All people have conflicts that arise within themselves and their conscience. To most it is clear this is happening in their own mind, but to some it is difficult to differ between reality and fantasy. In the short stories, William Wilson and The Secret Sharer, both of the narrators can be interpreted to suffer from split personality disorder just as Dr. Jekyll did in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Each of these stories explores the concepts of good and evil and the idea that mental illness can lead to self discovery and happiness while it can also result in depression and harm to one’s self. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll’s internal conflict of whether to exercise righteousness and virtue or to submit
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The story begins with the narrator describing how “men usually become bad by degrees” (Poe 6), but he goes on to explain how his own experiences had differed from this. When he was young and attending school he met a boy, William Wilson, who was similar to himself in uncanny ways. The two shared the “same name, the same face, the same body, the same day of coming to school! And … [the narrator’s] way of walking, [the narrator’s] manner of speaking!” (Poe 14). Nobody else seems to notice the similarities, however, as no one says “anything about the likeness between [them] of mind, or of body, or of anything else” (Poe 14). The only distinct difference between the two boys is that the narrator often likes to cause trouble whereas William Wilson tries to keep him out of trouble. Throughout the narrator 's life, he travels from different schools participating in wicked events such as gambling and drinking only to be stopped by William Wilson. In the end, it can be inferred that the narrator has a split personality disorder. Throughout the story he has erroneously interpreted his own consciousness as being the separate individual, William Wilson. The story concludes with the narrator confronting William Wilson, challenging him to a fight, and stabbing him in the heart. The narrator, relieved to finally be free of William Wilson, turns to a mirror only to discover himself “all spotted with blood, [his] face white” (Poe 21). In trying to rid himself of his nemesis, the narrator unwittingly causes his own
The story begins with the narrator describing how “men usually become bad by degrees” (Poe 6), but he goes on to explain how his own experiences had differed from this. When he was young and attending school he met a boy, William Wilson, who was similar to himself in uncanny ways. The two shared the “same name, the same face, the same body, the same day of coming to school! And … [the narrator’s] way of walking, [the narrator’s] manner of speaking!” (Poe 14). Nobody else seems to notice the similarities, however, as no one says “anything about the likeness between [them] of mind, or of body, or of anything else” (Poe 14). The only distinct difference between the two boys is that the narrator often likes to cause trouble whereas William Wilson tries to keep him out of trouble. Throughout the narrator 's life, he travels from different schools participating in wicked events such as gambling and drinking only to be stopped by William Wilson. In the end, it can be inferred that the narrator has a split personality disorder. Throughout the story he has erroneously interpreted his own consciousness as being the separate individual, William Wilson. The story concludes with the narrator confronting William Wilson, challenging him to a fight, and stabbing him in the heart. The narrator, relieved to finally be free of William Wilson, turns to a mirror only to discover himself “all spotted with blood, [his] face white” (Poe 21). In trying to rid himself of his nemesis, the narrator unwittingly causes his own