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character analysis of shylock Bartleby
aspect of character in bartleby
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Bartleby is a strange man. The narrator refers to Bartleby as a “pale” man many times in “Bartleby the Scrivener”: “that pale young scrivener, by the name of Bartleby” (par. 83). Melville’s story was published in 1853 and he alludes to Bartleby having an essence that is not human, and that essence is of a vampire. Bartleby is not a traditional vampire, having no desire to kill humans for his insatiable need for blood. A traditional vampire has certain characteristics: pale, dead, clean, glamour#, and neat. They also drink blood, require no sleep, are in good health, and often keep to themselves. In the story, Melville depicts The Scrivener as an awkward human being, but Bartleby is not human. Through subtle cues given by Melville throughout the story, Bartleby must be a vampire. Bartleby’s appearance is congruent with the physical characteristics of a vampire. The Scrivener is described as having gray eyes, pale face, small build, never ill, does not eat, and does not move outside of the narrators office: “I was quite sure he never visited any refectory or eating house” (par. 92). Bartleby was never seen eating food. He was seen eating ginger nuts, but never anything else. Vampires can eat food that humans do, but they ordinarily only require human blood. Although food does not hurt vampires, they can eat food if they so desire; it does not give them the nutrients that are needed to survive. No one in the story ever saw Bartleby eat or drink anything besides ginger nuts, which means that he does not require food, but something more nutritious. He could have possibly desired human blood. The Scrivener’s attributes shine through in some of the narrators comments: “[…] pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn!” (pa... ... middle of paper ... ...e able to feed from any human because of the constant surveillance by guards, and knew that eventually he would meet his death there. The Scrivener completed his mission by not procuring the blood necessary to keep him alive. Bartleby knew well that he would not be able to feed, and consciously moved to the Egyptian masonry, where “The yard was entirely quiet [and] it was not accessible to the common prisoners” because he knew he was near his death. He wanted to die in peace and not allow anyone to get through into the masonry who might hinder his task. Bartleby is clearly given attributes that are not human. Many of the characteristics given by Melville to Bartleby coincide with the most recognizable vampire attributes. As depicted many times in the story, Bartleby is a “pale” man. Bartleby is also never seen eating food, and he is never seen sleeping on a bed.
Bartleby- The Scrivener In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener”, the author uses several themes to convey his ideas. The three most important themes are alienation, man’s desire to have a free conscience, and man’s desire to avoid conflict. Melville uses the actions of an eccentric scrivener named Bartleby, and the responses of his cohorts, to show these underlying themes to the reader. The first theme, alienation, is displayed best by Bartleby’s actions. He has a divider put up so that the other scriveners cannot see him, while all of them have desks out in the open so they are full view of each other, as well as the narrator. This caused discourse with all of the others in the office. This is proven when Turkey exclaims, “ I think I’ll just step behind his screen and black his eyes for him.”(p.2411) The other scriveners also felt alienated by the actions of the narrator. His lack of resolve when dealing with Bartleby angered them because they knew that if they would have taken the same actions, they would have been dismissed much more rapidly. The narrator admits to this when he said, “ With any other man I should have flown outright into a dreadful passion, scorned all further words, and thrust him ignominiously from my presence.” (2409) The next theme is man’s desire to avoid conflict. The narrator avoids conflict on several occasions. The first time Bartleby refused to proofread a paper, the narrator simply had someone else do it instead of confronting him and re...
People one can never really tell how person is feeling or what their situation is behind closed doors or behind the façade of the life they lead. Two masterly crafted literary works present readers with characters that have two similar but very different stories that end in the same result. In Herman Melville’s story “Bartleby the Scrivener” readers are presented with Bartleby, an interesting and minimally deep character. In comparison to Gail Godwin’s work, “A Sorrowful Woman” we are presented with a nameless woman with a similar physiological state as Bartleby whom expresses her feelings of dissatisfaction of her life. Here, a deeper examination of these characters their situations and their ultimate fate will be pursued and delved into for a deeper understanding of the choice death for these characters.
Bartleby joins the lawyer's office as a scrivener, after having worked for the Dead Letters Office. As explained by the lawyer, the scriveners were paid four cents a folio, and under the employment of the lawyer, the scriveners also had to run errands for the lawyer, as well as help in proof reading the copied documents. The employer did not compensate for these other tasks. Thus, it was obvious as to why "Bartleby was never on any account to be dispatched on the most trivial errand of any sort; and that even if entreated to take upon such a matter, it was generally understood that he would 'prefer not to'- in other words, that he would refuse point blank." (Melville 15). For one thing, Bartleby was not being paid for the errands, but for the writing he did. Also, this defiance is a means through which he was preserving his autonomy. Bartleby was making a decision as to what he was and was not going to do. Bartleby's employer notice...
The Chosen by Chaim Potok is a phenomenal novel about two Jewish boys who live in two very discrepant worlds because of the impressions of their fathers.The Hasidic Rabbi, Reb Saunders wants his son, Danny Saunders, to perdure the family legacy and become a Rabbi. Mr. Malter, Reuven’s father, is an Orthodox Jew who is easy going about what he wants his son to do. Throughout the book, both Reuven and Danny face problems and sufferings that helped them both to become stronger and get through the hard times they faced.
The Dangers of Conformity in Bartleby, the Scrivener and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
His lack of appetite is noticed early where in the narrator notices “that he never went to dinner”. (Melville, 51) We discover later that he has been eating a bit of ginger-nuts and some morsel of cheese, (Melville, 88) however the narrator suggests that this is a pitiable amount of food and that Bartleby is clearing suffering. In fact his refusal to eat ultimately leads to his death; one might infer that it was a form of suicide as he says that he “prefers not to dine to-day... [i]t would disagree with me; I am unused to dinners”. (Melville, 235) This implies that Bartleby hadn’t been eating for a long time. Also refusing to eat, Bartleby is shown to very seldom sleep. The narrator mentions that he is “always there; - first in the morning, continually through the day, and the last at night”, (Melville, 84) he makes his home in the office and the narrator comments that he finally does sleep at the end when he is dead.
In Herman Melville's short story, Bartleby, the Scrivener, the narrator's attitude towards Bartleby is constantly changing, the narrator's attitude is conveyed through the author's use of literary elements such as; diction-descriptive and comical, point of view-first person, and tone-confusion and sadness.
... he is finally exposed to the outside world, the sky and grass. Arnold, Page 4 It is even more ironic that once Bartleby is no longer restrained by society’s conformities that it is then that he dies. "Strangely huddled at the base of the wall, his knees drawn up, his head touching the stones, I saw the wasted Bartleby."( pg 139) Ultimately, once disillusioned by society and the work force, he died at his own free will because he "preferred no to" live. Bartleby’s character comments upon the functions of society and the work force. This story demonstrates that life if not lived is useless, as in the case of Bartleby, who wastes his away "preferring not to." Although, from the beginning he was isolated behind the green folding screen with nothing but a wall to stare out, he did not have to give up his humanity. However, he chose to, he chose to further isolate himself by his own self-will and accordingly it led to his death. "It is dangerous to isolate oneself; dangerous for and individual and for a nation." (Jawaharial Nehru) For in the end, isolation can drive a person insane, make him mute, or even kill him.
Later in the story the narrator decides to move his office to rid himself of Bartleby because he was beginning to frighten customers. Before doing so he did give him money. However, Bartleby continue to remain in the office even with the new owner. When the new owner demanded that the narrator have Bartley removed at once,
The narrator also separates Bartleby into confinement. "Still further to a satisfactory arrangement, I procured a high green folding screen, which might entirely isolate Bartleby from my sight, though not remove him from my voice" (118). The reader can see that the narrator likes to have a set way of doing tasks through his actions and interactions with the other characters. The narrator is obviously not one whose demands are often ignored. He does not quite seem to know how to react when Bartleby "prefers" not to comply with the narrator’s wishes. "I staggered to my desk, and sat there in a deep study… Was there any other thing in which I could procure myself to be ignominiously repulsed by this lean, penniless wight? – my hired clerk?" (122). Another one of the narrator’s qualities is being pompous. He seems to have an overblown image of himself and puts himself above others.
“ As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. There was no pause for digestion. He ran a day and nightline, copying by sunlight and by candlelight (Bartleby, 18).” The narrator states, “ I should have been quite delighted with his application,”, but because Bartleby was a silent individual it puzzled him (Bartleby, 18). When Bartleby is asked to review his work he replies, “ I would prefer not to”. This refusal by Bartleby is seen as a critique of labor and capitalism (Reed, 255). His refusal to do what is asked of him is seen as Bartleby’s rejection of this capitalistic society. A society that has oppressed him and in turn he feels the need to be able to take control of his own life (Reed,
...ployer, and then he will be rudely treated, and perhaps driven forth miserably to starve”(p.8) Bartleby doesn’t want to be saved; Bartleby desires not to conform to the etiquette that the Lawyers society places upon him. Bartleby wins in the end because he goes to his death holding on to his convictions. Bartleby controlled the relationship to the end of it and beyond.
When Van Helsing figured out what was happening to Lucy he told Dr. Seward and after Lucy passed away the men went to where she was buried and it had been weeks and her body. The sight they saw was “more radiant and beautiful than ever; and I could not believe that she was dead. The lips were red maybe redder than before” (Stoker 171). This line should that Lucy turned into a vampire because Dracula had been sucking her blood. Jonathan Harker was also a victim of Dracula’s games but he fought through his mental trauma with the help of his Wife, Mina. The rein of Dracula’s evil ways came to an end and although Lucy lost her future, all of her friends were finally safe from
After analyzing The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth is the ideal vampiric figure, supporting Thomas Foster’s perspective about vampirism from his book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor. In fact, Roger Chillingworth, presents many instances of how vampires might act and appear in literature. Even though he is not a literal vampire, it does not
His efforts though are fruitless because he was not able to get to Bartleby and never truly understood him, even in prison as the man eventually dies of starvation. Although after his death the lawyer does learn of Bartleby’s previous and listless job at a ‘Dead Letter Office’ which made the lawyer sympathize for him and wonder if that job is what made Bartleby so distant. Bartleby was a loner who distanced himself from everyone, even in death, he was aloof and never interacted with anyone which is not considered normal human behavior because humans are supposed to be social. This story went a little deeper and gave the idea of humanity as a whole being apathetic towards each other, because only the lawyer showed any sort of humane concern for Bartleby while the others cared less. Bartleby himself displayed apathetic behavior as he showed little to no care for how his behavior affected others or even himself. Outside in the world, many people who are stressed out and constantly working tend to only focus on themselves and have little to no care for other people most of the time. It’s another negative view on humanity, but at the same time it’s not that wrong, as society made by humans also makes others so busy and stuck in tedious schedules that they gradually become more jaded and some even become distant and