The Doppelganger

William Wilson insane? I think so. I don’t even know how you could argue he was not insane unless this was a super natural tale, and then of course we could argue anything to be true. However, I am interested to see how people come up with an argument to claim William’s sanity.

William early on in the story (pg. 217) mentions how he is a descendant of a family with strong imagination and easily excitable temperament. He also mentions these traits effected him from an early age. William admits to a history of mental illness in his family and that he has not escaped it. It is clear he suffers from some sort of delusions as he mentions that during his stay at the boarding school the location of his sleeping apartment was never clear. It seems to me unless he is describing a dream he is living in some sort of altered mental state.

William mentions his superiority to his schoolmates, and how no student could rival him scholastically or his popularity among the other students, besides the other William Wilson. William states on pg. 220 “ I secretly feared him, and could not help thinking the equality he maintained do easily with myself, a proof of his true superiority”.  Although the two Williams are rivals, if what William said earlier about not having competition at his school was true, he could have created the second William Wilson in order to engage in some challenge or competition at school.

Similarities between the two Williams become more convoluted as now all of the sudden it is stated that they were born on the same day, they began to look more alike, and the second Williams voice although could only be heard at a whisper resembled that of the first William perfectly.  William states on pg. 224 “ I could with difficulty shake off the belief of my having been acquainted with the being who stood before me, at some epoch very long ago”.  It seems as though William has been dealing with the illusion of his double since a very young age and that it is just staying with him longer now, as he gets older. It is common for people who suffer from mental illnesses to have the traits come out, as they get older. This is especially common among males who suffer from schizophrenia. The second William Wilson could be a conscious of the first William Wilson. William tends to get himself into trouble especially when he steals money from Lord Glendinning’s while playing cards. If the second William was used as a conscious it would make sense that he was the one to draw attention to the first Williams cheating.

It is clear to me that William Wilson is in fact insane when at the very end of the story he attempts to kill his doppelganger but instead realizes he has killed himself. It seems that he could only evade his insanity for so long. Who knows if anything in the tale happened the way it was told as we can’t tell how far Williams delusions were stretched.