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".