Melville:
Modern Message From a Romantic Age
Marley Eder
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thesis
Melville’s
upbringing during the Panic of 1819 which led him to become a failed scrivener
and a sailor, his pessimistic reaction against the transcendentalist movement
that later classified him as an anti- transcendentalist, his study of the works
of Shakespeare, Rousseau and other philosophers that focused on mankind’s
actions, and his powerful spiritual longings led him to write Bartleby the
Scrivener and Billy Budd, Sailor, which continue to impact literature,
philosophy, art, and pop culture over a century after his death.
I.
Introduction and
Thesis
II.
Biography and
Shaping Forces of Herman Melville
A.
Upbringing and
Sailing: post-war depression, failed scrivener, sailor
B.
Anti-Transcendentalism:
Emerson, pessimistic views of man kind,
C.
Literary
Contributions: Shakespeare, Rousseau,
Cole, Bible
D.
Religion: against organized religion, perfection of
religion.
III.
Arguments and
rhetorical analysis of Bartleby and Billy Budd
A.
In these two
works, Melville argues that the industrial revolution dehumanizes mankind, and
that the need by those in power to protect the status quo overcomes blindingly
pure morality.
B.
Bartleby the
Scrivener: A Tale of Wall Street
1.
Narrator-
litotes, anaphora, conformity to society.
2.
Religion-
religious allegory
3.
Parallelism/Imagery
C.
Billy Budd,
Sailor
1.
Titles of People
and Ships- Allegory.
2.
Biblical
references
3.
Manipulation of
Truth
IV.
Influences
Melville has on Society
A.
Influence on 20th
Century Literature:
B.
Anti-
Transcendentalist
C.
Melville’s impact
on the arts.
D.
Moby Dick and pop culture
V.
Conclusion
VI.
Works Cited
VII.
Annotated
Bibliography
Herman
Melville: Modern Message From a Romantic Age
Herman Melville plumbed the depths of the human soul through writing, earning him a reputation as one of the most celebrated authors of American literature. Melville’s upbringing which led him to become a failed scrivener and a sailor, his pessimistic reaction against the transcendentalist movement that later classified him as an anti-transcendentalist, his study of the works of Shakespeare, Rousseau and other philosophers that focused on mankind’s actions, and his powerful spiritual longings led him to write Bartleby, the Scrivener and Billy Budd, Sailor, which continue to impact literature, philosophy, art, and pop culture over a century after his death.
“I
stand for the heart. To the dogs with the head! I had rather be a fool with a
heart, than Jupiter
-Herman Melville 1851 (Melville).
Herman Melville’s upbringing in a
home of adversity during the Panic of 1819 led him to several occupations that
later served as settings for Bartleby, the Scrivener and Billy Budd,
Sailor (Howard 1). His father was a well-to-do importer
whose business was severely damaged by the scarcity of foreign exchange during
due to his sloppy handwriting] to become a scrivener (Howard 2). His short term at being a scrivener gave him insight into the life of a career scrivener and the evils of the capitalist social pyramid, which became the inspiration for Bartleby, the Scrivener. Inspired by the tales told him of the sea, he joined the ship Acushnet as a deck hand. After three years on the high seas, his family persuaded him to write down his adventures, which began his career as an author (Padilla 1-2).
Some time after Melville began writing, his personal philosophies that would later be classified as anti-transcendentalist, were awakened by a lecture given by Ralph Waldo Emerson (Wenke 14). While Melville understood this great pedagogue’s words, he harbored serious doubts concerning Emerson’s inherent optimism about mankind. Melville shows his colors as he states, “And never will the puller-downs be able to cope with the builders-up…This pulling down is easy enough--a keg of powder blew up Block’s monument—but the man who applied the match could not, alone, build such a pile to save his soul from the maw of the Devil” (Williams 47-48). This quote shows how Melville believes that the evils of mankind will triumph over the good because they cannot live together and it is easier to be selfish and duplicitous as opposed to morally honest. Although Melville despised transcendental optimism, he and Emerson actually had similar feelings on tradition and industrialism. His fierce dislike of the cruel effects of the capitalist system and its dehumanizing effects on the normal worker was the primary argument in Bartleby, the Scrivener.
Soon after meeting Emerson,
Melville met Nathaniel Hawthorne at a dinner party, and Hawthorne, a fellow
anti-transcendentalist, greatly inspired Melville and helped him define his
pessimistic philosophies through hours of conversation (Howard
6). Melville purchased a farm less than a mile away from
After Melville’s introduction to Emerson
and Hawthorne, he took an interest in writers and artists who were fascinated
with the workings of the human mind and how it motivates people’s actions (Rollyson 42). Melville’s endeavors in this field brought
him to writers and philosophers like Thomas de Quincy, Mary Wollstonecraft
Shelley, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Jean- Jacques Rousseau, James Boswell, and
William Shakespeare. Rollyson, in his book Melville A to Z, states,
“[F]rom Shakespeare, Melville imbibes a passionate love of literature,
and…[from] Rousseau’s book Confessions, an infatuation with the author’s
ability to delve into the uniqueness of his own personality” (181, 185). Painter Thomas Cole was perhaps one of
Melville’s most overlooked influences. The combination of history and allegory
which Cole incorporated into his stunning works of art echoed in Melville’s
writings (Rollyson 42). For instance, in Billy Budd
,Sailor, Cole’s influence is seen in Melville’s choice of setting. Melville
sets his story right after the Great Mutinies at
Despite all of the inspiration garnered from such powerful literary and artistic influences, Nathalia Wright in her dissertation on Melville states that, “Melville’s profound grasp of good and evil would have been less rich had he not poured over the Bible from an early age” (Walsh 138). According to Wright, “The Bible to Melville was a source of style, themes, situations, and character types as well as a basic statement of human and cosmic dilemmas… [although] the Bible as theology had… no appeal to him” (Walsh 138). In Bartleby, the lawyer and Bartleby’s relationship parallels Cain and Abel’s relationship Billy Budd is a religious figure whose purity and innocence are Christ-like, as is his sacrificial death (Smith 2).
“Truth is the silliest
thing under the sun. Try to get a living by the Truth—and go to the Soup
Societies.”
-Herman Melville 1851 (Melville)
In his books Bartleby, the Scrivener and Billy Budd, Sailor, Melville marshals and brings together his upbringing, philosophical beliefs, unique influences, and spiritual longings to create two pieces that present some of his most famous messages. In Bartleby, Melville attacks the dehumanizing effects of the Industrial Revolution and the selfish greed and social ignorance displayed by the leaders in a capitalistic society. In Billy Budd, Melville presents the infringement on natural rights in war, and how in our society, the need by those in power to protect the status quo supercedes morality, represented by the sailor Billy Budd.
In order to comprehend Bartleby, the Scrivener, one must understand its narrator, the lawyer. Gupta, in his article on Bartleby, says, “The unnamed narrator of Bartleby is an apostle of reason. His outlook on life is clear, unambiguous, and uncluttered by mysticism or imagination” (1). Throughout the book, the lawyer tries to help Bartleby only through reasonable means. He ultimately fails because this is not what Bartleby needs. Gupta says in his article on Bartleby, “Melville clearly suggests what [is] confirmed by modern psychology: that men are not primarily creatures of reason, but are controlled by dimly perceived instinctual drives and obscure impulsions, and this being so, one needs much more than reason and common sense to deal with human problems” (2).
The lawyer’s diction mirrors his mildly witty, yet analytical tone, using litotes like, “the interval between this wall and mine not a little resembles a huge square cistern” (Bartleby 857) and anastrophe like, “Good-by Bartleby, and fare you well” (Bartleby 870). These rhetorical devices make the lawyer appear to be light hearted, a favorable trait in the business world, although the careful reader sees through it. He is actually a troubled soul who does not understand Bartleby’s place in his, the lawyer’s, life, much less the world at large.
Throughout the story, the lawyer is attempting to carry out the Christian tenants of loving thy neighbor, bestowing love with compassion, and helping those in need through acts of charity (Dilworth 5). Unfortunately, the lawyer is only able to help Bartleby by offering him physical materials, and not the elixir of the soul Bartleby so desperately needs. Melville uses religious allegories such as, “…for a few minutes I was turned into a pillar of salt” (Bartleby 862), the comparison between he and Bartleby being like the, “…sons of Adam” (Bartleby 867), implying the story of Cain and Abel, and the parallel between the three denials of Jesus and the lawyer’s three denials of not knowing or having anything to do with Bartleby (Dilworth 7). With regard to the lawyer’s religious values, a part of his guilt is derived from the fact that although he offers charity to Bartleby, he realizes not only that he fails at this, but also that he does not love Bartleby (Dilworth 8). The lawyer’s lack of honesty concerning love is exemplified when he says, “I can purchase a delicious self- approval. To befriend Bartleby, to humor him in his strange willfulness, will cost me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscience” (Bartleby 863-64).
In the last two sentences of the story, Melville presents us with two of his main themes, the dehumanization of mankind due to the Industrial Revolution and mankind’s involuntary need to conform. The lawyer explains how Bartleby worked in a dead letter office and proclaims, “Dead letters! Does it not sound like dead men?” and then he utters the famous ending, “Ah Bartleby! Ah Humanity” (Bartleby 879)! While Melville’s use of parallelism betrays that the demise of Bartleby is the demise of humanity, this revelation on the part of the lawyer reveals an even deeper argument. The lawyer has realized the effects of the Industrial Revolution on
humanity, and yet he still idolizes the late John Jacob Astor, a man whose fortune was made on the backs of the working man. He says, “John Jacob Astor, a name I like to repeat; for it hath a rounded orbital sound to it” (Bartleby 856). By worshipping Astor, the lawyer either doesn’t comprehend why Bartleby died or doesn’t care, because Astor is the embodiment of the evils of the capitalist system. Melville’s next theme is best exhibited in the scene where the lawyer changes his thinking about Bartleby staying in his office, never doing any work. The lawyer reflects, “I believe that this wise and blessed frame of mind would have continued with me, had it not been for the unsolicited and uncharitable remarks obtruded upon me by professional friends who visited the room” (Bartleby 873). This shows the reader that the lawyer conformed to the views of his professional friends instead of staying true to his own personal, “wise and blessed frame of mind” (Bartleby 873).
In Bartleby, Melville’s use of imagery is found throughout the story, painting vivid pictures in the reader’s mind as well as presenting his deeper meanings. For instance, when the lawyer visits Bartleby in jail, “I found him there standing all alone in the quietest of the yards, his face towards a high wall, while all around, from the narrow slits of the jail windows, I thought I saw peering out from him the eyes of murderers and thieves. ‘Bartleby!’ ‘I know you…’” (Bartleby 878). This haunting description on Melville’s part not only exhibits his use of imagery and metaphor, but also represents an example of Melville’s attack against the Industrial Revolution. Melville’s argues against the dehumanization of mankind when Bartleby sees “the eyes of murderers and thieves,” in other words, the lawyer and all other participants in our capitalistic society. Earlier in the story, Bartleby stops copying documents and stands in a reverie staring through a window at the brick wall just outside his workstation. The wall represents one’s potential for a fulfilling life, and Melville compares the lawyer’s office, (i.e., Wall Street) to prison when Bartleby has a similar reverie when the lawyer visits him in jail.
Like Bartleby, Billy Budd, Sailor is one of Melville’s most respected pieces. In Billy Budd:
the story details the tragic experience of a handsome and lovable but naïve young sailor aboard the British warship the Indomitable who, when falsely accused of conspiring mutiny by the inanely evil master-at-arms, Claggart, impulsively strikes his accuser and kills him when he couldn’t defend himself verbally due to his only flaw: the inability to speak under pressure. This dire though unintended offense against naval discipline instantly requires a trial for murder, as the result of which the unfortunate hero – while openly pitied by the court-marshal officers who recognize the perfect innocence of his motives – is condemned to death by hanging. (Hillway 139)
The names of Melville’s characters and ships hint at a parable of juxtaposed and conflicting forces. The ship the Bellipotent (meaning power of war) runs along side the Rights-of-Man, and takes from it the most valuable sailor it has ever seen, Billy Budd. The name Budd implies innocence, youth, and a fresh beginning as in a flower bud, and the name Vere [as in Captain Vere] is Latin for truth (Smith 1). Also, the ship the Athéiste, in French means atheist (Smith 1). Knowing the meaning behind these names, the reader can now see another argument being presented by Melville in this novel: war infringes on the rights of man, and atheism loses in the war waged against it by Christianity, but takes a great toll and destroys truth.
Melville uses countless religious analogies in this book because his audience can easily relate to the morally black and white stories in the Bible. For example, “Billy in many respects was little more than a sort of upright barbarian, much such perhaps as Adam presumably might have been ere the urbane Serpent wriggled himself into his company” (Billy Budd 901). In addition to using religious allegory to capture the holiness of Billy, Melville describes the ideal of humanity, the pure Adam, as a barbarian while the snake, author of Original Sin, is depicted as urbane, referring to the sophistication and suavity of the upper classes in capitalism.
Melville presents the gross mutation of truth as it passes from mouth to mouth, especially by those whose job it is, ironically, to present the truth, such as people in the media. Melville writes:
The account [an article in a newspaper] read as follows: John Claggart, the ship’s master-at-arms, discovering that some sort of plot was incipient among an inferior section of the ship’s company, and that the ring leader was one William Budd; he, Claggart, in the act of arraigning the man before the captain, was vindictively stabbed to the heart by the suddenly drawn sheath knife of Budd. (Billy Budd 946)
This is actually the opposite of what happened. Melville is attacking the media for its willingness to create a story both popular with the public and supporting those in power, instead of the truth.
Smith, in her overview of Billy Budd, argues that, “…perhaps the most significant symbol [in Billy Budd} is speech, a paramount achievement of civilized man” (Smith 2). Vere uses it to win the affection of his crew, including Budd, and to successfully command his ship (Smith 2). Billy Budd’s stuttering, his inability to use speech under duress, condemns him to death. Even though his heart is pure, his actions indict him.
“The calm, the
coolness, the silent grass-growing mood in which a man ought always to
compose,—that, I fear, can seldom be mine.”
-Herman Melville 1851 (Melville)
The
reproduction of Melville’s novels, short stories, and poems acted as a model
for authors and playwrights like Jack London, William Faulkner, Robert Penn
Warren, Normal Mailer, Tony Kushner and Cormac McCarthy, who paid tribute to
his undeniable style and universal messages (Rollyson viii).
He became the “touchstone for their creative and critical quests (Rollyson
vii). William Faulkner asserted that the book he most wished he had written was
Moby Dick, calling Ahab’s fate “a sort of Golgotha of the heart” (Bloom 6) This Melville Revival started in 1919, the
centenary of Melville’s death, when Raymond Weaver, receiving permission from
Melville’s descendants, found “the famous tin box” of manuscripts and poems,
including the unfinished Billy Budd, Sailor (Hillway
147). Rollyson states, “In the 1920’s, such writers as William Faulkner and
Ernest Hemmingway…were searching for an indigenous literary tradition that
would support America’s sense of modernism, which combined a critical look at
America with an aspiration to compete on equal terms with innovative European
writers such as James Joyce and Marcel Proust” (Rollyson
vii). Raymond Weaver’s biography of Melville sparked human interest that
has not diminished, even today, Hillway claiming that there are more scholarly
studies of Melville that of any other American author (Hillway
7). Great colleges the likes of
Herman Melville’s pessimistic views on mankind’s potential were later labeled as anti-transcendental along with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s beliefs. Brulatour, author of an article on transcendentalism, states that anti-transcendentalists believed, “… [that] optimism is naïve and unrealistic” and that, “humans are innately depraved and… evil is a huge morass into which most will slip” (Brulatour 2). Although Melville had pessimistic views of mankind, I think analysts incorrectly label him as an anti-transcendentalist due to his and Emerson’s shared perspectives on the hazards of mindlessly following tradition, and the dehumanizing effects of the Industrial Revolution, which are shown in Bartleby.
The
“rediscovery” of Melville’s works in the early 20th century spurred
a widespread creation of art. According to the internet encyclopedia of art,
Grove Art, “Sculptor Bednarski’s most important installation, Moby Dick,
represented a mighty whale and was constructed from a plastic boat that had
been cut up into pieces that barely fit into the Warsaw Music Academy’s exhibit
hall”(Grove Art 1). Illustrator Kent Rockwell’s
reputation was based on his striking drawings for such classics as Voltaire’s Candide
and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (Grove Art 1).
Billy Budd was made into an opera by English composer Benjamin Britten,
requiring one of the largest orchestras in the history of the genre (Whitall). It is considered one of his most colorful operas
and is regarded as one of the greatest English operas of the 20th
century (Whitall). The renowned Blue Heron Art Center in
Melville
also touched pop culture as movies inspired by his books appealed to audiences
in the
“I love all men who dive. Any fish can swim
near the surface, but it takes a great whale to go down stairs five miles or
more; & if he don’t attain the bottom, why, all the lead in
-Herman Melville 1849 (Melville)
Melville, a man whose writing was underappreciated during the Jacksonian and Gilded Eras and a man who led an adventurous life that took him around the world through his pursuit of various occupations and interests, is held in high regard by scholars of today worldwide. He is studied because of his unique, organic style of writing and his universal messages, stories that “stir the mind and grip the emotions” (Hillway 151), and his “brilliant probing of the human condition” (Hillway 8). Like Johann Sebastian Bach, only after the rediscovery of his work generations later did Melville take his place take his place among the artistic titans of all time. Like the contrapuntal music of J. S. Bach, Melville created a philosophically versatile body of works which will continue to influence mankind into perpetuity.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Works Cited
Brulatour, Meg. “Legacy of
Transcendentalism: Religion and Philosophy.”
Dilworth,
Thomas. “Narrator of Bartleby: The Christian-Humanist Acquaintance of
John Jacob Astor.” Papers on Language & Literature 38/1 Winter 2002: 49-75.
Grove
Art.
Gupta, R. K.
“Bartleby: Melville's Critique of Reason.” Indian Journal of American Studies
Vol. 4, Nos. 1-2 June and December, 1974: pp. 66-71. Reprinted in Short Stories
for Students, Vol. 3. Dec. 11, 2007. <http://galenet.galegroup.com>.
Hillway,
Tyrus. Herman Melville. Revised
edition.
Hoban,
Phoebe. “Melville’s Existential Antihero of Wall Street.” New York Times.
Padilla,
David. “Herman Melville.”
Rollyson,
Carl and Lisa Paddock. Herman Melville A to Z.
Smith,
Esther. “Billy Budd: Overview.” Reference Guide to American
Literature. 3rd
edition. ed. Jim Kamp.
Wenke,
John. “Herman Melville.” Dictionary of Literary Biography. Volume 250.
Antebellum Writers in
Whitall,
Arnold. “Billy Budd.” Grove Music.
Williams,
John. The Impact of Transcendentalism on the Works of Herman Melville.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Annotated Bibliography
Bartleby the Scrivener: A Tale of Wall Street. McQuade, Atwan, Banta, Kaplan, Minter, Stepto, Tichi, Vendler. American Literature. The Harper Single Volume, 3rd ed. Longman, 1998. A compilation of American short stories and novels.
“Bartleby.” Internet
Movie Databases Inc. 1990-2007.
Background information on the cast, director, and awards for film.
Billy Budd, Sailor. McQuade, Atwan, Banta, Kaplan, Minter, Stepto, Tichi, Vendler. American Literature. The Harper Single Volume, 3rd ed. Longman, 1998.
A compilation of American short stories and novels
“Billy Budd.”
Internet Movie Databases Inc. 1990-2007.
Background information on the cast, director, and awards for film.
Bloom, Harold,
ed. Herman Melville: Modern Critical Views.
A book that presents a biography, criticism, and analysis of his life and his works.
Brulatour, Meg.
“Legacy of Transcendentalism: Religion and Philosophy.”
Article discussing Transcendentalism and Anti-transcendentalism.
Cohen, Herrig.
“Herman Melville.” Dictionary of Literary Biography.
A comprehensive biography of Herman Melville’s life.
Dilworth, Thomas.
“Narrator of Bartleby: The Christian-Humanist Acquaintance of John Jacob
Astor.” Papers on Language & Literature 38/1 Winter 2002: 49-75.
An in depth analysis of the lawyer in Bartleby.
Giles,
Todd. “Melville’s Bartleby, The Scrivener.” The Explicator
65/2 Winter 2007: 88-91. Literature Online.
A short analysis covering some unique ideas with little information to back it up.
Grove Art.
An encyclopedia that focuses on visual art and artists.
Gupta,
R. K. “Bartleby: Melville's Critique of
Reason.” Indian Journal of American
Studies Vol. 4, Nos. 1-2 June and December, 1974: pp. 66-71. Reprinted
in Short Stories for Students,
Vol. 3. Dec. 11, 2007. <http://galenet.galegroup.com>.
An in depth essay analyzing the lawyer and major concepts in Bartleby.
Hillway, Tyrus. Herman
Melville. Revised edition.
An extremely well written book that has a biography, shaping influences, legacies, and limited analysis of his books.
Hoban, Phoebe.
“Melville’s Existential Antihero of Wall Street.” New York Times.
A review of the play Bartleby.
Hocks, Richard. “Billy
Budd.” American History Through Literature 1870-1920. ed. Tom Quirk
and Gary Scharnhorst. Vol. 1. pp. 146-150.
An analysis of Billy Budd that focuses on major concepts.
An extremely concise biography of Melville’s life.
Hunt, Lester H. “Billy
Budd: Melville’s Dilemma.” Philosophy and Literature 26/2 Oct. 2002:
273-295. Literature Online.
A very long analysis of Billy Budd that focuses on characters and main concepts.
Ibarra, Edward. Faith
or Doubt: Melville, Judgment, and Ideology. Diss.
A dissertation focusing on Melville’s religious beliefs.
Melville, Hermann. Correspondence. ed. Lynn Horth, Vol. 14. Correspondence to Nathaniel Hawthorne. 1993.
Meyer, Joseph
Matthew. “Melville’s Bartleby, The Scrivener.” The Explicator 64 Winter 2006: 84.
A short but useful analysis that covers some unique general concepts.
“Moby Dick.”
Internet Movie Databases Inc. 1990-2007.
Presents a unique perspective on the psychological aspects of the lawyer and his helpers.
Padilla, David.
“Herman Melville.”
A brief biography on Melville’s life.
Rollyson, Carl
and Lisa Paddock. Herman Melville A to Z.
Smith,
Esther. “Billy Budd: Overview.” Reference Guide to American
Literature. 3rd
edition. ed. Jim Kamp.
An overview of Billy Budd that hits a few main points.
“Starbucks.” Starbucks
Corporation. 2005.
Vincent, Howard
P. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Billy Budd.
A compilation of Billy Budd essays that are very informative, but difficult to read.
Small review with some good quotes.
Wenke,
John. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Volume 250. Antebellum Writers
in
Long, in depth, biography of Melville’s life.
Whitall, Arnold.
“Billy Budd.” Grove Music.
An encyclopedia of musicians, composers, and recordings.
Williams, John. The
Impact of Transcendentalism on the Works of Herman Melville.
An in depth dissertation concerning Melville’s philosophies.
Winifred, Morgan.
“Bartleby and the Failure of Conventional Virtue.” Renascence: Essays
on Values in Literature Vol. XLV, No. 4 Summer 1993: 257-71.
Analysis that focuses on the dehumanization of mankind.
Woodlief, Ann.
“American Romanticism.”
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