Compare And Contrast Bartleby The Scrivener

451 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: The narrator's point of view of bartleby

The topic that I choose for this research paper is the comparison and contrast between Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and Parker film Company’s “Bartleby”. The written form and the 2001 film version though they both show the same symbolism are very different in comparison. Melville wrote about a lawyer narrating a story about his employees, Bartleby. However, Parker produced a movie with a record keeper and his odd employee Bartleby. The time frame and setting within the two dialects are also different, Herman Melville’s setting is of 1853 and Parker’s is in the contempered age. There are many differences as there are similarities in the two scripts, even the characters are not the same. In the hurt story there …show more content…

Parker, who wrote the script with Catherine di Napoli, has transported Melville’s story into a surreal contemporary nowhere world,” (Scott, 2001). The last resource being used in this research paper is an article wrote by Damon smith called “Poorly conceived “Bartleby” fails to bring characters to life”, this article discusses the drastic changes in the 2001 film “Bartleby”, compared to Melville’s original writings. Smith feels that these changes does not give Melville’s short story the justice that it deserves. These three sources are credible scholar articles that will provide comparative information to help support my thesis as well as primary points with this research. There are more differences in the movie and book that effect the way that the short story may have been perceive in its time. Parker takes a 18th century story and modernizes it to fit a culture that the viewers are in to help them to understand what Melville was trying to interpret in his writings. To some those drastic changes dampened the story and to others it made it more understandable and exciting. This research will show those differences as well as the similarities and show that the symbolism in both kinds of literature is the

Show More
Related

  • “Bartleby the Scrivener” and "A Sorrowful Woman": Character Analysis

    1704 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Billy Budd, Sailor Essay

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, it was evident that this great work of literature provides many allusions that provide reference to more familiar work and help us understand a clearer understanding to the meaning of the work. Even though the allusions do not all pertain to the entire meaning of the work, but they do illuminate a broader perspective of the characters, setting, and tone. Yet, there were a lot of allusions that did illuminate the entire meaning of the novella, and even though the true meaning remains ambiguous they still reflected what most readers consider the meaning. The meaning of Herman Melville’s well known masterpiece is that one who had suffered was not really the one suffering, but the one who caused the suffer is really the one who is suffering.

    Read More

  • Bartleby The Scrivener Mental Illness

    977 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bartleby demonstrates behaviours indicative of depression, the symptoms he has in accordance with the DSM-IV are a loss of interest in activities accompanied by a change in appetite, sleep, and feelings of guilt (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, 320). Very shortly after Bartleby begins his work as a Scrivener he is described by the narrator as having done “nothing but stand at his window in his dead-wall revery”. (Melville, 126) In contrast, Bartleby had previously been described as a very hard worker and this process of doing increasingly less shows how his a diminishing sense of interest both in his work but also of the perception others have of him. It is also noted that included in this lack of interest is a social withdrawal (DSM—IV, 321) which corresponds well to Bartleby in that his workspace becomes known as his “hermitage”. During small talk which included Bartleby he says that he “would prefer to be left alone”. (Melville, 120) Bartleby only emerges from his hermitage when called upon and quickly returns when faced with confrontation.

    Read More

  • Herman Melville's Story, Bartleby, the Scrivener

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Masculinity in the Works of Herman Melville

    2437 Words  | 5 Pages

    Herman Melville’s novels, with good reason, can be called masculine. Moby-Dick may, also with good reason, be called a man’s book and that Melville’s seafaring episode suggests a patriarchal, anti-feminine approach that adheres to the nineteenth century separation of genders. Value for masculinity in the nineteenth century America may have come from certain expected roles males were expected to fit in; I argue that its value comes from examining it not alone, but in relation to and in concomitance with femininity. As Richard H. Brodhead put it, Moby-Dick is “so outrageously masculine that we scarcely allow ourselves to do justice to the full scope of masculinism” (Brodhead 9). I concur with Brodhead in that remark, and that Melville’s use of flagrant masculinity serves as a vehicle in which femininity is brought on board The Pequod; femininity is inseparable from masculinity in Melville’s works, as staunchly masculine as they seem superficially.

    Read More

  • Bartleby The Scrivener Rhetorical Analysis

    388 Words  | 1 Pages

    McCall focuses his argument within the way in which Melville has written Bartleby, The Scrivener, he goes into detail about the comical aspects within the story and uses Melville’s description of Bartleby’s saying “I prefer not to,’ he respectfully and slowly said, and mildly disappeared.” (272). McCall suggests that the adverbs Melville uses, “respectfully” , “slowly” and “mildly” , “create[s] a leisurely little excursion into the uncanny” (279). I agree that the lawyer must have had some wit and good intentions in making the claim about Bartleby up to a point, I cannot accept this fully because many people still believe that the lawyer is unreliable. Most critics within the majority, as McCall reinstates, “believe, “the lawyer is “self-satisfied”, “pompous”…”a smug fool” who is ‘terribly unkind to a very sick man’ “(2660. I disagree with the idea that the lawyer was unkind and Bartleby was sick. The lawyer was fascinated by Bartleby’s responses to the job, and Bartleby, I feel knew exactly what he was doing in stating his responses. McCall acknowledges that “these cure two central problems in the story: the nature of Bartleby’s illness and the lawyer’s capacity to understand it,”

    Read More

  • Heavenly Charity in Bartleby

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    Melville, Herman. "Bartleby the Scrivener." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 2003. 2330-2355

    Read More

  • The Struggle for Power and Control Between Bartleby and The Lawyer

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    Melville intends something less black and white with more gray shading. Melville uses dramatic irony and grim humor in “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street. This is to show the reader how the Lawyer assumes he is a safe, successful and powerful man with extensive control in his polite society until he hires a man named Bartleby. This relationship is slowly revealed to be quite a conundrum for the Lawyer and the reader. Melville shows how the Lawyer never had any power or control over Bartleby but quite the opposite; Bartleby held all the power and control in this relationship. I will explore the important of the power struggle and the fight to maintain control between the Lawyer and Bartleby.

    Read More

  • Man Against God in Moby Dick

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    Melville, Herman. Moby Dick: An Authoritative Text; Reviews and Letters by Melville; Analogues and Sources; Criticism. A Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Harrison Hyford and Hershal Parker. New York, W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. 1967.

    Read More

  • What Does Bartleby The Scrivener Mean

    1255 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Herman Melville’s work “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street”, the idea of a capitalist agenda is intentionally reinforced. This short work tells the story of a lawyer on Wall-Street and those of his employees, but he is particularly fascinated by Bartleby. Bartleby at first a hard worker who divulged tirelessly in his job as a law-copyist begins to “ prefer not” to do what is asked of him. This leads to the lawyer to grow increasingly curious about Bartleby. The idea of capitalist values in “Bartleby the Scrivener” are supported through the way the narrator, the lawyer, presents his employees to the reader, describes meeting Bartleby and Bartleby’s

    Read More

  • Herman Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener

    548 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Moby Dick

    1407 Words  | 3 Pages

    D2. The “lessons” that Melville is likely to weave into his writing are 1. An

    Read More

  • Persuasive Paper: “Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!”

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    The infamous ending statement in Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener,” “Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!” (Melville 34), signifies not only the tragic demise of the character of Bartleby, but the dismal ruin of mankind as well. This enigmatic statement can be applied to both “Bartleby the Scrivener” and Melville’s other short story, “Benito Cereno.” Both stories are narrated by unreliable characters, leaving further questions on whether or not the Lawyer was genuinely trying to help Bartleby when he showed signs of depression or if the one-sided story of Captain Delano truly portrayed the slaves and their motives for taking over Cereno’s San Dominick. In each of Melville’s short stories, there is an obvious grayness about each tale, the plots of both stories start out slow and unsuspicious, but are then revealed through a dynamic change in events, and each novella has ultimate realities that are hidden through appearances. Together, “Bartleby the Scrivener” and “Benito Cereno” are stories that possess a deep meaning within them which is intended to make the reader question the definition of human nature.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Novel And Film Extracts Of Bram Stoker's Dracula

    1505 Words  | 4 Pages

    The change from differing mediums, novel and film, reveal characteristics and possibilities of narratives. Through the advancement of technology, modern writers

    Read More

  • Slow Suicide in Melville´s Moby Dick

    1433 Words  | 3 Pages

    As man is bound to his subjective perception, inhibited from comprehending the essence of things, he is forced to apply personal, extraneous meaning to them or find himself devoid of it altogether. Loftiness of such application is the nature of romanticism, and such is the nature of Melville’s Moby Dick. The sea becomes vogue, limbo for the reticent felo-de-se; the untraversed, the nebulous, even the numinous. The Pequod assumes the role of a nation of men—30 men for 30 states is explicit enough—doomed by the mad will of him in power. The Whale either becomes God, myth, the embodiment of evil, or all of the above, depending on which character’s perception is to be taken. Indeed, Moby Dick contains myriad instances of such applied meaning, but the focus of this paper will be that of three of the most prominent: that of the sea, that of whiteness, and that of Moby Dick.

    Read More

More about Compare And Contrast Bartleby The Scrivener

Open Document