Bartleby And The Lawyer example essay topic

In Herman Melville's life he had much concern with the imposing roles of faith and death. Through his younger years and into his old age, his morbid concerns passionately grew into an obsession. Much of his toiling energy was put into a short story "Bartleby the Scrivener". It is a deep examination into the questions and doubts of life's purpose, asking whether it is filled with meaningless vanity or worthy destination. "Bartleby" dramatizes the conflict of two radically different spiritual personalities that battle out the concepts of faith and death. It was not written as an explanatory resolve to religion and faith, but an essay of the struggling search for an ultimate peace of mind.

The acceptance of a certain religion was something that Herman Melville had not found for himself. A good friend of his, Nathaniel Hawthorne stated "Melville, as he always does, began to reason of Providence and futurity, and of everything that lies beyond human ken, and informed me that he had "pretty much made up his mind to be annihilated": but still does not seem to rest in that anticipation: and I think will never rest until he gets hold of a definite belief. It is strange how he persists -- and has persisted ever since I knew him... ". (Ashton 4). Hawthorne recorded this notebook entry in 1856.

Evidently, this was only three years after "Bartleby" was written, signifying Melville's mind-set at the time. Within the story of "Bartleby the Scrivener" it is obvious that Melville had a profound questioning of a proper faith and it's role in life. He incessantly bounced between the acceptance of life's religious notions and death's scientific temperament. The polarized relationship of these concepts is expressed through the two main characters, Bartleby and the lawyer. To better know these characters, it is most useful to first explore them individually and separately. As a reader, you are immediately introduced to the main character of the story whom is the narrating lawyer.

He is drawn to disclose a memorable account in his professional career. The first line of the lawyer's story "I am a rather elderly man" (1114) gives much resemblance to Melville's profile. At the age of 34, Melville considered himself to be closer and closer to death giving the lawyer a somewhat similar voice. Melville had reached a point where he expected a life filled with prestige and literary recognition. "Moby Dick did not receive the recognition that is so deserved, this fueled Herman as an industrious, persevering writer" (Arvin 54), his wife commented on the affects of his hard work and reputation. These concerns were shared with the the main character, the lawyer, who wanted to be regarded as sophisticated and respected.

"I am a man who from his youth upward, has been filled with the profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best" (1114-5), the lawyer explains his need for professional esteem. Just as Melville did, he worked extremely hard at his vocation and sought a time of personal stability. A time where life's experiences would give forth satisfying answers and life's labors would shower with rewards. The lawyer did not feel quite fulfilled in these areas and searched for answers to deep religious confusion. After meeting Bartleby, the lawyer grows even more uncertain of life's purpose. Bartleby's unconventional lifestyle is at first detested and shunned by the lawyer, thinking it to be abnormal and unhealthy.

Because of his compassion and generous charity towards Bartleby it inadvertently creates a bond between them. The lawyer's perspective takes on cathartic evolvement leading to new-found questions. Instead of him asking why Bartleby lives so differently from everyone else, he begins to wonder what others might be ignorance of in their own lives. Are they living in meaningless vanity and Bartleby is beyond such petty exertion? This influences the lawyer to look into philosophical essays, "I looked a little into 'Edwards on the Will' and 'Priestley on Necessity' " (1133).

Similar to Melville, the lawyer begins his own personal conquest into the religious frontier. Throughout his relationship with Bartleby it stimulates much emotional and spiritual growth. There is no clearly defined point of revelation for the lawyer, for much of it is gradual development. Although, at one point in the story, it reaches a symbolic climax of devastating reality for him when "Yes, thought I, it is evident enough that Bartleby has been making his home here, in this bachelor's hall all by himself. Immediately then the thought came sweeping across me, what a miserable friendlessness and loneliness revealed!" (1126). The lawyer passes his Wall Street building on a beautiful afternoon to find Bartleby surrounded in solitude and poverty, living in the confines of a locked office.

This did not only offer the tremendous flood of desolation and melancholy, but symbolized the abandonment of church on a Sunday day. Most people in the working-class, industrial society, would be found with family and friends honoring the sabbath day of resting and praying. The lawyer feels as if he received a sign from a higher power that it his "Providence" in which Bartleby was sent to him. Bartleby's character is detailed and formed through the lawyer's narrative, leaving him in a distant place only for observation. In the beginning of the story the lawyer introduces Bartleby's character as being quite peculiar and eccentric, then later describes him as "sadly deranged".

The story shows Bartleby's gradual regression and decline from humanity. He was so painfully blatant with his retirement from hope and life, without a flinching moment of consideration. Bartleby's stubbornness and persistence for purpose is shared with Melville himself. For, Herman Melville was questioned and ostracized many times for his controversial lifestyle and religious perspective. "I told him that the recluse life he was leading made his city friends think that he is insane -- Mr. Morewood still dislikes many of Mr. Herman's [Melville] irreverent language and religious views". (Ashton 6) Sarah Morewood, a neighbor of his shared her observations.

The need for stability and a stationary environment was also very crucial to Bartleby as he stared into "the dead wall reveries". For days on end, without a view or passing cloud, he would blankly and morosely look into the bricks outside his window. This symbolically represented time standing still, days and seasons never changing, an escape from the impending presence of death. It had struck him so profoundly, Bartleby ultimately knew that his time would end, and death would arrive as simply as tomorrow's sun. Life's fleeting personality had been shown to him in other areas of his experience. In the rumored "Dead Letter Office" it was believed that he had been stationed there to burn the lost letters to ashes.

"Pardon for those who died despairing; hope for those who died un hoping; good tidings for those who died stifled by unrelieved calamities". (1140) All these letters that held affections, plans, stories, memories, love, hopes, dreams were destroyed by the inevitable mishaps and interferences that could not be controlled. In a sense, Bartleby saw himself as a potential "dead letter", he realized the possibility that all his dreams and destinations could be taken away in a swift moment of tragedy. He was surrounded by the disposable reality of life. As a subordinate clerk at the "Dead Letter Office" he is suddenly removed and relocated giving him reason to strive for stability. He then becomes a scrivener who is present to perform inane tasks, another duty where he could be easily replaced.

After Bartleby clearly recognizes the sorrowful pattern in society and life's tendencies, he starts on an unstoppable decline to his own death. As sadly and depressing as he lived, he died in the same manner. He was found facing the cold brick wall in a curled fetal position on the ground. Bartleby died just like a dead letter "without protest or hope". Melville's two main characters are illustrated with such distinction and individuality.

As a pair, they compliment and challenge each other's spiritual personalities. Melville brilliantly placed these literary foils side by side. They share the close spatial quarters while living very distant lives. Because of this setting, the reader is obliged to notice the conspicuous contrasts that they emit.

The lawyer, as the top authority, engages openly with his co-workers. He probes into their personalities and searches for social interaction. Many times the lawyer asks where Bartleby is from, if he has family, and what he enjoys doing. All of these questions fall into the peripheral triviality for Bartleby as he responds with "I would prefer not to answer". Bartleby avoids and denies any personal disclosure and constantly leaves the lawyer in unsatisfied inquiry. It creates a vast partition between Bartleby and the humanistic qualities that most people posses.

In the office he sat behind the folded screen which symbolically separates him from the rest of human kind. Unlike the lawyer, whom is concerned with social etiquette, professional reputation, and outstanding citizenship, Bartleby could care less for these imposing afflictions. He is completely unaffected by what others may perceive of him, and does not try to achieve any human affections. This seems very bazaar and foreign to the lawyer, as he strives earnestly for public approval. Another defined contrast between these characters is their ability to change and give in to a situation. The lawyer begins by offering Bartleby a job, which leads to offering a place in his own home.

It escalates from a small matter of charity to a relentless imposition on the lawyer. This is all due to his exaggerated willingness to continue giving and giving even if it jeopardizes his career and livelihood. On the other hand, Bartleby has an extreme limit of change and willingness. He refuses to carry out ordinary tasks at work, and absolutely rejects leaving after being fired. The characters' different degrees of transformation amount to more than physical contributions. There is a much deeper meaning lying within their limitations.

Bartleby has come to the concise decision that death carries life's only importance. At some point in the story, he accepts this reality and concludes that he will receive nothing more and nothing less. Because of Bartleby's such dismal persona, it affects the lawyer by creating some of his own personal revelations. After meeting Bartleby, he also begins to delve into the meaning of life and faith. The lawyer does not want to let death's unavoidable grip take him captive, as with Bartleby.

He wants to gain a more fulfilling and gratifying understanding of life. In "Bartleby the Scrivener", it masterfully portrays Herman Melville's feelings on death's inevitable nature and religion's elusive presence. By using the contrasting characters symbolically, he shows the capacity of two polar concepts struggling to find a state of harmony. For Melville, he often battled whether to accept the vanity of life or the spiritual reward of religion.

At the particular time he wrote this, he was so consumed by the presence of death and lacked the true religious faith to transcend it. In many ways you can see his resemblance to both characters. Melville was much like Bartleby in his morbid state of mind, overly affected by the unforgiving doom of death. Conversely, he had personal characteristics that could deeply relate to the lawyer. Melville still possessed the ability to change and was searching for an illuminating piece of hope. Without such probing and philosophical wonder, Melville would not have written such a realistically painful and he artful story concerning human nature.

Bibliography

Arvin, Newton. Herman Melville. New York: Grove Press, 1950.
Ashton, Fred. "The Life and Works of Herman Melville". Concerning Herman Melville. 4 (2000): 4.
14 October 2003.