Why are there two Gradys in the Shining?

In the Shining we are introduced to the previous caretaker of the Overlook hotel but he is named as both "Charles" and "Delbert" Grady. Why did Stanley Kubrick add a second Grady to the story and who exactly is Charles Grady? Click the video to find out!

0:00-0:58 Intro
0:58-2:16 Charles Grady
2:16-4:41 Delbert Grady
4:41-6:22 The Scrapbook
6:22-7:21 The Articles
7:21-8:09 Two Gradys
8:10-9:00 Steven King
9:00-10:33 Conclusion

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[MonstaMack]

I always thought that Delbert went nuts because Stuart Ullman kept calling him Charles.

[natfoote]

From his dress and decorum it is clear Delbert Grady comes from the Roaring Twenties. The dresses of the twins supports this. Charles Grady is a later iteration of The Caretaker. Jack was to be the latest iteration but failed to "correct" his family.

[chrisrinderle]

Also, notice that no one except Wendy, and maybe the hotel manager, calls Jack “Jack.” All of the ghosts, such as Lloyd and Grady call him “Mr. Torrance.” This suggests, along with the differing first names of the two Grady’s, that the first Mr. Torrance and the second Mr. Torrance (Jack) are the same metaphysical entity but have differing personas or roles or personalities yet they both are stuck in the cycle of hell to relive their horrific deeds in the hotel. A very Nietzschean concept - Amor fati.

[lisaedmiston]

My favorite part is how delighted Jack seems to be meeting Grady. Creepy.

[tonysoprano]

Everytime Jack talks to a ghost, he's looking in a mirror.

[mikenayers]

I always just assumed if you die in the Overlook, you’re given a “role” like in a never ending play.

Charles Grady became Delbert the butler.

Doctor Sleep suggests as much Jack becoming the new Lloyd.

[thepeckhampoet]

You just left me more baffled, there's never an end to this rabbit hole.

[stpat]

Charles (from the 1970s) was the reincarnation of Delbert (from the 1920s). Jack himself is the reincarnation of the 1920s caretaker.

[penelopegreene]

It's because of the effect Halloran spoke of. The Overlook doesn't preserve the past as it was, only a shadow, or an odor, "like a burnt toast". People taken by the hotel remain not as they are, but are reincorporated in with the existing "cast of characters", if you will. The lives and deeds of these shadows are warped into the hotel's haunted pseudo-past. Grady's soul, ahem, was crammed into an "existing" waiter, damned in The Overlook's past, Jack's, into the caretaker. His first or last name will probably also be changed.

[alecaquino]

On the surface, The Shining is a very effectively scary movie. But beneath the surface, you discover that there is so much more going on than you originally realized. I love that this movie is still being talked about to this very day and that new things are constantly being brought to light.

[Captain-Cosmo]

If there are no ghosts, then Jack's use of "Delbert" instead of "Charles", as well as the inaccuracies of the "twins", might be considered an understandable error in memory after filling his mind with grisly stories he read in the scrapbook as he descends into his own madness.

[brockobamagh]

If my parents had named me Delbert I'd change my name to Charles, too.

[Dajudge]

The shining is that one movie the more your watch it and the more you try to understand it, the more it confuses you, fascinating piece of art. Very nice analysis though, it's nice to have an answer about the 2 different Grady, it has been bothering me every time I was thinking about this movie

[KMFDM]

I always thought that Charles was a descendent of Delbert and Charles was drawn to the hotel by the spirits of the hotel or the hotel itself. The hotel (spirits therein, possibly native American) could be an eater of souls and preys on those with weak minds who can be turned to kill for the hotel. The hotel hates those who shine because they can see what's beneath the surface. Jack Torrance is the ancestor of the "Jack" in the photo who is drawn back to the hotel as well. Danny could sense the influence of the hotel in securing the job for Jack.

[colinrumford]

Had never picked up on the Charles and Delbert discrepancy before, nor his daughters not being twins. Great theory. 👍

[MikeMayhem]

Fascinating! I’ve stayed overnight in the Stanley Hotel rm. 224, I think, just down the hall from 217 (which I believe was Mr. King’s room when he started compiling ideas for The Shining). I’ve seen the movie dozens of times and this never even occurred to me. 😳. Great video!

[OstaraBooks]

Stephen King has a point that reliving your life over and over could be what hell really is. Making amends for the mistakes.

[e.l.s.]

Philip Stone was also in Barry Lyndon. He was one of the few who could've claimed he was in 3 Stanley Kubrick movies.

[hifrommike]

Co-scriptwriter Diane Johnson on the film (2018 article, "Writing 'The Shining'"): There were a couple of other cuts from the script-one I found unfortunate when I finally saw the film at a screening Kubrick arranged in London a few weeks after it had actually come out. For me, the important scene, taken from Steven King’s book, is where Jack discovers a scrapbook of clippings in the boiler room of the hotel, and finds in it plots and details he needs for his writing. In King’s book, this scrapbook is the poison gift of fairy tales, which, when he accepts it, entangles the hero in consequences he will regret. In accepting material to help him earn literary glory, Jack barters his soul, becomes the creature of the hotel. This motivation scene existed in the script and I understand was filmed; it was simply taken out at the last minute for reasons of time. It would be interesting to see it restored, to know what it would add. Without the scene, which explains Jack’s transition from depressed and blocked writer to one suddenly filled with (demonic) energy, writing at great speed and piling high the pages of manuscript, his change seems abrupt and unmotivated.

[Ruouiji]

Note also the color red at certain places in the movie, the bathroom here for example, clothing, etc. Right before Grady crashes into Jack and spills drinks all over him, he had swerved to avoid colliding with a lady in a white gown...she also had a red handprint down low on the gown....definitely signals for sure.