving carousel and the sexuality that only Hitchcock blondes can bring. I feel that Hitchcock’s use of the double man is not only symbolic for humanity in general, as well as entertaining for the viewer, but full of hope that someday we could be so adventurous and dangerous ourselves.