Bartleby Character Analysis Essay

A Character Sketch of Bartleby and the Narrator Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story Of Wall-street by Herman Melville produces an entertaining stand-of between Bartleby and a Lawyer, who also, plays the roll of narrator. Their unique character produces an on going conflict when they are brought together in a tiny office one Wall Street. Melville, at the beginning of the story, carefully describes each character presented in the story. He does this to highlight the personalities of the two main characters. Lets examine the characteristic of the Lawyer and Bartleby, who are the main characters of the story. At the beginning of the short story the Lawyer describes himself as “a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best” (153). Melville, almost immediately foreshadows the lawyers persona. His preference for simplicity can be seen at several different points in the story. Ironically, although he claims to be a very simply man, he ends up hiring very complex employees. On several occasions he describes their behaviors as

However, this wasn’t this case with our narrator. He was consistently denied his privileges of being an employer, without taking the necessary steps to ensure that his position is not challenged. All things consider, our narrator is far from a weak leader. In his attempt to accurately judge Bartleby he decides to “put certain calm question to him…touching his history”, suggesting that our narrator is very thoughtful and sympathetic of the people around him. Another interesting …….that gave reader a look into the narrator’s character, was the unusual issuing of nick names in a working environment. Nippers, Ginger Nut and Turkey were more than just aliases; they represented the work-place culture that they had created, mean while further emphasizing the narrator’s easygoing