Comparing Romantic Opposition in Billy Budd, Bartleby the Scrivener and Artist of the Beautiful :: comparison compare contrast essays

Herman Melville wrote some of the closely widely read works in the chronicle of literature during the late nineteenth century. He has reach a source with whom the romantic era is associated and a man whose works have become a standard by which modern literature is judged. One of his most well-known and widely studied perfectly pieces of fiction is a narration entitled, simply, Billy Budd. In this short story, Melville tells the tale of Billy Budd, a more or less out-of-place stuttering sailor who is too innocent for his own comfortably. This enchanting tale, part inevitably entertaining, holds beneath it many layers of interpretive depth and among these layers of interpretation, an idea that has been entertained in the literature of many other romantic writers. Melville uses a literary technique of developing devil characters that are complete opposites in all aspects and severalise them throughout the narrative, thus allowing their own personalities to ad versely compliment each other. Melville similarly uses this tactic in another well-known short story, Bartleby the Scrivener. Much desire Melvilles two stories, another romantic writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses this tactic in his short story, The artificer of the Beautiful when he creates two completely different characters who vie for the homogeneous womans love. Both writers use the contrary characters to represent the different facets of the human personality. utilise this idea and many others, these romantic writers, Melville and Hawthorne, created works with depth of meaning that were some(prenominal) interesting to read and even more intriguing to interpret. In his short story, Billy Budd, Melville uses this romantically based idea of characteristic opposites in two of his main characters, Billy Budd and Claggart. To give the comparison even more strength, Melville likewise puts these two characters in virtually opposing roles in the story. Billy represen ts the good that is present in humans and Claggart represents the bad. Similarly, Claggart takes on an intelligent persona while Billy appears to be a bit innocent and uneducated in the ways of the ship. These two men are essentially at betting odds and appear to represent the dueling facets of the human conscience, the sort of angel and devil on the shoulder. Claggart wishes to rid the ship of Billy and eventually, the captain of the ship is forced to flux Billy because of Claggarts malice.