Character Analysis of Bartleby in Melville's Short Story

Introduction

Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" is now considered one of the most important short stories in American literature. Although it did not receive the best reviews when it was first published in the 1850s, the complexity of its writing and the richness of its themes have since established it as one of the most interesting and revealing literary works of its era. The main character, Bartleby, is the central focus of the story and the element that lends the piece much of its complexity.

Introducing Bartleby Through Comparative Characterization

One of the most interesting aspects of the short story is the character of Bartleby, whom the narrator introduces from the very beginning as the subject of his account. The narrator explains: "I waive the biographies of all other scriveners for a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a scrivener the strangest I ever saw or heard of. While of other law-copyists I might write the complete life, of Bartleby nothing of that sort can be done. I believe that no materials exist for a full and satisfactory biography of this man. It is an irreparable loss to literature. Bartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from the original sources, and in his case those are very small. What my own astonished eyes saw of Bartleby, that is all I know of him, except, indeed, one vague report, which will appear in the sequel" (Melville). The narrator thus places Bartleby at the center of the story, and the entire narration follows in the form of a characterization of him. By tracing Bartleby's actions from his first day of work through to his eventual death, Melville achieves a complex and layered portrait of the role Bartleby plays.

The chief character is anticipated from the very opening, even if he is not fully introduced at first. The narrator's decision to provide background on his own business and his three other employees effectively sets the stage for Bartleby's entrance. The narrator builds up details about the other characters — including assumptions about their working habits — in order to subsequently reveal Bartleby's own qualities and shortcomings by comparison.