theme

The theme Poe brought to light in the story "William Wilson", is the alter ego of the narrator. The narrator psychological characteristics are split into evil and good creating the two characters in "William Wilson". The narrator is stalked by his alter ego. This would naturally symbolize in a typical person the part of the conscious that feels bad when you 've done wrong, and it repeats in your memory over and over, the unlawful or bad deed. Instead the narrators mental plague seperated the conscious to a double. When William Wilson decided to play a practical joke on his alter ego during his fifth year at Dr. Bransby's academy, he was confronted by the appearance of his double and it resembled that of his own but, he still refused to believe it was his own reflection, he instead says that the doubles reflection of his own countenance was only"the habitual practice" of the "sarcastic imitation" (p 178). The confrontation scared the narrator and he resigned from school haunted by the reflection of his own identity. When William Wilson enrolls in Eton he starts his life down a corrupt path, drinking and partying, when the double confronts him for the for first time after the confrontation in the academy, the dimmed walkway became the reason his features were unnoticeable.Thereafter, in Oxford and at the masquerade ball, the doubles face is always hidden. In the masquerade ball the narrator used a mask and at the Oxford when William Wilson is confronted by the double, the door flings open as the double appears behind the door, and most of the candles blow out leaving a very dim reflection, William Wilson subconsciously blocked out the doubles feaatures in these settings so he wouldn't be stunned by his own appearance.This furtheer helped William Wilson disassociate himself from the double.

Setting

Structure of the setting throughout the story change and are important because as the narrator leaves the academy, then to Eton, to Oxford, and then to Paris the narrator becomes more corrupt and for this reason the alter ego appears, to deter his immoral behavior. The narrator explains his settings in the academy in the beginning with lots of detail, the structure of the building and the limited freedom he experienced living there, this description foreshadows the mental trapment the alter ego has on the narrator. When the narrator leaves the academy he wants to forget his encounter with his alter ego at the academy, so he enrolls in a different schools and he begins to live a lifestyle of partying and scheming to escape from his own self, who he thought was a perpetrator trying to emulate him. The setting of the narrators enrollment in different schools and his visits to different countries to escape his alter ego, showed the narrators determination to escape his alter ego though he could never escape from himself.

Characterisation

From the beginning the narrator seems to be an untruthful person. He doesn't give his real name instead gives a false name William Wilson. "Let me call myself, William Wilson. The fair page now lying before me need not be sullied with my real apellation" (p 168). the narrator could have not given a name at all, instead he chose to lie and for this reason I was a little dubious about whether or not to trust him.
WilliamWilson was a mentally ill person. He disassociated himself from his alter ego to the point he believed the other William Wilson was an actual person emulating him "his cue, which was to perfect an imitation of myself, lay both in words and in in actions; and must admirably did he play his part. My dress it was an easy matter to copy, mygait and general manner were, without diffculty, appropiated; inspite of his constitutional defect even my voice did not escape him"(p 175). And to credit with veracity the existence of the other William Wilson, the narrator mentions how the other William Wilson was his rival that tyrannized him. "I did not pretend to diguise from my perception the identity of the singular individual who this perseveringly interfered with my affairs and harassed me" (p 179).
William Wilson was rebellious as a child in which his parents were incapable of restraining him. "weakminded, my parents could do but little to check the evil propensities which distinguished me" (p 169). In later years the narrator continued to be rebellious after the several confrontations with his alter ego's attempt to expose his mischief behavior "in no one of the multiplied instance in which he had of late crossed my path, to frustrate those schemes, or to disturb those actions, which it fully carried out, might have resulted in bitter mishief. Poor justification this, intruth, for an authority so imperiously assumed! Poor idemnity for natural rights of self-agency so pertinaciously, so insultingly denied! (p 184).
The narrator was a smart person. He exhibited it through his competitive nature in academics through his early years and making it to graduate school in the latter.

SYMBOLISM

The most conspicuous symbolism in the story of "William Wilson" is the struture of the acadmey, where the narrator intially exposed his psychological disorder. The building was "two stories" which clearly was in reference to the alter ego William Wilson possesed. In addition, the principal, Reverend Dr. Bransby's character appeared to adjust in different settings "This Reverend man, with countenacne so demurely benign- could this be he who, of late, with sour visage, and in snuffy habiliments, adminstered ferule in hand, the Dranconian Laws of the academy?''. The Reverend ruled the academy with an iron fist but when in church the facade exhibited was a kind and gracious character. The levels of the academy and Bransby's different personalities were indicative to the alter ego William Wilson suffered from.

Being confronted by the other William's face, frightened the narrator "Upon his countenance, I looked;-and a numbness, an iciness of feeling instantly pervaded my frame". The narrator left the academy and never returned. The narrator soon encounters the other William thereafter but his face is always concealed. At the school of Eton when the narrator encountered the other William Wilson, the other William Wilson's features were vague" This faint light enabled me to perceive, but the features of his face I could not distinguish". And at graduate school as well as at the masquerade ball the features of the other William Wilson was always indistiguishable. The face of the other William Wilson was shielded because this was symbolic to the narrators first encounter and how it was so frightening for him to witness, he subconsciously blurred the other William Wilson's countenance to enable the ability to disaasociate himself from his alter ego.

Summary of William Wilson

The narrator is a man who calls himself William Wilson, which was a fictitious name to hide his identity. The narrator starts off by describing his up bringing in a school academy. Wilson describes the physical restraints he endured, unable to go anywhere unless supervised. In the school he attended Wilson begins to describe someone who is a duplicate of him that even has the same name as him, but who speaks in a low tone. William Wilson described the other Wilson as exemplifing a competitive personality like the narrator. The narrator felt the other William emulated him, dressing like him, and he felt the other William mocked him, which he was the only one who had noticed, which made him livid. One night the narrator wanted to play a trick on the other William and he went into his bedroom where he was sleeping and as the narrator took a glance at the other Williams face he seen his own which spooked him out. The narrator left the academy and later enrolled in another school. William Wilson began a life of partying and gambling there. One night William had gotten inebriated and the other Wilson had appeared, grabbed him and whispered in his ear "William Wilson" and vanished. William Wilson was frightened by the incident and baffled with the thought of it happening or it being a delusion. William Wilson eventually attends another school and he begins to beat people out their money by cheating in a game of cards. One day the narrator got some of the students at the graduate school to join him in game of cards. William Wilson had devised a plan to get the guys drunk, one guy in particualr named Glenndinning, so he could hustle him out his money in the game of cards. The plan worked and Wilson conned Glenndinng out of an outrageous amount of money. Then suddenly the door opens and appears the other William. The other William exposes the narrator for a crook and tells the gentlemen to check the narrators' sleeve for cards. The narrator than left graduate school feeling ashamed and he took a journey around different countries. Where ever the narrator went he often found evidence that the other William was around following him, tormenting him. The narrator had started to give his life to drinking and he felt that he should not be victimized by the other William so he decided to do sometihng about it and seek revenge. Attending a masquerade ball, heavily intoxicated, William Wilson was confronted by the other William as the narrator pursued the wife of the gentlemen (Di Broglio) that gave the event. As William Wilson was about to greet himself to the hostess' wife the other William placed his hand on the narrator and he started to whisper in his ear. The narrator was furious, he noticed the other William was clad in the same exact costume as him, with a black mask covering his face. William Wilson dragged the other William into a chamber and killed him with his sword. As the narrator looked into a mirror he noticed his face was a pale colored white dripping with blood. Seeing a reflection of the other William which was himself, and he spoke not in a whisper this time but his own voice says "In me thou exist and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself".