The objective of this study is to compare Edgar Allan Poe’s “William Wilson” and Akutagawa Ryunosuke's “The Nose” in the perspective of ‘persona’. As far as analytical psychology is concerned, persona means the person-as-presented, not the person-as-real. The persona is a psychological and social construct adopted to form one’s social character according to the expectations and demands of society, and the social aims and aspirations of the individual. Poe’s “William Wilson” and Akutagawa’s “The Nose” illustrate two different aspects of persona that can be referred to as the two potential pitfalls of persona development. One of the pitfalls lies in not paying enough attention to the external object world but being too exclusively involved with the inner world. This is the case with “William Wilson.” Akutagawa’s “The Nose” is about the other pitfall of persona development. The persona problem found in the story is over-identification with the persona. In this case, the individual becomes unduly concerned with conforming and adapting to the outer social world. The two different aspects of persona in the two stories have been discussed in this paper. When it comes to a comparative approach toward the East and the West literary works, relatively little study has been carried out in terms of Jung’s analytical psychology. This study will serve as a platform from which studies of greater depth and specificity may be undertaken in that direction.

The objective of this study is to compare Edgar Allan Poe’s “William Wilson” and Akutagawa Ryunosuke's “The Nose” in the perspective of ‘persona’. As far as analytical psychology is concerned, persona means the person-as-presented, not the person-as-real. The persona is a psychological and social construct adopted to form one’s social character according to the expectations and demands of society, and the social aims and aspirations of the individual. Poe’s “William Wilson” and Akutagawa’s “The Nose” illustrate two different aspects of persona that can be referred to as the two potential pitfalls of persona development. One of the pitfalls lies in not paying enough attention to the external object world but being too exclusively involved with the inner world. This is the case with “William Wilson.” Akutagawa’s “The Nose” is about the other pitfall of persona development. The persona problem found in the story is over-identification with the persona. In this case, the individual becomes unduly concerned with conforming and adapting to the outer social world. The two different aspects of persona in the two stories have been discussed in this paper. When it comes to a comparative approach toward the East and the West literary works, relatively little study has been carried out in terms of Jung’s analytical psychology. This study will serve as a platform from which studies of greater depth and specificity may be undertaken in that direction.

“William Wilson”, “The Nose”, persona, Jung, Stein, Edgar Allan Poe, Akutagawa Ryunosuke