Eric Santangelo Hawthorne and Melville In both works, “Bartleby the Scrivener” and The Scarlet Letter, Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne show the unbridgeable gap between human desires and human possibilities and the mixture of good and evil in even the loftiest of human motives. In “Bartleby the Scrivener” by Herman Melville, this idea is shown by how the Lawyer keeps Bartleby as one of his employers, even though Bartleby does not deserve to still be working. In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, this idea is shown through Hester and Dimmesdale’s relationship and also through the contrast between the Forest and Town. In “Bartleby the Scrivener” the Lawyer’s actions, or lack there of, display the unbridgeable gap …show more content…
The Forest is seen as a frontier, where anything can happen and anything can exist whether it’s good, freedom, individualism, or even evil. The town, however, is a civilized place where one must follow orders and laws, and a place where human Desires normally do not prosper. The town resembles the evil and the human possibilities meaning that Hester and Dimmesdale’s possibility of being together in the town is not very promising due to how strict and evil that place can be. Hester and Dimmesdale’s human desires however lead them to the forest where anything can exist including their desires to be together. “Thus they went onward, not boldly but step by step, into the themes that were brooding deepest in their hearts. So long estranged by fate and circumstances, they needed something slight and causal to run before, and throw open the doors of intercourse, so that their real thoughts might be led across the threshold”(Hawthorne 163). This statement reveals the nature of the meeting between Dimmesdale and Hester in the forest, and all the emotions that they have kept locked inside their hearts. They both know that this meeting could have only occurred in the Forest because their desires cannot be fulfilled in the Town. Both Hawthorne and Melville show the unbridgeable gap between human desires and human possibilities and the mixture of good and evil in even the loftiest of human motives. In “Bartleby the Scrivener”,
In The Scarlet Letter Hypocrisy is evident everywhere. The characters of Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the very society that the characters lived in, were steeped in hypocrisy. Hawthorne was not subtle in his portrayal of the terrible sin of hypocrisy; he made sure it was easy to see the sin at work , at the same time however, parallels can be drawn between the characters of The Scarlet Letter and of today’s society.
Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the greatest American authors of the nineteenth century. He published his first novel Fanshawe, in 1828. However, he is widely known for his novels The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables. His novel, The Scarlet Letter, can be analyzed from historical, psychological and feminist critical perspectives by examining his life from the past, as well as his reflections while writing The Scarlet Letter. In order to understand the book properly, it’s necessary to use these three perspectives.
In “Bartleby, the Scrivener” the author, Herman Melville, uses indirect references to hint to many historical, literary, and biblical events. “Bartleby, the Scrivener” contains many allusions about important events that help connect this fictional story to actual events in Melville’s time period, before, and beyond. Melville uses allusions frequently throughout “Bartleby, the Scrivener” to help build connections with the real world and the fictitious world of this short story.
Throughout the novel, it is clear that Hester has deep feelings for Dimmesdale. In the beginning of the novel, she refuses to name him as the father of her child, choosing to endure her punishment and alienation from society alone. She spends the next seven years yearning for him. Chapter five even states that Hester stayed in Boston because, “there dwelt, there trode the feet of one with whom she deemed herself connected in a union, that, unrecognized on earth, would bring them together before the bar of final judgment, and make that their marriage-altar, for a join futurity of endless retribution,” (Hawthorne 77). This quote simply states that Hester, while refusing to admit it to herself, chose to stay in New England because Dimmesdale was
In the beginning of “Bartleby, The Scrivener” the narrator is “an eminently safe man” (1) because of his insipidness and weakness. His weakness stems from his perspective that “the easiest way of life is the best,” (1) and as a result of this he chooses to have no confrontation or hardship in his life. The narrator is a lawyer that does not appear in court, but rather a lawyer who contracts mortgages and deals with bonds. His lack of social experience and vigor renders him defenseless against Bartleby, his newly hired employee. The narrator is the polar opposite of Bartleby because Bartleby speaks his mind and doesn’t do what he is told. Throughout the beginning of his relationship with Bartleby, the narrator isn’t able to confront Bartleby, when he doesn’t do his work, and instead turns his feelings of scorn into sympathy. The narrator is very interested by Bartleby because he has never experienced or interacted with someone who has defied him before. He isn’t upset by Bartleby because
In both “Bartleby the Scrivener” and “Young Goodman Brown”, we find themes and characteristics of “Dark Romanticism”. They represent characters who do not completely know what the most right thing to do is. But what both these works do is create an urge in the reader to wish for perfection. These two stories are more like bridges to transcendentalism. Even though the dark romanticism period in the New England led by Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville and Emily Dickinson did not fully embrace transcendentalism, these two stories particularly leave the reader wanting and pondering more. The human mind works in a complex way and it has to be prepared for certain things to emerge. These two stories serve as a mirror that will help us to look within us for something more divine, that will help us find a greater understanding of what we ought to do.
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe were extremely successful gothic or dark romantic authors of the 19th century. The two authors wrote a plethora of short stories that strayed from the rationalist styles of the 18th century and paved the way for other dark romantic authors. Romanticism focuses on emotions and nature while rationalism focuses on logic and reasoning. Hawthorne and Poe display the darker side of human nature throughout all of their works. Three especially good examples of this particular style are Hawthorne’s “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” as well as Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat.”
In the short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” which was written by Herman Melville, the character named Bartleby is a very odd, yet interesting individual. In the story, Bartleby is introduced when he responds to a job opening at the narrator’s office. Although there is no background information given about him, it becomes very apparent that he will be the antagonist in this story. Unlike the usual image put on the antagonist, Bartleby causes conflict with a very quiet and calm temperament. This character’s attitude, along with the fact that he is a flat and static character, makes him a very unique antagonist, and this fact is shown through the way other characters approach and deal with his conflict.
In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, The Scrivener,” Melville uses a range of devices in his writing that makes his style distinguishable. Although he only focuses on one major setting throughout the story, he uses it symbolically to demonstrate a developing theme. The uncommon comparisons he uses to describe the characters provides the reader with interesting imagery to interpret. The narration that he deliberately places throughout the story allows the reader to follow the narrator’s thoughts as they come. Melville’s writing style is distinguished by his limited but symbolic setting, unique comparisons that contribute to characterization, and frequent narration.
In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” the narrator grows in moral character by showing compassion towards Bartleby and leaving pragmatism and utilitarianism behind. Before Bartleby is hired, the narrator is a compassionate character limited by Wall Street practicality, yet through Bartleby, the narrator begins to embrace his true compassionate spirit by disregarding the pragmatic and learning how to genuinely love another human being. The narrator’s utilitarian concern began early on in his life. He is “…a man who…has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best” (1103).
Nathaniel Hawthorne, a well-know Dark Romantic, employs the issues prevalent in Dark Romanticism in his novel The Scarlet Letter. These include the concepts of: guilt and sin, good and evil, and madness in the human psyche. Guilt and sin are heavily addressed in the novel, focusing on Hester’s outward versus Dimmesdale’s hidden guilt, and the sins committed by the adulterous couple and the revenge-driven Roger Chillingworth. The idea of what good and evil are is questioned in the novel. For example, the reader is led to question if Hester was right in not revealing Dimmesdale, and in turn if both Dimmesdale and Chillingworth were
The settings in which Dimmesdale’s public and private lives are set are distinguished. The scaffold is considered the public setting in the novel; not only is this where Hester was humiliated in front of the community, but it is also where Dimmesdale makes his final plea for the townspeople takes place. Generally, the forest is where the private conversations occur; it is where Hester and Dimmesdale talked to each other in privacy for the first time since their affair and where their sinning happened.
Why, you can hardly walk without tripping over one commandment or another. Come to me, and be masterless” (Hawthorne 186). Truly, Hester takes advantage of this, as soon as Arthur Dimmesdale appears. She openly talks with Dimmesdale about unmentionable subjects which seem inappropriate in any place other than the forest: “What we did...had a consecration of its own. We felt it so! We said to each other” (Hawthorne 194)! This exclamation shocks Dimmesdale. He tells Hester to stop and quiet down, but he eventually realizes that he is in an environment where he can express his emotions. The thought of Hester and Dimmesdale in an intimate conversation in the confines of the society in which they live is incomprehensible. Yet here, in the forest, they throw away all reluctance and act as themselves under the umbrella of security which exists there in the forest.
The forest itself is the very embodiment of freedom. Nobody watches in the woods to report misbehavior, so it is here that people may do as they wish. It is here that many of the pivotal characters bring forth hidden thoughts and emotions. It is here that Dimmesdale openly acknowledges Hester and his undying love for her. The thought of Hester and Dimmesdale having an intimate conversation in the confines of the society in which they live is incomprehensible. Yet here, in the forest, they can throw away all reluctance and finally be themselves under the umbrella of security the wilderness provides.
In the 19th century, a new ideology called Romanticism emerged, pushing back against strict conformist beliefs and relying on nature, individualism, and emotion. Many writings from this time period are still being discussed because of their relatability to modern societal problems. Of the many Romantic writers, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville effectively explain the negative effects of society on individuals. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne narrates a Romantic story of a young woman in the Puritan Era who is convicted of adultery and has to face being a social outcast. On the other hand, in “Bartleby, the Scrivener” Herman Melville examines the story of Bartleby, a copyist who mysteriously refuses to work and is, therefore, put in jail. Both Hawthorne and Melville use the characterization of Hester Prynne and Bartleby as nonconformists to critique the effect society’s evils have on the Romantic ideal of individualism in order to remind their readers that despite the human inclination to conform to one’s society, self-reliance is more important than the status quo to support progress for humanity.