Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
William Wilson

William Wilson

Poe, Edgar Allan

Paperback

Series: Edgar Allan Poe Collection

Classic Fiction

ISBN10: 1518732143
ISBN13: 9781518732140
Publisher: Createspace
Published: Oct 22 2015
Pages: 40
Weight: 0.16
Height: 0.10 Width: 5.98 Depth: 9.02
Language: English
The story follows a man of a noble descent who calls himself William Wilson because, although denouncing his profligate past, he does not accept blame[dubious - discuss]for his actions, saying that man was never thus [...] tempted before. After several paragraphs, the narration then segues into a description of Wilson's boyhood, which was spent in a school in a misty-looking village of England. William meets another boy in his school who shared the same name, who had roughly the same appearance, and who was even born on exactly 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, and even looks like him, but he could only speak in a whisper, he imitates that whisper exactly. He begins to give orders to William of an unspecified nature, which he refuses to obey, resenting the boy's arrogance. One night he stole into the other William's bedroom and saw that the boy's face had suddenly become different. Upon seeing this, William left the academy immediately in horror, and in the same week, the other boy followed him. William eventually attends Eton and Oxford, gradually becoming more debauched and performing what he terms mischief. For example, he stole from a man by cheating at cards. The other William appeared, his face covered, whispered a few words sufficient to alert others to William's behavior, and leaves with no others seeing his face. In his latest caper, he tries to seduce a married woman but the other William stops him at a ball in Rome; the enraged William drags his unresisting double-who was wearing 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.

11 different editions

Also available

Also in

Classic Fiction

View All