William Wilson

time: analeptical (?), narration time shorter than narrated time (events stretch over several years)

mode: narrative, internal foculisation

voice: first person narrator, homodiegetic, narrator is unreliable

synopsis: The narrator, who refers to himself as William Wilson- although this is not his real name-, wants to reveal to the reader how he came to be the reckless criminal he now is. In doing so, he starts with his time at a boarding school in England. The very day that he first arrived at the school, another boy also named William Wilson also enrolled at this same school. Gradually William Wilson 1 reveals that the other William Wilson was of the same age, the same height, that he imitated his gait, his manners, that in fact he was similar to him in every aspect but one: William Wilson 2's voice was muffled. The narrator tells how this other William Wilson became increasingly annoying to him, as he always intervened to thwart his schemes. One day he wants to perform „one of those illnatured pieces of practical wit“ that he always did, this time at the expense of William Wilson 2. But when he arrives at the other boy's room, he is confunded and terrorized by what he sees there. He recognizes the other William Wilson and yet he cannot believe that it is him. He flees in panic from the room and from the boarding school. After leaving the boarding school, he never talks to the other Wilson again and yet the other boy will remain an important part in his life for some more years. The next couple of years, when he's a student at Eaton, when he's a student at Oxford and when he's travelling through Europe, no matter where he goes, the other William Wilson always finds him and brings him into embarassing situations (for instance, he tells everyone that the narrator was cheating when playing cards). In Rome, finally, the narrator kills the other William Wilson in a fit of anger.

interpretation: William Wilson seems to suffer from a personality disorder. The other William Wilson is actually not another person, but an aspect of his own personality with which the narrator doesn't manage to come to terms. More precisely, the other William Wilson is his conscience, his super ego. During his time at boarding school, he still talks with the other William Wilson, he still consults his conscience and thus does not do all the wicked acts that his ego wants him to do, he manages to suppress his evil desires. After his time at boarding school, he no longer consults the other Wilson, but his super ego nevertheless sometimes turns up to prevent him from realizing his worst deeds. After he has killed the other Wilson, however, he becomes the reckless criminal he now is. It is telling that he virtually sees the other Wilson only when he is drunk, when the room is dark and when he is, in fact looking- without realizing it- into a mirror. What he sees there, however, he does not realize as himself, which shows that he doesn't know himself. The last time he was capable of doing so was when he wanted to surprise the other Wilson in his sleep at the boarding school. Here he seems to realize himself, but he is terrified by what he sees and so he flees from the boarding school and wherever he goes, he does not flee from another person, but from himself and, of course, he cannot escape the other Wilson, because he ironically takes his pursuer with him wherever he goes.

worth noting: the confinement of the boarding school (he actually refers to it as a kind of prison) forshadows his future career as a criminal and probaly also his ultimate fate: spending the rest of his life in jail; William Wilson is supposed to be the short story with the most autobiographical elements that Poe has ever written: William Wilson's birthday is also Poe's birthday, Poe also visited a boarding school in England for a couple of years and Poe did also gamble when he attended university- he was far less successful than Wiliam Wilson, though.