Concluding remarks

Roman Jakobson

pp. 169-171

in: Elizabeth A. Stewart, Exploring twins, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003

Abstract

In all known societies, twins occupy a special place. From the myths which encapsulate the foundational stories and critical archetypes of all societies, through drama and literature to social science research, the fantasies and realities of twinship have continued to provide an endless source of fascination, pleasure and disturbance. In the film Batrnan II, a leading character, the Penguin, upon learning that he may, even as a penguin, run for the office of Mayor of Gotham City, remarks, "it is human nature to fear the unusual". The Penguin is right — but only partly so. The unusual also intrigues, excites and brings pleasure. In general, as we have seen, traditional societies fear twins as "unnatural", whereas modern or postmodern societies are generally more accepting of the "unusual". At the same time, modern societies also place twins at the centre of an insoluble dilemma: each twin's need to internalize (or at least inhabit) individual roles, thereby minimizing the social significance of being a twin, while at the same time being chronically confronted with a social identification which above all prioritizes the fact of being a twin, that is, the social perception of being a supra-individual unit.