“In me didst thou exist—and, in my death,
see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered
thyself.”
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Summary
An unnamed narrator announces that his real name shall
remain a mystery, for he wishes to preserve the purity of the page
before him. Instead, the narrator asks that we know him as “William
Wilson” throughout the tale of misery and crime that he is about
to tell. He explains that this tale will explain his sudden and
complete turn to evil.
The narrator believes that he has inherited an excitable
temperament from his otherwise dull-minded parents. As a young student, he
escapes from this environment, and his early memories concern a large
Elizabethan house in England where he attended school. He describes
the school as a Gothic prison, with a spiked iron gate that has
creaky hinges. The principal, who also acts as the pastor of the church,
enforces the severe rules of the school.
Despite the severity of his surroundings, the narrator
emerges as a colorful student and feels a certain superiority to
his classmates, with the exception of one student. According to
the narrator, this student bears exactly the same name: William
Wilson. This second William Wilson interferes with the narrator’s
mastery over his classmates, thereby becoming for the narrator an
object of fear and competition. This rivalry becomes only more pronounced
for the narrator when he learns that they joined the school on the
same day and that, because of the two William Wilsons’ identical
builds and styles of dress, many older students believe they are
brothers. The narrator’s rival even imitates his mode of speaking,
except he can never raise his voice above a whisper. Nevertheless,
the narrator rejects any connection between him and his rival. Despite
this antagonism, though, the narrator remains on speaking terms
with his competitor and admits, at first, to being unable to hate
him.
The relationship soon deteriorates, however, and a violent
altercation ensues between the two William Wilsons. The scuffle
evokes in the narrator memories of his infancy, which makes him
grow only more obsessed with William Wilson. On a night not long
after the scuffle, the narrator sneaks into his rival’s bedroom
to play a practical joke. Shining the light from his lamp on his
rival’s face, the narrator believes he sees a different William
Wilson, a face unique to the darkness. Terrified by the facial transformation
he imagines, the narrator rushes from the room.
After several months, the narrator becomes a student at
another school, Eton, and attempts to leave behind memories of the
other William Wilson. He abuses alcohol in this effort to forget
the past, and he recalls one debaucherous party in particular. In
the midst of the drunken revelry, a servant announces the presence
of a mysterious guest calling for the attention of the narrator.
Excited and intoxicated, the narrator rushes to the vestibule, only
to discover a youth of his same size and dress. The faintness of
the light prevents the narrator from discerning the visitor’s face.
Grabbing the narrator’s arm, the guest whispers “William Wilson”
in the narrator’s ear and quickly vanishes.
Changing schools again, the narrator moves to Oxford,
where he picks up the vice of gambling. Skilled at this vice, the
narrator chooses weak-minded classmates on whom to prey for extravagant monetary
gain. After two years at Oxford, the narrator meets a young nobleman
named Glendinning and makes him his next gambling target. Allowing
him to win at first, the narrator lures him with the prospect of
more success to a large party he has arranged. At this party, Glendinning
plays exactly as the narrator expects and quickly amasses large
debts. At the moment that he quadruples his debt, Glendinning becomes
ghastly pale, and the narrator realizes his triumph. Suddenly, however,
a stranger intrudes on the party with a rush that extinguishes all
the candles in the room. He reveals the narrator to be a scam artist
and promptly retreats. The announcement ruins the narrator, forcing
his departure not only from Oxford, but also from Britain.
