rtones of this relationship is not necessarily a psychoanalytical critique. Indeed a primary facet of psychoanalytical understanding and interpretation can be found in the study of early childhood development, in-particular the child's relationship and connection with the mother (a relationship which itself could be termed incestuous). Therefore one must consider not only how Ferdinand treat's his sister, but what social and psychological factors within the play induce his irate behaviour. In doing this, it may help to consider Sigmund Freud's theory of the 'uncanny'. Freud defines the 'uncanny' ( 'unheimlich') in his essay by that name, stating that its opposite has a similar meaning to it. 'Heimlich' refers to something 'familiar, not strange, intimate, tame, comfortable, homely' (Freud, p155). However, this also has a similar meaning to 'unheimlich' - ghostly, secret, obscure, inaccessible to knowledge, hidden, unconscious, mystic, allegorical, dangerous' (Freud, p157). In this combination of meanings, the paradox becomes that the uncanny is both familiar and strange, comfortable and dangerous, known and inaccessible to knowledge. The uncanny is the repetition (hence, familiarity) of coincidental circumstances or events, with no apparent causal reason. Considering the main ideas surrounding Freud's theory of the uncanny, the Duchess could be seen as Ferdinand's uncanny 'double', being an extension of himself and therefore maybe disrupting his own feelings of power and individuality. The theme of the 'double' has been deliberated by Otto Rank, who believed that it was originally an insurance against the destruction of the human ego, an 'energetic denial of the power of death' (Freud, p219), and that probably the immortal soul was the first 'double' of the mortal human body. This invention of doub...