Protagonist and Antagonist in “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville
Authors usually assign characters roles to play in their works of art. Different characters are used to develop the plot in various ways. Some of the characters advance given courses or support certain ideologies while others oppose the ideologies. In his work, “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” Herman Melville does not overtly present the protagonist and the real antagonist in his work. However, we can still deduce who plays the role of the protagonist or antagonist based on the behavior and actions they perform in the story. In this case, the narrator can be considered the protagonist in a more conventional way. Firstly, he is the character that the readers know best as they can identify with him and even see the story through his eyes. The narrator is also most accessible and essentially the human character in the story. He is not an alien like Bartleby and other clerks. His mission to comprehend and assist Bartleby becomes the readers’ own in the story.
On the other hand, Bartley, through his actions, ends up playing the antagonist role though unintentionally. He does not actively attempt to antagonize anyone in the story. There is no malicious thing that he does to anyone; neither does he do anything to hurt anyone. Eventually, his inactivity in the story makes him a problematic figure. Typically, in any given story, we expect the antagonist to perform some negative things to other characters, but this does not come out in the text more overtly. The narrator and the audience are, however, driven mad by Bartley’s mysterious nature, and his instinctive reactions tear him apart from other characters.