First Year Writing Award
Biological Imbalance in Edgar Allan Poe’s William Wilson
By: Caitlyn Wilkins
Biology, the study of life, analyzes mental illness and its origins in one of its many fields of study. Approximately 18.5% of the United States population has at least one mental disorder, or 1 in every 5 people (Bekiempis). In Edgar Allan Poe’s “William Wilson” published in the narrator, William Wilson, appears to have schizophrenia, a disease of the mind that causes hallucinations. The story is in the form of a letter written by the narrator as he is dying, telling the treacherous journey of his life, and how he was haunted to distraction by the hallucination of his double, William Wilson, a manifestation of the narrator’s conscience. The theory that Wilson is suffering from schizophrenia is explored throughout this essay. Wilson states in this tale, “I would not, if I could, here or to-day, embody a record of my later years of unspeakable misery, and unpardonable crime” (Poe), describing the effect his disability has on the course of his life. By understanding the chemical changes schizophrenia causes in the brain, and analyzing passages that depict the narrator undergoing the three phases of schizophrenia, we find ample evidence to suggest that he is suffering from this disorder. In this story, William Wilson’s psychotic delusions drive him to insanity. Through an understanding of the biological underpinnings of the disease, we can begin to understand the toll it takes upon its victim.
To understand the brain of William Wilson, one has to first understand the dynamics of the brain. The human cerebrum is essentially made up entirely of nerve cells surrounded by a liquid that contains glial cells, the “jellyfish” of the body. These cells absorb so much water, they are almost entirely liquid with a high salinity, making them gelatinous. These properties protect the brain cells from damage (Purves). Glial cells also provide the necessary salt for neurons to work, as they need salt and potassium for the chemical messages to get passed on to other neurons (Perry). Scientists are not sure what causes schizophrenia; they predict the issues reside in the temporal lobes that are located on either side of the brain, and the frontal lobes which are in the frontal region of the cerebral vortex. These lobes are not as developed in the brain of a schizophrenic as they are in a normal brain, meaning there are fewer nerve cells; therefore, some misbehave and send false messages to the eyes and ears, triggering hallucinations (Turetsky) William Wilson opens his thoughts in one scene where he has decided to kill the person who bears his name, as he lay asleep: “I gazed; --while my brain reeled with a multitude of incoherent thoughts. Not thus he appeared --assuredly not thus --in the vivacity of his waking hours” (Poe). In this passage, we can determine that Wilson is confused by what he is witnessing, as he believes it to be a delusion. Wilson doesn’t trust what he sees. Although it is unclear to the reader what exactly he thinks, it is understood that he is beginning to recognize the horror that is taking place, and the dominant presence of his identical being, even though it is illusive.
These hallucinations include the subject within the image. Illusions of the sort are “autoscopy-the experience of seeing oneself as an hallucinated image-although particularly striking, is without specific focal or etiologic correlates.” (Cummings) where the article specifically mentions William Wilson. This is the most common phenomenon regarding schizophrenia. In the movie A Beautiful Mind directed by Ron Howard, the protagonist John Nash has schizophrenia and his most common hallucination is of his first year college roommate Charles with whom he interacts throughout the movie. This is later discovered to be a hallucination with this same autoscopy effect. William Wilson’s double in the poem interacts frequently with the tangible William Wilson through supposed physical and verbal contact, both hallucinated.
William Wilson exhibits definite signs of internal struggle typical of schizophrenia. This mental unrest can drive people to insanity, as it did William Wilson. At the end of the story, the narrator stabs himself multiple times in the chest with his own sword, as depicted in the dramatic final scene: “A large mirror, --so at first it seemed to me in my confusion --now stood where none had been perceptible before; and, as I stepped up to it in extremity of terror, mine own image, but with features all pale and dabbled in blood, advanced to meet me with a feeble and tottering gait” (Poe). This, it can be agreed, is an act of madness, as no sane person would kill himself thinking it was another being, when, in fact, it was the madman’s own thoughts projected as hallucinations.
The first of the three stages of schizophrenia is called the prodromal phase. This is when the subject is young, and symptoms are just beginning to emerge; hallucinations are not fully embodied in their mind (Gluck). After the introduction of the reader to himself, the alternate being William Wilson is introduced as a shadowy presence: “In childhood I must have felt with the energy of a man what I now find stamped upon memory in lines as vivid, as deep, and as durable as the exergues of the Carthaginian medals.” (Poe) This quote relates to his active childhood imagination as it begins to develop a schizophrenic mindset. This example also displays the delicate and susceptible nature of his thought, and by the culmination of the story, a vicious hate has begun to fester. Schizophrenia runs through stages, in most cases starting out with a scent, or as William Wilson describes, an energy or presence that is sensed.
The second phase is called the active phase. This is the stage where full blown hallucinations and delusions manifest, and the subject will start to talk to people who aren’t there (Gluck). Multiple scenes in William Wilson exhibit this phase, such as when the hallucinated Wilson whispers in the narrator Wilson’s ear, “William Wilson!” Here is how the narrator describes that moment: “Upon my entering he strode hurriedly up to me, and, seizing me by the arm with a gesture of petulant impatience, whispered the words “William Wilson!” in my ear.” (Poe). This delusion is at an extreme level in schizophrenia since most mild cases, patients barely get past hallucinating sounds or smells. To the reader, it is notable that the being is beginning to alter the real William Wilson’s emotions.
The last scene in the story displays the level of that link between William Wilson’s emotions and hallucinations. This is the residual phase, the last of the three phases (Gluck). In this stage, the last paragraph of the short story portrays the utter breakdown of Wilson’s mind while he is murdering himself. "You have conquered, and I yield. Yet, henceforward art thou also dead --dead to the World, to Heaven and to Hope! In me didst thou exist --and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself.” (Poe). This phase is similar to bipolar disorder, as the patient can be mutually detached emotionally and overly sensitive about the subject. At the story’s end, Wilson became so upset at his hallucination that he stabbed himself, thinking it was the other being.
Recalling the three phases of schizophrenia, it may be determined that William Wilson’s emotions ran so deep, paralleling his life in its phases, that he eventually murdered himself in cold blood, thinking it was his arch nemesis, the hallucination that forever haunted his shadows. Biology is critical in understanding the workings of schizophrenia on the brain. There are over 2.7 million people in the United states currently diagnosed with schizophrenia (Insel) therefore it is important that we gain a deeper understanding of the brain networking involved. Poe’s William Wilson helps us better understand how detrimental a mental illness can be to the human mind.
Caitlyn Wilkins '19 -- is a Biology Major and was nominated by Dr. Nancy Schultz for the First Year Writing Award.