William Wilson tells the tale of the titular character starting from infancy and peaking when has matured into a man. Like Cellini, William Wilson has a very strong character that develops from his early childhood, “I grew self-willed, addicted to the wildest caprices and a prey to the most ungovernable passions. Weak-minded, and beset with constitutional infirmities” (Poe 80). He even states that he became autonomous, “Thenceforward my voice was a household law; and at an age when few children have abandoned their leading-strings, I was left to the guidance of my own will, and became, in all but name, the master of my own actions” (Poe 80). This parallels Ernest's idea of being the master of his own self, but also to Cellini's feelings of
