Patrick Labriola, Bonn, Germany
In response to accusations that the horror in his stories was derived from German literary sources, Edgar Allan Poe claimed in the Preface for the Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque in 1840 that "if in many of my productions terror has been the thesis, I maintain that terror is not of Germany, but of the soul." [1] There are several indications, though, that Poe could have gained access to German literature and to E. T. A. Hoffmann's writings through Gillies's translation of The Devil's Elixirs, through Carlyle's publication of the German Romance, through Sir Walter Scott's essay on Hoffmann's use of the supernatural, or through readings of his own in English translation. As the editor of several prominent journals such as the Southern Literary Messenger, Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, Graham's Magazine, the Mirror, and the Broadway Journal, Poe was well acquainted with publications by European writers and even accused other American authors of plagiarizing their ideas. [2] While some critics have noted the similarities between "William Wilson" and The Devil's Elixirs, scholarship on the double in these works still requires further investigation beyond a positivistic approach. This article traces the developmental stages of the double in "William Wilson" and The Devil's Elixirs according to a reading of Freud's essay "The Uncanny." It also examines the impact of the double on the lives of the protagonists and analyzes Poe's and Hoffmann's overall statement on the divided self.
The historical background of the double is rooted in the philosophical, literary, and scientific theories of German Romanticism, which illustrate the Romantic poet's constant struggle within himself to reach beyond his own existence. In terms of German philosophy, the double is steeped in Fichtean Idealism, according to which the ego creates and projects itself onto the world, and in Schelling's concept of "identity" as developed in his philosophy of nature, which illustrates the interaction of the individual with its counterpart in nature. From a literary perspective, the double signifies the Romantic poet's continuous longing for the infinite, which can never be fulfilled. Since the Romantic ego is continuously striving for something higher than itself, the Romantic poet finds himself divided into two parts: one is rooted in his mortal existence, the other pursues a higher transcendental harmony with the infinite. Typically, Romantic literature abounds with references that illustrate the discrepancy between the "real" and the "ideal," that seek to express the sublime, the longing for mystical and spiritual unity, and the interaction between man and nature.
The interest in supernatural or unexplained phenomena such as hypnosis, telepathy, sleepwalking, insanity, drives, and in the subconscious also contributed to the motif of the double in Romantic literature. Students of the German physician Friedrich Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) developed a scientific method of delving into the human psyche that provided the medium with access to the patient's inner world and secrets that lay beyond human existence. This new scientific approach became the cutting-edge development in scientific research to approach the mysteries of the spiritual world and the dark side of the human mind. The Romantic poet, therefore, employed the motif of the double as the chance to investigate the passions and illnesses of the human mind and to examine the presence of a supernatural world.
Prior to the advent of Romanticism, the motif of the double existed for the sake of comedy through the mistaken identity of characters such as one finds in Plautus's Menaechmi or Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. Romanticism gave the double its psychological depth by endowing it with the meaning of "the admonishing angel, the good repressed ego, or the tenacious devil" [3] and by building around it a canon of literature that included Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's Der Zauberring (1813), Adelbert von Chamisso's Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte (1814), and Jean Paul Richter's Siebenkäs (1776-97). [4] In American literature, there is virtually no tradition of the double, and the motif has been taken from German philosophical, literary, and scientific theory. Even though Poe asserts that he borrowed the motif of the double in "William Wilson" from an article by Washington Irving, [5] it is well known that the latter also drew extensively on German literature for his short stories and sketches. [6]
In Freud's essay "The Uncanny" (1919), the psychoanalyst asserts that the creation of the double is a means for the individual to safeguard himself "against the destruction of the ego" and a kind of primitive narcissism and self-love. [7] In this duplication process, the double becomes the manifestation of the ego's repressed drives and desires, finding expression in human form. Through the psychological distance between the double and the self, the individual is able to evaluate his own behavior and to develop a conscience for his improvement. This means that once the critical stage of the Doppelgängertum has been reached, the double either provides the individual with the necessary impetus for a conscience or the double becomes the "uncanny herald of death." [8] The characters of Medardus and Wilson undergo similar stages of development in respect to the double, including the formation of narcissistic tendencies in their formative years, the repression of sexual desires and power, and, in the words of Freud, the development of "ego-duplication," "ego-separation," and "ego-substitution." [9] However, Wilson is never able to develop a "conscience" and to rejoin his second self, bringing about his own destruction.
Poe's short story "William Wilson" is less complicated than Hoffmann's novel, although the main character undergoes a similar process of development. Wilson is a child at a boarding school in England and grows up within the tranquil and solitary walls of the institution. He believes to be in control of his classmates, with one exception: William Wilson, the double. From their very first encounter the double proves to be superior to Wilson, offering him advice and admonishing him for his wrongdoing. After the double exposes Wilson to his fellow students for cheating at cards, and after following him to the various capitals of Europe and stopping him from committing adultery, Wilson revolts and murders his double in a duel. In retrospect, the narrator remarks that he has in fact destroyed himself by having murdered his double.
In the first stage of his development, Wilson reveals the narcissism of his early years by asserting that he had "ascendancy over" other children and that he "was left to the guidance of [his] own will, and became ... the master of [his] own actions" so that he "grew self-willed, addicted to the wildest caprices, and a prey to the most ungovernable passions." [10] At the same time, however, Wilson deplores his authority over others and states that "if there is on earth a supreme and unqualified despotism, it is the despotism of a master-mind in boyhood over the less energetic spirits of its companions" (WW 431). In other words, Wilson is aware of the control that he has over others and he rejects this authority as a kind of "unqualified despotism." As a result of the wish to save himself from his uncontrollable behavior, Wilson creates a double that functions as a conscience and helps him control his desire for manipulation and power. In producing a double that embodies the positive side of his being, Wilson subconsciously prevents himself from taking part in drunkenness, cheating, and adultery, and thereby protects himself from harm. Still, he regards the protective behavior of the double as "impertinent and dogged interference" (WW 432), although he inadvertently realizes that the double's moral sense is "proof of his true superiority" (WW 432).
In Hoffmann's novel, an orphan child is brought up in a secluded monastery under serene and pious conditions. With the coming of adolescence the child, Medardus, begins to develop sexual urges and rebels against the authority of the monastery. After drinking the forbidden elixir of Saint Anthony, that had been placed in his safekeeping, Medardus undergoes a change of personality and becomes a popular orator at the monastery. Sensing that Medardus is acting out of his own self-interest and the desire to gain his independence, Prior Leonardus implores him to leave the monastery and go on an important mission to Rome. On his way through the mountains, Medardus comes across his double (actually his own brother) asleep on the precipice of a cliff. When Medardus awakens him, the double becomes frightened and falls to his death in the abyss. Medardus then takes on the identity of the double by putting on his clothes and assuming his position at the castle. When he arrives at the double's residence, Medardus discovers that an intricate plot is already underway between Viktorin (the double) and his lover, Euphemie, concerning the murder of his half-brother, Hermogen. Mistaken by the entire family for the actual Count Viktorin, Medardus becomes Euphemie's lover and a conspirator to the murder of Hermogen. At the same time, Medardus recognizes Hermogen's sister, Aurelie, as the woman from the confessional in the monastery who proclaimed her love for him. In a moment of anger, Medardus poisons Euphemie and murders Hermogen in a fight. After the double appears to him in the hallway (Viktorin had crawled out of the abyss), Medardus flees from the castle and the scene of the crime. For the remainder of the novel, Medardus attempts to hide his identity by moving from place to place (the village, the forester's house, the prince's residence) and in the process slowly discovers his past.
While Wilson attempts to save himself by creating a double that functions as a conscience, Medardus produces a double that allows him to live out the sexual fantasies and need for authority that he has repressed as a monk. [11] Like Wilson, who grows up in the solitary environment of a boarding school and gradually develops his desire to control others, Medardus reveals his need for power by preaching at a monastery. After having consumed Saint Anthony's forbidden elixir, Medardus gives a sermon in a crowded church in order to win the desired admiration of his congregation and even claims of himself: "I am Saint Anthony" (DE 33). His repressed sexual desires are unleashed once he drinks the sacred potion and hears the confession of a young woman in the church: "'You-you yourself, Medardus, are the one that I so inexpressibly love!'" (DE 41) He decides to leave the monastery "in order to hold this woman in [his] arms and to still the burning desire inside of [himself]" (DE 42). Medardus compares the young woman in the confessional with the portrait of Saint Rosalia in the church, which serves as a fetish for his sexual desires.
Wolfgang Nehring claims that "the entire vision is an erotic dream for Medardus, which surprisingly for the protagonist himself, moves from the subconscious to consciousness. From now on Medardus acknowledges his desires and attempts to fulfill them outside of the monastery." [12] Medardus therefore creates a double (Viktorin) who enables him to pursue his sexual interests outside of the monastery through his relationships with Euphemie and Aurelie. As a result of Viktorin's alleged sudden death, Medardus not only replaces him sexually in his affair with Euphemie, but he is also able to fulfill his taboo sexual desires with Saint Rosalia through his relationship with Aurelie. Hoffmann's novel can be regarded as an encounter between Medardus and the manifestation of his sexual fantasies: as Medardus is composed of the negative side of Viktorin and the positive side of his grandfather Francesco, his female counterpart also embodies the femme fatale Euphemie and the saint-like qualities of Aurelie.
In both texts the double is a manifestation of the characters' innermost drives and desires, which find expression in human form. In The Devil's Elixirs, the double functions as an "id" who carries out devious actions and forces Medardus to examine his life, whereas Wilson's double serves as a "conscience" who admonishes him for his wrongdoing. Wilson expresses his need for self-control and discipline through a double who has the same "identity of name" (WW 432), the "same age" (WW 434), the "same height" (WW 434), "entered the school upon the same day" (WW 432), and keeps a constant watch over him and prevents him from acting immorally. Whereas Wilson's "ego-duplication" exists from the very onset of the story through the presence of the second William Wilson, his actual separation from the double takes place upon secretly entering the double's room one evening in order to play a joke on him. Finding the double asleep in bed, Wilson is confounded by the fact that the second self is not a mere imitation but actually exists independently of himself. Wilson's response to this encounter with the double is not one of recognition that would allow him to look at himself objectively, but rather one of fear, an encounter that causes him to flee throughout the story. "Awe-stricken, and with a creeping shudder, I extinguished the lamp, passed silently from the chamber, and left, at once, the halls of that old academy, never to enter them again" (WW 437).
In their first encounter after this frightful evening, the narrator explains that he had invited some friends to his room and the wine was flowing freely, when the double appeared at the door and interrupted the party by "whisper[ing] the words 'William Wilson!' in [his] ear" (WW 439). Once again, as Wilson is cheating at cards, the double enters the scene in order to reveal the main character's devious activity to the others: "Gentlemen.... You are, beyond doubt, uninformed of the true character of the person who has to-night won at écarté a large sum of money from Lord Glendinning.... Please to examine, at your leisure, the inner linings of the cuff of his left sleeve" (WW 443). Finally, the double disturbs Wilson just as he is about to make advances towards the beautiful wife of Duke Di Broglio at a party in Rome, and Wilson feels "a light hand placed upon [his] shoulder, and that ever-remembered, low, damnable whisper within [his] ear" (WW 446). Wilson believes that the double interrupts him throughout his life in order "to frustrate those schemes, or to disturb those actions, which, if fully carried out, might have resulted in bitter mischief" (WW 445). However, during these episodes Wilson never reflects upon his own actions as being dishonest or immoral, but rather claims that his "natural rights of self-agency" are "so pertinaciously, so insultingly denied" (WW 445) by the double.
In The Devil's Elixirs, Saint Anthony's wine enables the main character to delve into the darker side of his mind, to give moving sermons, and to conjure up lustful visions of Saint Rosalia in church: "I drank again, and the desire of a new magnificent life rose up inside of me" (DE 37). In "William Wilson," the protagonist lives out his repressed desires and gives the double the greatest resistance under the influence of alcohol. It is precisely during these moments of drunkenness that the double appears before Wilson to admonish him for his actions. During the first major encounter with the double, Wilson remarks that he was "madly flushed with ... intoxication" (WW 438) and "was in the act of insisting upon a toast" (438) when his double appeared at the door. It is also in this inebriated condition that Wilson finally summons up the courage to oppose his double openly and to challenge him to a duel: "I had given myself up entirely to wine; and its maddening influence upon my hereditary temper rendered me more and more impatient of control. I began to murmur-to hesitate-to resist" (WW 446).
Similar to Wilson, who refuses to accept the existence of his second self, Medardus represses the existence of his double (Viktorin) by causing him to fall from a ledge of a cliff into a dark abyss. In order to hide from his true self, Medardus pretends to be Viktorin, taking on the identity of the double, who is posing as a monk: "I am that, which I appear to be, and do not appear to be that, which I am; I am an inexplicable riddle to myself; my being has been divided in two!" (DE 59). Since Viktorin slowly climbs out of the abyss and returns to haunt Medardus throughout the novel, one can see that the double and the sexual manifestations that he represents are only repressed and eventually surface in human form. The first sign of the repressed double reemerging (ego-separation) occurs in the hallway of the castle following the murders of Euphemie and Hermogen. Similar to Wilson, who is terrified by the initial vision of his own double, Medardus flees from the castle and attempts to hide from the darker side of himself by concealing his habit-"I hid the frock in a hollow tree" (WW 79)-and by changing his physical appearance through new clothes and a haircut. Unlike Wilson, however, Medardus, in his various encounters with the double, undergoes a process of development that enables him to create a conscience and to reflect upon his actions by the end of the novel.
Most important among these encounters with the double are the scenes in the forester's lodge and in prison, and the confrontation with the double on the way to his execution. In the first instance, Medardus spends a night at the forester's house in the woods after his carriage leaves him stranded there, and during the night the double (Viktorin) dressed as a monk enters Medardus's room and climbs onto his bed (ego-substitution). In this key scene, the double is pointing to the psychological battle between Medardus and his second self, which would provide one of them with supremacy. Medardus, however, does not recognize the double as a manifestation of his repressed desires, but instead sees him as something strangely apart from himself: "you are not me; you are the devil" (DE 105). The forester explains that the double "is said to have committed a terrible sin by misusing a relic and has been banned from the monastery" (DE 114) and that he exhibited uncontrollable sexual behavior by trying to seduce his daughter, "whose door he kicked in with his foot" (DE 111). At this point in his development, however, Medardus is being torn apart through his second ego: "divided in my being more than ever, I became ambiguous to myself, and an inner horror enveloped my soul with destructive power" (DE 116).
After Medardus has been charged with the murder of Euphemie and Hermogen at the prince's residence, the double whispers to him in his dark prison cell, "lit-tle broth-er ... lit-tle broth-er ... Me-dar-dus ... I am here ... am here ... op-open up ... up ... we wa-want to go into the wo-woods ... go into the woods!" (DE 165). In the appellation "little brother," which can refer to the fact that Medardus is a monk or that he is the brother of the double, Medardus recognizes his own voice and repeats, "Me-dar-dus ... Me-dar-dus!" (DE 165) The response, "lit-tle broth-er ... lit-tle broth-er, did ... you, you recognize m-me ... recognize me?" (DE 165), points to the fact that Medardus is on his way to recognizing the darker side of his self. A few days later, Medardus again experiences the double. This time, he emerges through the floor of the cell with a knife in his hand, calling, "Lit-tle broth-er! Lit-tle broth-er, Medar-dus is here-here, come up ... take this, take this! ... break out ... break out ... into the wo-woods ... into the woods!" (DE 171-72). Through this metaphorical scene of the double literally breaking through the subconscious of the main character, Medardus moves closer to the realization that the double is part of him, and he sees his own figure in the dark hole of the floor: "the full light of the lamp fell upon his face-I recognized myself-I lost consciousness" (DE 172).
Whereas Hoffmann employs the floor of the prison cell and the deep abyss of the "Teufelsgrund" as metaphors of the human subconscious, Poe draws upon the complex arrangement of rooms in the boarding school as analogous to the various parts of the human mind. Wilson describes his school, which is watched over by the Reverend Dr. Bransby, as having "no end to its windings-to its incomprehensible subdivisions" (WW 429), and that many of the rooms were "merest closets" (WW 436), "capable of accommodating but a single individual. One of these small apartments was occupied by Wilson" (WW 436). Wilson's flight from this institution to the capitals of Europe is an expression of freedom; however, it is an escape that offers him no reconciliation with his divided self: "I fled in vain. My evil destiny pursued me as if in exultation.... Years flew, while I experienced no relief" (WW 444-45).
When Medardus sees his double being carried away in a carriage to his execution, he is confronted with the evil side of his being and his own devious actions. Although he is about to fulfill his innermost desire and marry Aurelie, whom he associates with Saint Rosalia, Medardus openly admits that he is the murderer of Hermogen: "I ... I, your beloved, your fiancé, am Medardus ... your brother's murderer" (DE 206). It is through the double that Medardus is prevented from marrying his half-sister Aurelie and that he recognizes his involvement in the murder of Euphemie and Hermogen. In a fight analogous to William Wilson's duel with his double, Medardus wrestles with his second self for his ego and thus starts the process of reconciliation with himself.
William Wilson's final confrontation with his double takes place at Duke Di Brogio's party in Naples, where he is again plagued by the moral voice of his second self. Unlike Medardus, who gradually learns from his various encounters with the double and is able to develop a conscience, Wilson does not yet realize that the double's function is to bring about a moral change in himself. According to Freud's theory of the double, the second self can either bring about a moral change in the individual through the development of a conscience or it can ultimately cause the character's own destruction. Angered by another intrusion by the double and unable to comprehend the significance of the encounter, Wilson decides that he "would submit no longer to be enslaved" (WW 446). In the ensuing confrontation, Wilson challenges his double to a duel that ends with the murder of Wilson's moral self. Instead of conceding victory to Wilson, the double sternly informs him: "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" (WW 448). At the moment of running his sword through the double, Wilson sees his own reflection in what appears to be "a large mirror" (WW 447), "all pale and dabbled in blood" (WW 448), and realizes that he has murdered his own conscience, and, in effect, has brought about the moral death of himself. As Hoffmann's depiction of the double suggests, one needs both the positive and negative sides of the self to exist. Since the "ego-substitution," the murder, and the recognition of the double happen at the same time, Wilson is unable to bring both halves of his being together and is forced to seek reconciliation post facto through the narration of his story. In retrospect, Wilson refers to himself as an "outcast of all outcasts most abandoned" (WW 426) and asserts that he "might, to-day, have been a better, and thus a happier man, had [he] less frequently rejected the counsels embodied in those meaning[ful] whispers which [he] then but too cordially hated and too bitterly despised" (WW 435).
Medardus's final stage of development begins with seeing his double being brought to the execution and ends with the writing of his memoirs at the monastery. While Aurelie is about to take her vows to become a nun, the double enters the church and stabs her on the altar before the entire congregation. After the double flees from the church, and the painter Francesco steps down from the painting of Saint Rosalia, Aurelie explains to Medardus that the phenomenon of the double is the battle between good and evil over his soul, and that its resolution lifts the divine curse on his family. As a final penance for his transgressions, Medardus writes down the story of his life. Unlike Wilson, who writes the story of his double in order to justify his own mistakes, Medardus writes his life story in order to relive the past as a kind of psychotherapy: "I did as the prior asked. Oh!-indeed it happened as he said!-pain and bliss, horror and desire-dismay and delight rushed forth inside of me when I wrote down the story of my life" (288).
The use of the double in "William Wilson" and The Devil's Elixirs shows an overwhelming affinity between Poe and Hoffmann in terms of motifs, symbolism, and stages of development. While the double in "William Wilson" serves as a "conscience" for the main character's moral development, the double in The Devil's Elixirs functions as an "id" that allows Medardus to live out his sexual fantasies and need for power. In both cases, however, the double provides an impetus for the protagonists' improvement through a process of duplication, separation, and substitution. Medardus is able to embrace both halves of his divided self and to learn to be a better person, whereas Wilson rejects the advice of his double and, in effect, brings about his own moral death. For this reason, Wilson can only comfort himself afterwards through the narration of his story. Medardus, on the other hand, returns to his life at the monastery as a complete being and sets out to write down the story of his life.
Notes
[1] Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Thomas Ollive Mabbott, vol. 2 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969-78) 473.
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[2] The most famous accusations of plagiarism are aimed at Nathaniel Hawthorne (Godey's Lady's Book, Nov. 1847) and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (New York Evening Mirror, Jan. 1845; Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, Feb. 1849).
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[3] Elisabeth Frenzel, Motive der Weltliteratur (Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner Verlag, 1992) 101; my translation.
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[4] The German writer Jean Paul Richter coined the phrase Doppelgänger in this novel Siebenkäs by claiming that "Doppeltgänger" are people who can see themselves (Frenzel 102).
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[5] Washington Irving, "An Unwritten Drama of Lord Byron," The Gift for 1836 166-67.
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[6] Henry A. Pochmann, German Culture in America: Philosophical and Literary Influences, 1600-1900. (1957; rpt. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1978) 367-81.
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[7] Sigmund Freud, "Das Unheimliche," Psychologische Schriften, vol. 4 (Frankfurt/M.: Fischer, 1970) 258; my translation.
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[8] Freud 258.
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[9] Freud 257.
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[10] Poe, "William Wilson," Collected Works., vol. 2, 427. Subsequent references are to this edition and appear in the text in parentheses following the abbreviation WW.
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[11] All translations from The Devil's Elixirs are my own and are based on E. T. A. Hoffmann, "Die Elixiere des Teufels," Sämtliche Werke, vol. 2 (München: Winkler, 1970). Subsequent references are to this edition and appear in the text in parentheses following the abbreviation DE.
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[12] Wolfgang Nehring, "E. T. A. Hoffmann: Die Elixiere des Teufels (1815/16)," Romane und Erzählungen der deutschen Romantik, ed. Paul Michael Lützeler (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1981) 344; my translation.
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