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Does the doppelganger Wilson really exist?
Like in many of Poe’s stories, the reality within the story is ambiguous. It’s possible to read Wilson as a real person, a supernatural doppelganger, or the narrator externalizing the voice of his conscience. On the one hand, Wilson thwarts the narrator’s schemes by revealing them to others around him. On the other hand, no one other than the narrator comments on Wilson’s existence. At the academy, he speaks in a quiet voice and lives in an isolated closet, which could suggest that only the narrator can see or hear him.
Why does the narrator hate Wilson?
The narrator hates Wilson for two primary reasons. First, the narrator hates how Wilson acts as a voice of conscience, exposing his schemes in a protective way, as if to stop the narrator from his evil impulses. However, there’s also an element of Wilson wanting to be singular. The narrator says he hates his real name because it’s common. Not only does Wilson share his name, but he also shares his birthday and general appearance. The narrator, who likes to feel important, emphasizes his noble blood and pursues prestige. Hence, he feels galled that his singularity is threatened by the existence of a double.
Why does the narrator flee from the academy?
The narrator flees the academy because he sees Wilson’s face and realizes for the first time that they look exactly alike. Up to this point, he assumed Wilson’s similar gait and dress were attempts to mock him. Seeing Wilson asleep, in a completely unguarded and natural state, reveals that Wilson is not mocking him, but is indeed a doppelganger. The narrator is terrified by this revelation, both for its almost supernatural implications and because of how it means he isn’t unique.
Why does the narrator target Glendinning?
The narrator targets Glendinning both because he believes Glendinning not to be particularly intelligent and because Glendinning comes from a family only recently given a noble title. Although the narrator himself is a commoner, throughout the story he consistently attempts to dominate every space’s social hierarchy. He hates his common name and attempts to portray himself as being gentlemanly and hence a part of the nobility. Glendinning’s family has only recently ascended to the ranks of the nobility, making him implicitly superior to the narrator. The narrator therefore wants to knock him down a peg.
What does Wilson mean when he states that the narrator has killed himself in killing him?
As the narrator states at the beginning that the story’s events took place years prior to his telling it, it is unlikely that Wilson means this warning literally. Instead, Wilson describes a metaphorical death, a death of conscience. If we read Wilson as a physical manifestation of the narrator’s conscience, then his words mean that the narrator has killed an essential part of himself, a voice of reason that keeps him from further depravity. Alternatively, if we read Wilson as a real person, he could mean that committing murder inherently kills part of yourself because of the magnitude of the sin.
