Star Wars Through A Gothic Lense

The Strange Case of Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader

Mrin Somani

                A prevalent theme in Gothic Literature is the dichotomy within a gothic hero: the monstrous and the human. The monstrous side is defined as one of extremes, and is usually associated with magic and unsubstantiated violence. A character could be considered monstrous if they remain too bound to savage rituals and practices, lack reason or are too invested in superstitious or magical ideas. Monstrosity also encompasses a lack of intelligence and moral discipline or an excess of diabolical cunning and strong belief. Monstrous nature is also defined as a character that does not want to (and refuses to) stay in a subordinate place in society.

                Human nature in this context is not defined as one may use the term on a day-to-day basis. It is the opposite of the monstrous. It is the norm, those who do as they are told and conform to society and the way things are. They are noble, just, moral and rational.

            This is similar to Sigmund Freud’s essay titled ‘The Uncanny’. In this essay Freud mentions the German terms Heimlich and Unheimlich. Heimlich means the known or the familiar and Unheimlich means the unkown or what is kept concealed or out of sight. The main crux of Freud’s essay however, is how these two terms come together and how the barriers between them blur to form ‘The Uncanny’.

           Throughout this essay I will be comparing the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from the famous gothic novel, ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ and Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader from the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. Through this comparison I will further go on to answer two questions: Whether these characters should be viewed as two separate characters or as one character with two different sides? Are these characters really evil (monstrous) or is that just how they are perceived?

           Let us first look at Anakin Skywalker and Dr. Jekyll. Both of these characters are introduced to the viewer as characters with noble or good intentions. They are respected figures in society. As a Jedi and as a doctor we would assume that these characters are good and their actions help society. This in Freud’s essay would be the known, the familiar, ‘The Heimlich’. At the time when Anakin is training to become a Jedi, the Jedi order was a well-established and well trusted community. Therefore they are ‘the known’. In fact, if the original Star Wars trilogy (Episode IV-VI) was seen from the perspective of the Sith, then maybe we would view them as the heroes and the ‘Dark Side’ as good, because they would then be the familiar, and known. Throughout the Star Wars series neither side calls themselves evil. But the Jedi have called the ‘Dark Side’ evil, and since the Jedi is what we see as the familiar, we believe what they tell us.

                      This brings us to the monstrous nature of characters. As seen in the images below, Mr. Hyde and Darth Vader have a similar stylistic appearance in terms of the black cape and being in the shadows. They have a sense of mystery to them. Here we see two images depicting Darth Vader and Mr. Hyde side by side.

 

                        This can also be seen as referring to Freud’s ‘Unheimlich’, which talks about the unknown being viewed as monstrous. ‘Unheimlich’ is directly translated as hidden or concealed. The shadows and cape adds to this imagery of being ‘kept out of sight’. Further, the identities of Vader and Hyde are both major plot lines in either story. His mask and the rest of his body with his suit and cape hide Vader’s face, and Hyde has a deformed face that does not allow those who see him to recognize himself as Dr Jekyll. Darth Vader’s background as Luke’s father is arguably one of the greatest cinematic reveals of all time, and as the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde goes, the reader does not know that these two charcaters are the same person until the very end. When Dr. Jekyll’s journal is revealed, that is when all the pieces of the story are synthesized. All these elements not only add to the Gothic features but also leave the viewer/reader with a sense of fear and discomfort.

                        Here is another example of how these characters have been portrayed; The image on the left is a panel from a graphic novel interpretation of ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ and the other is a panel from the storyboards of ‘Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back’. These two images show very similar depictions of Mr. Hyde and Vader, where we see their menacing shadows before they appear in front of us. Once again adding to the mystery and the concept of the unknown, and concealed.

                         So far I have spoken about how these characters are viewed and how the writers and artists want us to view them. But is this a fair depiction of their character? In popular culture and in other depictions or conversations, it can often be seen that though most people are aware of the fact that Vader and Anakin, and Jekyll and Hyde are the same person, they are referred to separately (as I have done throughout this essay). In fact even Obi-Wan talks about Luke’s father and Darth Vader as two separate people when he first tells Luke about his father in ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope’.

 But I do not agree with this. I believe that every character is made up of two sides. This also does not mean that one side is good and one is evil, they are just two opinions or perspectives, like the Dark and Light sides of the Force. Though some might perceive one as evil, when we look closer we can see that they are just two different approaches to life. One is a path of emotion, love and passion and the other of meditation, knowledge and rational thinking. Everyone, every character is made up of both sides, like the left and right side of the brain. Some characters/people are more emotional and others are more rational or logical in their approach of life. Some use one more than the other but this does not make half of the population evil or bad, just different. Being more of one over the other doesn’t mean you cannot have both, which is why I think Anakin and Vader, and Jekyll and Hyde should not be seen or judged separately, but together. As their characters never change who they are at their core, even though their appearance or tendencies may have slightly changed.

                     Another concept I’d like to talk about is ‘The Shadow’. This is a concept spoken about by Carl Jung, whose psychological research was used to draw some influences for Star Wars. The Shadow is a part of our subconscious, which our conscious refuses to acknowledge and is usually viewed negatively. It can consist of a variety of aspects such as laziness, aggression, anger, or any other extreme emotion. Jung believes that ‘The Shadow’ is evil, but confronting this ‘Dark Side’ leads to more power and strength and a more balanced individual and losing control to it creates a monster. Jason Hamilton has written an article referencing ‘The Shadow’ and he talks about how when Mr Hyde takes over and Dr Jekyll loses control then ‘The Shadow’ has taken over. Same for Anakin succumbing to the Dark Side because he is not aware of its existence and he doesn’t know who to believe. When both Dr Jekyll and Anakin understand the other side and are aware of it they are finally able to overcome it. This shows us that the characters are to some extent doing what they think is the right thing or needs to be done, and when they realize they are in the wrong they correct it by doing what society and the audience would deem correct. Either way, no matter which side the character embraces they are trying to do the right thing.

                      Above there are three images of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The first shows them as two separate entities and the other two show them as two parts of one entity. In the first image the shadow gives us a more eerie and uncomfortable feeling, as we are not able to see Mr Hyde’s face. Dr Jekyll also looks scared in the first image, which adds to the suspense of Hyde’s identity. The other two images show us that they are one person and this gives Mr Hyde a more human form, which causes us to have more empathy for that side of the character as we know that it is another side of the same person. We can also see almost a smirk or a sense of confidence on Dr Jekyll’s half of the image, which tells us that he is aware of both sides. This further adds to my argument of how the basic core of a character never changes.

                           According to the Jedi, choosing love makes you evil, but I’m sure most people would not agree with that. Anakin made very human decisions, the decision to protect the people he loved and cared about. The anger Anakin has is not very different from that felt by most teenagers, especially after the death of a close family member.  Anakin is a consistently passionate character who cares deeply about Padme and his mother, to the extent that he would do anything to protect them. But this emotional nature is contradictory to the teachings of the Jedi and is hence perceived as monstrous due to its irrationality. But we continue to see this side of Anakin even when he is Darth Vader, at the end of ‘Episode VI: Return of the Jedi’ when he helps Luke defeat Emperor Palpatine, thus returning to his emotional roots by rescuing his son. Anakin always cared about family, from the beginning to the end. Even though he might have injured Luke in battle, he also asks Luke to join him. He even tells him they can overthrow the Emperor together, because at his core Anakin cares about family.

                         In terms of Jekyll and Hyde this can be seen with what Dr. Jekyll writes in his journal about losing control and trying to suppress Mr. Hyde. It is part of who he is and something he cannot stop or change. Anakin too performs actions such as killing younglings, which he regrets, just as Dr. Jekyll feels guilt after Mr. Hyde commits a murder. But in the end they both sacrifice their lives to do the right thing: Vader in defeating the Emperor and Mr. Hyde in killing himself so that he cannot harm anyone else.  This further shows us the good in them. Guilt is a trait of the good, because the evil would never feel guilty and this feeling stays in them even in their monstrous form.

                           When looking at Star Wars from a Gothic lens, one of the themes that stands out is the relationship between the monstrous and the human sides of a character. This struggle within oneself is also a very important theme in Star Wars, as can be seen by the Light and Dark side of the Force. But though we may put these two distinctions in place it is not all black and white. There are a lot of gray areas in the definition and understanding of these two sides. This can be explained through Freud’s essay, which talks about how bringing in something unfamiliar to something familiar is what causes discomfort and it is the unknown that makes the ‘evil’. It is the merging of two worlds that causes this phenomenon. But as Freud explains it, ‘The Uncanny’ is “belonging to all that is terrible – to all that arouses dread and creeping horror…” is not necessarily ‘evil’ but is something that is perceived negatively, just like Vader and Hyde. These characters may be fictional and their story is filled with fantasy elements. But these stories also talk about very real problems such as this struggle we face within ourselves on what path to take or what side one is on. It is important to realize that we are all made up of two sides. But no matter what side one chooses, no matter how many people disagree with one point of view, it does not make that side, or path or opinion evil, it’s just different, ‘the unknown’.

Works cited

Freud, S. (1919). The ‘Uncanny’. The Standard Edition of the Complete     Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XVII (1917-1919)

Lucas, G., Hamill, M., Ford, H., Fisher, C., Cushing, P., Guinness, A., Jones, J. E., … Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. (2006). Star wars: Episode IV. Beverly Hills, Calif: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Brackett, Leigh, et al. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, 1980.

Hamilton , Jason. “Star Wars in Mythology: The Shadow.” StarWars.com, 10 Mar. 2015, www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-in-mythology-the-shadow.

Boyle, Jen. “Theory in a Digital Age: Freud’s Uncanny Theory.” Theory in a Digital Age: A Project of English 483 Students, Coastal Carolina University, scalar.usc.edu/works/index-2/freuds-uncanny-theory.

“e-Publications@Marquette.” Site, epublications.marquette.edu/gothic_doubling/.

Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Demetra, 1997.