The theme of the Double in Ian Rankin´s Knots & Crosses and Hide and Seek.

Abstract

Ian Rankin´s two first crime novels Knots & Crosses, published in 1987, and Hide and Seek published in 1990, have the Double as the main theme. Robert Louis Stevenson´s classic Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde inspired Rankin. The thesis statement is that Ian Rankin has developed the theme of doubling with great weaknesses since he has chosen to place the characters so closely together in both novels. To prove the thesis statement, motifs and imagery such as games, books, literal and non-literal knots and crosses, hide and Hyde, strangulation and choking, the connection between Rankin´s novels and Stevenson´s novel, Edinburgh as a setting, and religion has been investigated in both novels. The method has consisted of close textual reading and comparing and contrasting. Topic description, background and presentation of primary sources, motivation and research questions, theory and summary of themes and methods are provided before the analysis of the two novels about Detective John Rebus.