William wilson (1840)

Introduction WW is one of the most impressing stories of Edgar Allan Poe. It was published in 1840 in the book \"Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque\". This \"double-story\" is masterly composed but contains many problems. It seems that it is no story that has been written very fast but very well compsed and reconsidered. It contains many biographic elements. It is interesting that Poe worked out many elements of parapsychology which in his times were completely unknown. Today, psychology has experienced the role a \"double\" plays but it is astonishing that Poe got nearly the same result although he had no medical or psychological education.

\"William Wilson\" was often considered as an \"autobiographical-story\" and it\'s true that the author has included many experiences of his youth times. His lucky student-years in Englandv have impressed him very much but we also can see that has newer outgrown his disinheritance by John Allen.



Summary

At the beginning of the story the narrator who is called William Wilson admits that he has comitted a lot of terrible crimes during the last few years. He wants to write them down because he feels that he will have to die. He confesses that he became a victim of temptation. His earliest memories are about his schoollife in a secluded village in England.

At the boarding school he attended he met a schoolmate, who had the same name, was born the same day, who had the same looks and similar habits, but wasn\'t related to him. The narrator was held in high regard by everybody except his double. He opposed him and didn\'t believe in his heroic adventures. All the other pupils didn\'t notice the strange relationship between the two Wilsons, but slowly the narrator began to be afraid of his \"enemy\". That\'s why the intensive bond soon turned into hatred. The double started to imitate the narrator, he copied his behaviour and his clothing, even his voice was similar. The narrator realized that he had met the wrong Wilson before but he couldn\'t remember at which occasion. At the end of the fifth year at boarding schoolhe wanted to play a malicious trick on his double and sneaked into his room but a few minutes later he left again because the sleeping Wilson\'s face looked excactly the same like his own one, so that he believed to see himself lying on the bed. After this horrible experience he left the boarding school with panic, to forget the awful and confusing happenings.

He changed to the university of Eton, where he soon became addicted to alcohol and gambling. One evening, when he was already drunk the door of his room was opened and William Wilson entered the room, wearing the same suit like the narrator. Before he even realized what was happening his double vanished again after having whispered the words \"William Wilson\". From now on his double appeared whenever the \"real \" Wilson found himself in difficult situations, whenever he was about to make a mistake. But his double always disappeared quickly so that he wasn\'t able to get any detailed information about him. Afterwards the narrator spent two years at Oxford university. One evening he tried to deceive a young and rich student. When the freshman had lost all his money and the narrator was at the top of his glory the wrong Wilson came into the room and accused the gambler of fraud. Banished from the university, mortified by the students the narrator left England - but in vain! Years passed by, Wilson followed him everywhere and prevented him from his criminal plans. In Rome at the time of the \"Carneval\" he tried to win the duchess´ heart but within the crowd he saw a costume that could\'ve been his own. Full of anger he grabbed his double, towed him to another room and demanded a duel. The fight was short, with rage he stabbed Wilson down with his sword. Suddenly someone asked for entry. To avoid interference the winner turned around to lock the door. When he looked at his opponent again he caught sight of his own pale and bloody face. It was his double, trying to defeat death, his body and his features were exactly the same. The man in agony no longer whispered but spoke in the voice of a winner:

\"You have conquered, and I yield. Yet, henceforward art thou also dead - dead to the World, to Heaven, and to Hope! In me didst thou exist - and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself.\"


Interpretation

This short story is based on a battle between the main character and his double. It\'s true that Poe has contained many personal experiences from the years 1815-1820 and therefore especially the first pages aren\'t fiction. Such biographical elements are typical for the romantics.

The narrator mentions that he has the ability to remember nearly everything, so we can say that also Poe himself did. But Poe also deliberately changed some facts. In William Wilson the starting-point is the battle between good and evil. At the end in is predicted to the hero that he will die soon and that\'s why he decides to write all that down. Because of the many crimes, but mainly because of murder, he feels banished from society, for him life has become a dream. With the murder of his own conscience the hero disappears from society. The argument with his double is a quarrel with the conscience but simultaneously a battle between two totally different worlds.

Wilson tries to kill his own conscience and therefore hopes that he can commit his crimes undisturbed. This is a false conclusion: He begins to feel aversion against his actions.
It is hard for him to get rid of the immagination. It is true that the visions are terrible for him, but he senses that he wouldn\'t even understand the reality.

William Wilson is totally helpless, his cruel fate has forced him into a cruel situation. If the opponent is seen as a symbol for reality, the conclusion is clear: The hero wants to escape and kills his double and theredore a reason for his own death is given, he is powerless against the fate.

In this short story every of Poe\'s talents is included: the fantastic motif of the double, the precise descriptions, the deep feelings and a strict logic.
Wilson is Poe\'s autobiographic short story because he has described many memories of his youth and also because we have got a little view into Poe\'s soul. We have seen that Poe\'s inner battle is also the battle of the two Wilsons.