William Wilson (1839)
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
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American Romantic poet, short story writer, and
critic famous for portraying states of horror and
perversity. Inventor of the detective story.
Born in Boston to professional actors; his father
deserted the family in 1810, mother died in 1811
Adopted by John Allan, a Richmond, VA, merchant;
attended schools in England; U of Virginia (dropped
out); West Point (dropped out)
Published 3 vols. of poetry by 1831
Secretly married his cousin Virginia Clemm when
she was 13, in 1835; she died in 1847
1830s-40s: worked as editor and newspaper man in
Baltimore, Richmond, Philadelphia, and New York
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
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Fiction: the short novel Narrative of Arthur Gordon
Pym (1837) and stories like “Ligeia,” “The Fall of the
House of Usher,” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”
(first detective story)
Poetry: “The Raven” (1845) made Poe a famous
poet—opened doors for him in New York
Criticism: Poe aspired to be an influential critic: he
believed both poems and stories should achieve a
unity of effect and should be sufficiently short to be
read in one sitting
Poe had a drinking problem for much of his adult life;
in 1849, he was found passed out in Baltimore and
died several days later
Doubles
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“William Wilson” is the classic tale of doubles in
American Literature
Double: a mysterious, haunting look-alike, often
appearing in literature & folklore
Doppelgänger (German): a ghostly look-alike who
bodes ill-fortune or death
Freud’s “uncanny”: the strange thing/person that is
also familiar, suggesting a connection that is
repressed or historically remote
Doubles
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In this course, a “double” will comprise not only a
physical look-alike, but a person who resembles
another in more covert or subtle ways
In popular culture, a double is often an evil twin, but
here the double is more ambiguous, presenting a
moral challenge to the protagonist
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In “William Wilson,” the double is morally superior
Narrator’s Childhood
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Family of “imaginative and easily excitable
temperament” (4; numbers refer to ¶
numbers)
Parents “[w]eak-minded,” no authority:
narrator is “master of my own actions” (4)
Setting 1: Bransby’s School
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Narrator associates the school (where he
spent 5 yrs, ages 10-15) with his later destiny;
he remembers it in detail; it is in England,
where Poe also attended school
Architecture: “irregular,” with “capacious
recesses,” “windings,” “incomprehensible
sub-divisions” (10): in short, the building is a
labyrinth, a maze
Bransby’s School
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Principal Dr. Bransby is also a pastor: narrator sees
him as hypocrite, playing contradictory roles:
“benign” pastor but “Draconian” principal: corporeal
punishment
School is authoritarian, but narrator himself
practices “despotism of a master mind in boyhood
over the less energetic spirits of his companions”
(14)
William Wilson
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William Wilson is the one exception to the narrator’s
supremacy (for clarity, I will refer to the narrator as
narrator, and his double as William Wilson, though
they both share this name)
The same: given name, surname, date of entering
St. Bransby’s, date of birth (Jan. 19, 1813 [Poe also
born Jan. 19, 1809, but claimed 1813]), physical
stature
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Narrator hates the name “William Wilson” because it is
common (see 14, 19)
WilsonNarrator
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Competes in studies, sports—refuses to accept
narrator’s “arbitrary dictation” (14)
Injuries, insults, with “affectionateness” of manner
(15); but also gives advice (23)
Imitates the narrator in words, actions, gait, manner,
and voice, but in a whisper (due to his weakness of
voice), “the very echo of my own” (21)
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No one seems to notice this imitation but the narrator
himself
NarratorWilson
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“I secretly felt that I feared him”—feels
Wilson’s “true superiority” because “not to be
overcome cost me a perpetual struggle” (15)
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No one seems to notice this superiority but the
narrator
Anxiety but not hatred toward Wilson: rather:
animosity, esteem, respect, fear and “uneasy
curiosity” (17)
NarratorWilson
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“speaking terms”
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“the most inseparable of companions” (17)
Crisis 1
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Last conversation at Bransby’s: an
altercation reveals in Wilson “dim visions
of my earliest infancy,” as if they “had been
acquainted at some epoch very long ago”
(25)
Then, narrator regards Wilson’s face while
sleeping and sees “lineaments” that shock
him—presumably his own image; quits
Bransby’s
Setting 2: Eton College
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Age 15-18: here, narrator falls into “vortex of
thoughtless folly”
Indulges in cards and drinking; lifestyle adds
“to my bodily stature” (he gets fat)
Eton College
Crisis 2
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Wilson appears at one of narrator’s secret
parties; whispers “William Wilson” in his ear
and points his finger at narrator in admonition
(30-31)
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Wilson is wearing the same “white cassimere
morning frock” as narrator (30)
Setting 3: Oxford University
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Age 18-20: now is utterly fallen from the
gentlemanly estate—a gambler who profits
from “the weak-minded among my fellow
collegians” (34)
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Remember that he called his parents “Weakminded” (4)
Crisis 3
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Narrator attempts to cheat Lord Glendinning
at ecarte (card game) in chambers of fellow
commoner Mr. Preston
Narrator beats Glendinning and effects “his
total ruin” (36)
William Wilson enters and exposes narrator
as a cheater—reveals his hidden tricks
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Wilson is carrying the same style fur cloak
Setting 4: Europe
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Narrator fleas to Europe to escape his
humiliation at Oxford: Paris, Rome, Vienna,
Berlin, Moscow, Naples, Egypt (43-45)
Wilson trails him, continually interfering with
his mischief: narrator asks himself, Who is
Wilson?
Wilson is always dressed the same as the
narrator, but he never shows his face
Crisis 4
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Narrator resolves, “I would submit no longer
to be enslaved” (47)
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Note political language: Wilson represents
“arbitrary will” (46) denying his “natural rights of
self-agency” (44)
Narrator confronts Wilson at masquerade
party in Rome, where he is pursuing the wife
of an old duke
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Wilson wears the same cloak and mask
Crisis 4
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Narrator demands a duel; Wilson reluctantly
draws his sword
Narrator stabs Wilson with “the energy and
power of a multitude” (51)—like revolution
When he looks again, narrator sees in Wilson
his own face, but dying (52)
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Wilson: “You have conquered, and I yield. Yet
henceforward art thou also dead—dead to the
World, to Heaven and to Hope!” (55)
Who is Wilson? Clues:
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Narrator wonders at outset if he has been “living
in a dream” (3)—inviting psychological
interpretation
Bransby’s, where Wilson first appears, is
described as being in a “dream-like” town (5)—
also psychological
Bransby’s architecture, like Poe’s House of Usher,
could be a symbol of the narrator’s mind—a
maze, with Wilson in a remote corner
Who is Wilson? Clues:
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Wilson whispers advice and admonition to
the narrator; narrator respects Wilson, but
often doesn’t heed advice
No one except narrator notices Wilson’s
imitation and superiority
Narrator associates Wilson with the remote
past
Epigraph: What say of it? what say (of)
CONSCIENCE grim, / That spectre in my
path? –Chamberlayne’s Pharronida (1)
Who is Wilson?
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ThusWilson is, on one level, the narrator’s
conscience
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the moral authority he never respected as a child, but
which he, on one level, constructs in his own mind as a
rival to himself
the moral authority he wants to overthrow as “arbitrary will,”
but which he respects nonetheless
Politically, too, narrator is divided against himself: he hates
his name for being common, and lives like an aristocrat;
however, he doesn’t respect aristocrats; finally, he imagines
his revolt against Wilson as a populist revolution of “natural
rights” against “arbitrary will”