William Wilson (Short story)

William Wilson is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe

Summary
An dying evil man explains his "fall from grace."

Plot
The story follows a dying man of "a noble descent" who calls himself William Wilson because, although denouncing his profligate past of a miserable life of unspeakable misery and unpardonable crime, he does not accept full blame for his actions, saying that "man was never thus ... tempted before". He retorts that while some men became base by degrees, he is one in whom all virtue dropped in an instant. [Wilson is not his real name which has become a byword of horror]. He admits that his family has been renowned "... whose imaginative and easily excitable temperament has at all times rendered them remarkable; and, in my earliest infancy, I gave evidence of having fully inherited the family character. As I advanced in years it was more strongly developed; becoming, for many reasons, a cause of serious disquietude to my friends, and of positive injury to myself. I grew self-willed, addicted to the wildest caprices, and a prey to the most ungovernable passions...I was left to the guidance of my own will, and became, in all but name, the master of my own actions." After several paragraphs, the narration then segues into a description of Wilson's boyhood, which is spent in a school "in a misty-looking village of England". William meets another boy in his school who has the same name and roughly the same appearance, and who was even born on the same date (January 19, Poe's own birthday). William's name (he asserts that his actual name is only similar to "William Wilson") embarrasses him because it sounds "plebeian" or common, and he is irked that he must hear the name twice as much on account of the other William.The boy also dresses like William, walks like him, but can only speak in a whisper. He begins to give advice to William of an unspecified nature, which he refuses to obey, resenting the boy's "arrogance". One night he steals into the other William's bedroom and recoils in horror at the boy's face—which now resembles his own. William then immediately leaves the academy and, in the same week, the other boy follows suit.William eventually attends Eton and Oxford, gradually becoming more debauched and performing what he terms "mischief". For example, he steals from a man by cheating at cards-first by letting him win and then tricking him to place very expansive wagers. The other William appears, his face covered, and whispers a few words sufficient to alert others to William's behavior, and then leaves with no others seeing his face. William leaves the room and is stunned to find his doppelganger has had a fur coat similar to his own. After being subject to admonished at Eaton and his honor destroyed at Oxford, William [no matter where he flies to--Vienna, Berlin, Moscow] is haunted by his double in subsequent years, who thwarts plans described by William as driven by ambition [in Rome], revenge [in Paris], passionate Love [in Naples], and avarice [In Egypt]. One thing William cannot understand is that while no one knows anything about his double, his double always seems to know everything about William. In his latest caper, he attempts to seduce [with her consent] a young married noblewoman at Carnival in Rome, but the other William stops him; the enraged protagonist drags his "unresisting" double—who wears identical clothes—into an antechamber, and stabs him fatally.After William does this, a large mirror suddenly seems to appear. Reflected at him, he sees "mine own image, but with features all pale and dabbled in blood": apparently the dead double, "but he spoke no longer in a whisper". The narrator feels as if he is pronouncing the words: "In me didst thou exist—and in my death, see ... how utterly thou hast murdered thyself." .