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I grew self-willed, addicted to the wildest caprices, and a prey to the most ungovernable passions. Weak-minded, and beset with constitutional infirmities akin to my own, my parents could do but little to check the evil propensities which distinguished me.
Here the narrator describes his childhood, explaining how his parents never truly disciplined or placed boundaries on him. Their personalities aren’t as strong as his, but they are similarly prone to indulgence and vanity, lacking restraint themselves. As the narrator will go on to explain, he effectively becomes master of the house despite being a child, with his whims controlling everything. Without anyone to discipline his behavior, the narrator becomes worse, growing vain and domineering before he even leaves for school.
Who, indeed, among my most abandoned associates, would not rather have disputed the clearest evidence of his senses, than have suspected of such courses the gay, the frank, the generous William Wilson—the noblest and most liberal commoner at Oxford—him whose follies (said his parasites) were but the follies of youth.
Here the narrator describes how he can become a gambler and card cheat at Oxford and yet not risk his reputation. The narrator’s wealth, charm, and strong personality make others not want to call him out. Instead, they are more inclined to dismiss anything that seems untoward as typical youthful behavior. Others’ unwillingness to believe their gut instincts and shun the narrator enables him to prey upon Glendinning in a calculated and cruel scheme.
