“Outcast of All Outcasts”: The Doppelganger in Poe’s “William Wilson”

Abstract

Edgar Allan Poe was influenced by the darker side of German idealism, which was in fashion in America during the early 19th century as a result of the emergence of the Transcendental movement. The genesis for Poe’s short story, “William Wilson,” comes from a sketch by Washington Irving. Poe enlarges the brief sketch into a story that focuses on the duality of humanity by use of the motif of the doppelganger, which was developed by Germanic writers who sought to explore duality in an individual. Critics have discussed the doppelganger in Poe’s short story “William Wilson,” but many have overlooked how the tradition of German idealism influenced Poe’s story. This essay explores Poe’s use of the traditional role of displacement, repetition, ego and alter-ego, and other aspects of the doppelganger as a theme of German idealism throughout “William Wilson.” Poe’s innovation in “William Wilson” is his depiction of the doppelganger, which Poe uses as a corrective force to the narrator’s evil. Incorporating the German tradition into a reading of “William Wilson” shows how Poe effectively uses the tradition to create a story that explores the duality of the human conscience.