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 w