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.