Friday, November 12, 2010

Gothic Fishbowl #4: "William Wilson"

Keep up your strong work, outer circle.

Here are your daily reminders:

1. Participate frequently; leave comments from the beginning of class through the very end.
2. Bring in passages.
3. Get your fun self into a hot seat!
4. Enjoy!

52 comments:

  1. Do you think that somewhere in the world that we might all have a doppleganger

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  2. I think that there is a chance that we have doppelgangers but there is no real way to know

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  3. -Earl S.
    I think the whole doppleganger is something made up for stories, I don't think there real

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  4. yeah i agree with conner cause its pretty hard to know if you have a doppelganger. If you think you see someone that looks like you then you probably are imageing things.

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  5. Ya probably everyone has a doppelgangers they say chuck Norris has three doppelgangers and there all afraid of chuck Norris

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  6. i think it is definately possible but the chances of meeting that person are slim to none

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  7. Earl
    All of us want to compete against someone. Alot of us compete against our self's. The person that we are fighting against is really our self's. So in a way it like were fighting our doppelganger.

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  8. Earl- I think that there is a doppelganger in this world for everyone but my question is how do you know which one is the evil one.

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  9. I agree withg Lee, I feel like its a made up thing to keep you good.

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  10. Earl- i think we all have a doppleganger because there has to be someone out there that is very similar to you its just if you meet your doppleganger or not

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  11. I think that there is a chance that everyone could have a doppelganger but like Conor said its hard to tell. People sometimes say they someone who liked you but they may have been seeing things.

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  12. We probbably have someone who looks similar to us or we to them. One of my friends came back from a trip to new york and she said she thought she saw me there.

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  13. Who is the doppelganger in William Wilson?

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  14. carlos how do you know one has to be evil. what if you both are good or both bad.

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  15. Does everyone have two sides to them or is everyone just one person?

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  16. exactly my point Tyler you can't tell by visual appperances you have to go by actions, kind of how william wilson went into the other wilsons room with a lamp.

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  17. Like the teacher that died after she saw her doppleganger how come william wilson didn't die after he saw his?

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  18. the thought of having a truly evil side is hard to believe, it's said that they are almost mirror images of our psyche and we are all part good and bad, so maybe the doppleganger is the same way

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  19. carlos- but he didnt do anything bad whe nhe went in.

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  20. It seems that Poe likes to explore the theme of good and evil. Is poe saying that there are actually two people aka the doppleganger or is it one person with two differnt personalities?

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  21. Tyler S: I think evil is a matter of perspective. What is seen by evil, can be seen as just in the eyes of the perpetrators.

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  22. tyler
    have you ever heard of anyone going into somebody elses room with a lamp in the middle of the night, besides using it to bring light to a room, and something good coming of it.

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  23. Molly
    I think that it is more of one person having 2 personalities. It is kind of like having half of a conscience. If you have a conscience, you are more likely to do the right thing.

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  24. i agree with peter, it depends what side you are on and how you define evil.

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  25. What statement was edgar allan poe making in William Wilson?

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  26. carlos- so what did he do then that was bad?

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  27. Just a random thought... Every Poe stroy that i have read so far relates to the same theme. Why do you think that Poe focuses so much on the good and evil of a person and the influences of evil on the good. Do you think that something happened in Poes past that he likes to focus on this? What is he trying to say by making this the theme to all of his stories? Did he portray his good or bad side?

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  28. tyler, like Nate just said william wilson killed off william wilson.

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  29. Molly
    I think that its one person who has two sides to him and even he does some thnings then his other personality comes to light.

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  30. Hunter
    I believe he is trying to make the point that everyone has a good side and a bad side it just depends on a persons conscience.

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  31. How is WW truly evil like he says he is?

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  32. Is there the capability in life to be truly evil?

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  33. Hunter-Good question! I think though that he was tying to say everyone has two personalities or sometimes you have to one side of you tell you something is right or wrong.

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  34. Does everyone have a good and an evil side?

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  35. Earl- I think that there is a capability in life to be truly evil, like many serial killers some can see the evil side of every good deed or not have the ability for forgiveness.

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  36. Mollyb2012-
    That's because he believes that their is only good and bad in people no one in between people and most people choose evil. Poe probably never had a mom or didn't get what he wanted for Christmas that's why he acts like the way he does and see's the world as evil.

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  37. Earl, I think that there is, like Willie said, the mass mureders have nothing to lose, and that is why they are like that.

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  38. Re i think everyone has a good and evil side but it depends on whose perspective your looking at. what we think is a good thing someone else could think of it as a bad thing

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  39. Is it possible that the nerorator is actually the doppelganger and the other one is real.

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  40. Trent-
    Great response to my great question
    so its kind of like the devil and angel on your shoulder telling you to do two different things one being evil and one being good to every situation

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  41. so was there two wilsons or was one in the narrators mind?

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  42. Re- I think everyone has a good and evil side, the evil side is typically more repressed so maybe these people turn evil because of holding back for too long.

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  43. Re,
    I think there isn't, the id might be evil for it's all our deepest desires, the ego might be good but than again you migh have bad morals, the super ego could also be evil if you are only thinking about the outer image or your mask that is a crime to yourself and in a sense is evil as well

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  44. cortez- I think that the narrator is the actual doppelganger and his evil side and his good side was too weak to defend it self because he could have gone thorugh some traumatic experiences that made him want to be evil.

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  45. Do you think that the doppelganger in William Wilson is Edgar Allan Poe's depiction of different dimentional sides and the bonding point?

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  46. -tyler s
    I think it was 2 in the same that he was both people, like what willie said that once he killed his concious he didnt feel bad about anything

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  47. Tyler,
    I think that there was only one but he found a way to make a tangable formation of his evil entity and he found a way to kill that evil part

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  48. Gothic stories have a theme of repression or a different side to a person. William Wilson is a reflection of himself in a negative way. He says that he is physically just like him (height, weight, looks) and mentally similar as well. His "twin" represents that repression of secrets or double personality is opened up when he wispers his name and that is why he is so infuriated when that happens. There in a deep rooted mental problem involved as well. Why is this a common theme is all gothic stories?

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  49. I seemed that in this story the second William Wilson was like the conscience of the narrator. It was interesting that the narrator got so frustrated because he could never do anything bad. I think that in this story Poe is pointing out that every person has the desire or need to be evil. I think that he was pointing out that there is an ideal version of each person, one who always does the right thing and is honest. However this idea of perfection hanging over someone's head is enough to practically drive them mad to the point that they do something that is uncharacteristic of them selves. I think that the scariest part of this story is that it shows that there is a breaking point in every human where they loose self-control and become this evil version of themselves.

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  50. This story also arose many questions for me. Was the other "William Wilson" a real person or was he all in the first Wilson's mind? If the other one was in fact a real person did they both understand that they could be doplegangers? How could the death of one lead to the death of the other? Is this all superstition? If it was the same person maybe he killed himself because he was struggling with the different sides of himself. There is a good side and a bad side to all and maybe his bad side had been repressed too much for too long.

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  51. It seemed to me as though that the other "William Wilson" wasn't a real person at all, but a figment of his imagination. It seemed to be almost like it was his conscience. Maybe he had a split personality and couldn't handle dealing with his other side, thus killing him self to achieve what he thought was peace.

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