Wednesday, May 6, 2020
The Struggle for Power and Control Between Bartleby and...
The Struggle for Power and Control between Bartleby and the Lawyer In Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street â€Å"Imprimis: I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is best†- Melville Melville intends something less black and white with more gray shading. Melville uses dramatic irony and grim humor in â€Å"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†¦show more content†¦But no.†(p. 4). The lawyer felt it had detrimental consequences on Turkey. He was awed that a coat made Turkey behave above his station in life and he doesn’t help Turkey again. The Lawyer reacts in an uncustomary way toward Bartleby response of â€Å"I would prefer not to†(p.6) do the work that is required of him. â€Å"With another man I should have flown outright into a dreadful fashion, scorned all further words, and thrust him ignominiously from my presence †¦ (p.7) so the Lawyer admits to not following his normal reaction to someone being insolent and Bartleby’s behavior of calm demeanor confuses and shakes the Lawyer to his core. He tries to regain power and â€Å"I begin to reason with him†(p.7) similarly like with Turkey but he gets no where with Bartleby. â€Å"You decided, then, not to comply with my request- a request made according to common usage and common sense?†(p.7) This is the beginning of many power struggles that Bartleby and Lawyer has and the Lawyer will lose. The Lawyer continues to try to maintain control over Bartleby and his perplexing behaviors. He uses the other employees which the Lawyer assumes are of Bartleby’s intellectual level to persuade him to fulfill his request. â€Å"Blind obedience from all employees is presumed; but in Bartleby’s special case a reasonableShow MoreRelated Comparing Power in Cask of Amontillado, Rappaccinis Daughter, and Bartleby844 Words  | 4 PagesPower in Poes Cask of Amontillado, Hawthornes Rappaccinis Daughter, Melvilles Bartleby the Scrivener, Phelps Angel over the Right Shoulder and Childs The Quadroon In Poes The Cask of Amontillado Montressor seeks his revenge (for an imagined offense) on Fortunado. He manipulates Fortunado into beliving that he is a friend and that they are going through the crypt. He uses Fortunados weak point --his love of alcohol-- against him. He creates the illusion of concern by insisting thatRead MoreBartleby, The Scrivener : A Story Of Wall Street1407 Words  | 6 Pagescasts a spot light on social awareness versus self- independence and nonconformity. 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During the early 1800s, America struggled with the search for identity and the shiftRead More Many Views of Melvilles Bartelby The Scrivener Essay2380 Words  | 10 Pagesthe Scrivener, he writes:                â€Å"I believe that the character of Bartelby is a psychological                double for the story’s nameless lawyer-narrator, and that                the story’s criticism of a sterile and impersonal society can best be clarified by investigation of this role.†- â€Å"Bartelby appears to be the lawyer chiefly to remind him of the inadequacies, the sterile routine, of his world.†                                   (College English, pg. 68)      Marcus
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