A Comparison Of Herman Melville And Nathaniel Hawthorne

Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne both use characters of an irregular disposition to display their insignificance in the grand scheme of things. Melville’s characters are more relatable having a narrator who interacts with the protagonist, while Hawthorne resigns his narrator to the role of a cynical observer. In the case of both Bartleby and Wakefield, the stage is set by a general fixation of the narrator with the protagonists. Melville’s narrator proclaimed that Bartleby “was a scrivener the strangest I ever saw or heard of” and Hawthorne’s narrator saw Wakefield’s actions as “perhaps the strangest, instant on record, of marital delinquency”. Both authors use their introductions to intrigue readers by the prospect of discovering the reason for the protagonist’s alleged abnormalities.
The narrator of Melville’s story was more friendly and relatable in comparison to Hawthorne’s, who had a more callous attitude toward Wakefield.
This difference in character development is probably due to Hawthorne’s more serious writing style. Melville’s narrator knows and interacts with Bartleby saying “Poor fellow! Thought I, he means no mischief; it is plain he intends no insolence, his aspect sufficiently evinces that his eccentricities are involuntary” conveying a compassion that is absent in Hawthorne’s narrator’s similar statement “Poor Wakefield! Little knowest thou thine own insignificance in this great world!”. Melville’s narrator more effectively draws the reader into the world of the protagonist by making them feel sympathy for Bartleby, while readers are more prone to deem Wakefield a dimwitted “nincompoop”
(Hawthorne). Melville and Hawthorne use imagery to display the mood surrounding the protagonists. Bartleby was “like the last column of some ruined temple, he remained standing mute and solitary in the middle of the otherwise deserted room” clearly showing his passive and lonely countenance (Melville). Wakefield, on the other hand, imagined “how the little sphere of creatures and circumstances, in which he was the central object” would be altered by his absence (Hawthorne). This depicts how important Wakefield believes his presence is when in reality the mark of his absence fades away as his wife moves on after his 20-year disappearance. Wakefield’s imagination shows how people overestimate their importance in the world, while Bartleby shows how insignificance can seep into the core of one’s being. Two different characters are explored by Melville and Hawthorne but the message of all people’s insignificance is equally relayed through their different writing methods.

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