The story follows a man of noble descent who calls himself William Wilson because, although denouncing his past, he does not accept responsibilities blame for his actions, saying that "man was never thus [...] tempted before." After several paragraphs, the narration then segues into a description of Wilson's boyhood, which was spent in a school "in a misty-looking village of England." William meets another boy in his school who shared the same name, who had roughly the same appearance, and who was even born on exactly the same date. William's name (he asserts that his actual name is only similar to "William Wilson") embarrasses him because it sounds "plebeian" or common, and he is irked that he must hear the name twice as much on account of the other William...