When starting to watch Breaking Bad, I thought that Walter’s alias, Heisenberg, was just a name chosen out of a hat because it sounded cool. However, from my General Chemistry course this semester, I’ve learned that Heisenberg is actually a famous chemist. It was Werner Heisenberg who came up with the uncertainty principle, which matches up perfectly with the show. By season 2 of Breaking Bad, there’s often uncertainly about how Walter and how much Heisenberg we’re seeing in Bryan Cranston’s character.
There’s also a connection to Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886). Dr. Jekyll is a scientist who develops a drug that makes him feel alive and empowered but at the cost of turning him into a monster. That is exactly what happens to Walter. He is a bored man passing through life, dying at the start of the show, but through cooking and selling meth, he becomes a monster who is “alive” again. Even though he never takes meth, he’s addicted to it. Through the end of Season 2, it’s not clear whether something the antidote required to return Mr. Hyde back into Dr. Jekyll will be able to eradicate Heisenberg and return Walter White permanently. — Daniel P.
Studying Breaking Bad 